Your unique tone of voice is probably not unique

I think a lot of organisations overvalue their "brand voice" or "tone of voice."

Here's why:

1) Most brand voices aren't that distinctive. Take a look at this, from Uber. This is from their tone of voice guide:

Looks great - but these are actually just good writing tips that anyone can (and should!) apply.

Writing well, and not poorly, is not really a brand differentiator. Rather, it's tickets to the game - it's a bare minimum that everyone needs to do.

2) Your tone of voice is pointless if you're talking about the wrong things.

A lot of copywriting is about identifying the right benefits to talk about, and the right way to articulate them. If you nail this, and your tone is a bit off, that's not really a big deal. You're still connecting with people.

Conversely, if you miss this, but nail your tone, you're still wasting your time - you're not going to connect with your readers, and you're not going to persuade them.

What do you reckon? Head over to the original post on Linkedin and weigh in with your thoughts.