Your Brand Definitely Has a Voice. But Is It the One You Want? "What kind of brand voice conveys such a crazy ambitious mission?" Six founders on figuring out what their brand should sound like.

Every brand has a personality. And just like people, brands — which are, of course, built by people — can come off in ways they don't intend. We all have blind spots. The good news is that, with a little thought and intention, you can create a brand voice that speaks to the customers you're hoping to attract, in a way that makes them want to know you better. Here, we spoke with six founders on lessons they learned while finding the pitch-perfect voice for their brands.

1. Convey your mission

"Our mission is to create the world's best healthcare for billions of people, for free. What kind of brand voice conveys such a crazy ambitious mission? First, one that's bold. We say impolite things like, 'Hey, health insurance is evil.' Second, our voice is empowering, not paternalistic. 'Doctor knows best' is not our style. We call people we serve 'members' instead of 'patients.' Finally, we're optimistic. We need a voice that can break through the learned helplessness that healthcare is somehow unfixable." — Adrian Aoun, founder and CEO, Forward

2. Find a characteristic that other brands miss

"When building Harper Wilde, my cofounder and I wanted to channel the comfort we felt in our closest circles. Humor has always been part of our friendships, but when we looked at women-focused brands, we couldn't find any that used humor in their voices. Plenty of male-focused brands did. So we wanted to celebrate the witty, relatable, sharp sense of humor that often ties girls and women together through their transformative years." — Jenna Kerner, cofounder and co-CEO, Harper Wilde

Related: How to Form a Clear Voice and Tone for Your Brand

3. Listen to customer feedback

"Our product is all about creating connections and sparking conversations. Early on, we ran a few company names by customers and got their reactions. 'Donut' consistently rose to the top, confirming that they were responding to a more playful tone. So playfulness and humanity became cornerstones of our voice, honed through anchor words and branding exercises. Customer feedback still drives much of our brand refinement today." — Dan Manian, founder and CEO, Donut

Related: Branding Is More Than an Accessory: It's the Foundation of Any Business

4. Speak as you want to be spoken to

"Our company's voice is a reflection of our lived experiences. Wemimo immigrated from Nigeria with his mother at 17 years old, who was forced to borrow money at over 400% interest from a predatory lender to pay for his education. Samir's parents immigrated from New Delhi to New York. Like millions of Americans without a credit score, they struggled. We wanted Esusu's voice to be reliable, accessible, uncomplicated, inspirational, and empathetic." — Wemimo Abbey and Samir Goel, cofounders and CEOs, Esusu

5. Clarify the problem you're solving

"We're in the software space, and the problems we want to solve are around productivity. We help our customers have a greater impact in the time they spend building products. Our voice tends to be heavily oriented toward outcomes, blending a high level of confidence with irreverence for recent trends like 'overtooling' where teams overcomplicate their systems. We want our brand to be high-impact technology, versus technology for the sake of it." — Sean Knapp, founder and CEO, Ascend.io

6. Know your brand purpose

"It all starts with a strong brand purpose. Ours is to 'elevate rest,' so we're up against the always-on, hamster-wheel mentality that leaves people exhausted. Our voice balances wisdom and humor — a blend of informed, real-talking, liberated, and witty. How Trevor Noah, Leslie Mann, Zadie Smith, or Billie Jean King might talk to their friends. We want it to be relatable, but well-researched." — Ashley Merrill, founder, Lunya

Related: How to Ensure Authenticity in Marketing and Build a Loyal Audience