Using this tool
This worksheet will help you identify the key traits of your employer brand persona, and then guide you to use those traits to inform the content you create. Use this tool as a framing template to keep your whole team on the same page!
What is tone of voice?
Tone of voice is how you communicate the character of your organization to your audience. So, if your organization were a person, how would they speak? How would you want them to be perceived? What tone of voice is not, is a substitute for authentic communication. Instead, it’s a tool to focus your efforts and to help you build and bolster the relationship between your brand and your audience.
What does tone of voice mean for internal communication?
Your internal communications tone may or may not be tied with the brand voice your organization uses for external communication, but there should be some common themes. Establishing a consistent internal tone of voice will help set up and reinforce your organization’s employer brand. Also, identifying a tone of voice will help you maintain consistency in your communication; this will help build connections and trust with your internal audiences.
Brand, employer brand, & the nuance that makes them different
There is often a lot of overlap between the concerns of internal communications and the world of human resources, and a great deal of our work as internal communicators is in support of the objectives set out by our colleagues in HR. But when we talk about supporting employee engagement, reinforcing an influential corporate culture, or boosting recruitment and retention goals, an area that we need to work with HR to define clearly, is employer brand. Just as a company needs to build brand recognition in the market that is consistent with their goals and values, they should look inward to their internal audience and consider what their brand looks like there. An organization will often expect there to be consistencies with its well-considered external brand strategy, but as we know, different audiences have different needs. Establishing a strong employer brand is key to all of those goals, and HR is hugely dependent on internal communications to support and reinforce it.
