Voice and tone both depend on an organisation's brand identity.
Brand Identity encompasses all the visual and verbal elements that represent a brand, including its logo, colour scheme, typography, and voice. It shapes how a brand is perceived by its audiences, and should reflect its values, mission, commitment to social & environmental responsibility. Identity determines a brand's discourse and relies on expertise to strengthen its reputation with the general public.
Voice vs Tones
Voice defines the distinct personality and style a brand projects across all touchpoints. It reflects the company's values, mission, and identity. Ensuring consistency, it remains steady over time in all its communications, projecting the brand's unique reputation.
Tones are voice variations depending on the context, audience, medium, and other criteria. They cover the voice's scope of emotional inflections applied specific situations.
Elia Group's voice is always clear, consistent, and trustworthy, but will use different tones in different situations:
- When addressing technical experts, the tone is professional and precise.
- When communicating with the general public, the tone is informative and accessible.
Identity
In the context of these guidelines, Elia Group's identity and desired reputation can be described as:
Elia Group's discourse is characterized by:
- Clarity: Ensuring messages are easy to understand.
- Consistency: Maintaining a uniform style and tone across all communications.
- Continuity: Evolving over time while staying true to core values.
Voice
Elia Group's voice should embody trustworthiness, high performance, forward-looking perspectives, and a commitment to societal interests across its spectrum of tones.
Elia Group's voice can be defined by five main characteristics:
Trustworthy and transparent
Use clear, honest, and straightforward language to build trust and credibility.
High-performing and competent
Highlight expertise and technical know-how, using precise and professional language.
Forward-looking and innovative
Emphasize innovation and future-oriented thinking with optimistic and visionary language.
Dependable and collaborative
Foster a sense of reliability and partnership through supportive and inclusive language.
Societal and pedagogical
Communicate the company's role in society and its educational mission with approachable and informative language.
Voice is the Mother of all Tone Variations
Elia Group's voice always embodies the 5 characteristics listed above, regardless of tone variation.
Tone
How to choose the right tone of voice?
Elia Group's tone of voice will vary according to the specific context, audience, medium, content, and other criteria, but will always align with the brand's identity and voice.