Let’s talk about the tone of voice. Before we do any marketing for a recruitment business, we need to understand who they are. That means working on things like target audience, marketplace, clients, and so on. As you would expect, everyone is very clear on these points – but there is one question that tends to be a little harder for people to answer…
What is your ‘tone of voice’?
When we ask recruiters that question there often is quite a bit of head-scratching. Which is strange because tone of voice isn’t one of those arty notions or marketing speak buzz words, it is absolutely at the heart of how you present yourself to the world. How you ‘speak’, whether in text, in person, on video, or anywhere else, gives an impression of who you are to your clients and candidates.
Your tone of voice should be:
- Appropriate – to your recruitment space.
- Authentic – You want to sound like yourself
- Consistent – This is vital. Imagine how strange it would sound if you suddenly switched accents in the middle of a conversation and you can see why.
If you don’t think about your tone of voice or do but then fail to maintain it, your marketing is lacking a key element of how you communicate.
So how do you define your tone of voice?
This is where you get to do a little bit of work and perhaps even step out of your comfort zone a little. We very rarely think about how we present ourselves unless we have a specific reason to do it. So here are a few tips to help you define it.
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Listen to yourself
How do you speak? Do you ‘smash it’ when you have a success, or do you achieve? How formal or relaxed are you and so on. If you have any recordings of you and your team talking, (most of us have recorded zoom calls and similar) review them and listen for phrases you regularly use. Another good exercise is to grab a pen and paper and write down what you love about being a recruiter. Maybe get someone to interview you and record it.
Now, make notes as if you were listening to a stranger and use these to help define your tone. One thing to look for is if your tone changes when you are talking to clients compared to candidates for example. All this feeds your understanding.
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Listen to your competitors
The purpose here is not to imitate them, in fact it is the opposite, it is to define what they do that works and what doesn’t. Is there something they do that really makes you cringe? What is that they do that you aspire to? Can you clearly feel their tone, or does it vary? When are they boring and when are they interesting? You will get a clear idea of what your tone should, and often shouldn’t, be from their output.
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Listen to what you said in the past
You probably have some marketing out there already in the form of social media content or blogs. Look it over with the same eye as you did for your competitors and then compare it to the notes you made from point one. How do they match up? Many recruiters find they are already using a tone of voice without realising it and just need to developing properly. Specifically, think about the emotional content of what you already produce. Why emotional? Well, that passion is usually what we are after for the right tone of voice. Where you get really interesting marketing is when the recruiter has something important to say. The good posts will have the nuance of address and even grammatical approach that you want to refine into your perfect tone of voice.
You should be able to now make a list of perhaps 4 or five words that sum you up. You should be using descriptions such as funny, light-hearted, casual, cheeky, formal, thoughtful, witty and so on to define your tone.
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Test, refine, repeat
Now you have a good outline of your tone of voice, try it. Play a little if you like, but not too much. You will soon start to see where it is working and where it needs further refinement. With every tweak you will get closer to the right one.
At the end of the day, how you present yourself is absolutely key to good marketing. Getting your tone of voice right should be a priority for a recruiter because it will show that you are a personality and that you are passionate about your business, your candidates, and your clients.
