So What Exactly is Written Identity?
It’s the combination of how you write and what you say.
The words you write should be as good as the work you do. Having a clear written identity means the whole organisation can see how to put your brand values into their daily writing.
Here’s how it looks for Regus and Second Home. The 'what you say' is similar. They both rent out offices and co-working spaces. They both claim that working in their buildings will help you win new business.
They differ in their style. They’ve developed a writing style to match their claims:
‘Here you’ll find members… eager to team up on projects’ (Second Home).
‘Work alongside like-minded professionals… foster collaboration and growth’ (Regus).
Creatives work at Second Home. Its position as the new (ish) cool kid is established with familiar language like ‘eager’ and ‘team up’.
Grown-ups choose Regus offices. It is holding the corporate ground it occupied before the arrival of disrupter co-working spaces. It does this with the serious phrases ‘like-minded professionals’ and ‘foster collaboration’.
Both companies have a written identity. It’s more than just a tag line and style guide. They’ve worked out how to apply their brand values in their everyday writing. Their choice of language implicitly positions them; ‘members’ rather than ‘like-minded professionals’ makes a statement about each organisation. The choices establish their identity in their writing.
How can you do this too?
Decide what you want to say. Then work out how to say it. (We can help).
What you want to say are the claims you make as an organisation; your stories. These may already be in your mission statement, your brand identity, your tone-of-voice deck, or on your website.
Second Home’s tag line is its main claim is: ‘Workspace as creative as you‘
Regus states: ‘Office space your way.’
Next you need proof to support these. Second Home’s tag line is its main claim: ‘Workspace as creative as you’. To support this it can point to the companies who use its spaces, the funky architecture. It also shows creativity in the language it uses.
Your proof will come from examples of your work, client testimonials, partner endorsements, case studies, opinion pieces…and your words.
So you’ll need to think about how you write. Will different audiences need slightly different styles and levels of detail? Do you want to speak to the Dev in the same way as you address the CTO?
We help organisations consider things like:
The style that works best for your business.
Whether to change your tone for different audiences.
How to write in a particular way in practice (sentence length, acronyms, posh words…).
You’ll end up with a clear, written identity. It’s a document that you can add to, a way of expressing yourself that grows with your business. Let’s tell your best story in your everyday writing!
Have you been working on your branding? Are you considering your company tone of voice? Is there a mismatch with your daily writing and your brand image? Drop Kate a line. We’d love to make your everyday writing easier.
