Why Buying Voice Outsells Brand Voice Every Time

(kaboompics / pexels)

There's the copy your team likes. It sounds like your company. It follows the brand guidelines. Everyone in the meeting says, "That sounds just like us."

Then there's the copy that gets someone to buy.

Those two things can overlap. They often don't.

Too many businesses write from the company's point of view. They talk about THEIR values, THEIR approach, THEIR experience, THEIR personality, and what makes them different. The result can be polished. It can even be memorable. And it can produce very little response.

​Direct response marketing techniques start somewhere else. They start with the buyer.

Brand voice is mostly about consistency. It tells you how the company should sound from one piece of communication to the next.

Fine, but consistency doesn't pay the bill.

A business can spend weeks debating whether a headline sounds sufficiently "on brand." Nobody asks the more important question: Did anybody buy?

That's where brand thinking gets dangerous. Once "sounds like us" becomes the standard, almost anything can be defended. The copy can be clever, warm, sophisticated, professional, authentic, and perfectly on-brand.

It can also be completely ineffective.

Agencies love this territory because "on brand" is easy to discuss and difficult to measure. Nobody has to explain why the campaign produced a lousy response if the conversation stays focused on tone, personality, and perception. They can keep refining the copy indefinitely without ever having to answer the only question that should matter to a direct response advertiser. What did we get for the money?

Did it get the phone to ring? Did it produce leads? Did people click? Did they buy? What did you spend to get the response? That's a conversation worth having.

​Brand voice tells people how you want your company to sound. Buying voice tells the prospect why they should pay attention.

Buying voice isn't a special copywriting style. It's a way of looking at the sale.

Your prospect has a problem. They want something. They're worried about something. They've tried something that didn't work. They have a deadline. They're comparing options. That's where your copy should start.

Take a dentist. "We provide compassionate, patient-centered dental care in a comfortable environment." That could describe thousands of dental practices. It tells me what the dentist wants me to think about the dentist.

Now try this: "Have you had a toothache all week? We keep same-day appointments available for patients who need to be seen now."

That gives the prospect something to respond to. It starts with the problem sitting in front of them.

The same principle works everywhere. A home remodeling company can talk about craftsmanship, quality materials, and years of experience. Or it can talk to the homeowner who has been putting off a kitchen remodel because every contractor they've called can't start for months.

A tax firm can talk about personalized service and experienced professionals. Or it can speak to the business owner who's tired of finding out about tax problems on their returns.

A career coach can talk about their methodology. Or they can speak to the executive who has sent out 40 applications and gotten almost no interviews.

​The buyer gives you the subject. Your job is to listen.

You don't have to invent buying language. Your customers are already giving it to you.

Listen to sales calls. Read intake forms. Look at complaint emails. Read reviews. Talk to the salesperson who spends all day hearing objections and questions.

Pay particular attention to the words people use before they become customers. What were they worried about? What had they already tried? What finally pushed them to look for help? What result did they want? What made them hesitate? You'll often find the strongest copy hiding in those conversations.

One customer may say, "I'm tired of paying for leads that never turn into appointments." That sentence may be worth more than an hour of brainstorming.

Another may say, "I don't know if I can afford another six months of this." Now you have something real.

​Use the language your buyer understands. Then connect it to an offer that gives them a reason to respond. That's a lot more useful than sitting around trying to sound clever.

If you've read any 'NO B.S.' direct response copywriting books, you already know the standard they repeatedly point to: RESPONSE.

Good copy earns attention and moves the prospect toward a decision. It gives them reasons to keep reading, reasons to believe, reasons to want the offer, and a reason to act.

The destination is action. Read the letter. Pick up the phone. Click the link. Request the information. Make the appointment. Buy the thing.

That gives every part of the copy a job. The headline has to earn attention. The offer has to make the proposition worth considering. The copy has to build desire and overcome objections. The call to action has to make the next step clear.

Then you look at what happened.

The offers, headlines, urgency, positioning, guarantees, and other elements you'll read about in direct-response marketing all serve that purpose. They're tools for moving a prospect from attention to action.

Your copy can sound like your company. It can reflect your personality. It can fit your brand guidelines. Just keep the buyer in the center of it.

​The prospect is the one who has to respond.

Before you write another headline, forget your brand guidelines for a minute and think about the person reading the ad, sales letter, email, landing page, or postcard.

Who are they? What do they want? What are they worried about? What have they tried? Why haven't they bought yet? What would make them act now?

Then write to that person.

Don't start with your company history. Don't start with your mission statement. Don't start with adjectives describing how much you care.

Start where the buyer already is. Give them a reason to keep reading and a reason to believe you. Give them an offer worth considering and a reason to act.

Then measure the response. If it doesn't work, change it. That's direct response.

​Your brand can survive a copywriter changing a few words. Your business can't survive paying for advertising that nobody responds to.