How to Nail Brand Voice in Copywriting (and Love Is Blind Dubbing)

Anybody else a Love Is Blind watcher? (This is brand and marketing related, I swear.)

The now cult classic formula of locking hopeful paramours in luxury cubicles to date and “fall in love sight unseen” as they love to say has spawned a whole range of international versions of the show. I’ve watched a few at this point and had found them a little hit or miss. But a couple days ago when I was talking with friend and brand voice expert Mads Hanna about how much I was enjoying the German version of the show, she asked a key question: “Are you watching it dubbed or subbed?”

I’ve been watching this version with English subtitles but no dubbing, meaning that I get to hear every contestant’s voice and inflection as they speak. Even if I don’t understand all the actual words they say, their tone and the simple sound of their voice added SO much to experience that I instantly found all the contestants more charming! I understood why they were falling in love! When I had watched the dubbed versions of other Love Is Blind series, I tended to find the contestants duller and just less appealing. I was genuinely wondering why these people were falling for each other. It’s almost like…listening to people’s genuine voices helps their personality shine through.

Having two copy and strategy-minded folks on call meant we immediately looked at each other and said, “Oh, just like with brand voice!” Often when I see copy for a brand that doesn’t quite FEEL right, I chew on it and eventually realize that even though their copywriter might be technically saying all the right words from the brief or the brand playbook, it just doesn’t ring true with the emotion and personality I’ve come to know and appreciate from the brands I follow. Embodying the actual personality of a brand is a challenge, and not one that every writer is prepared to take on.

It takes a lot more effort than many people realize to fully process, digest, and accurately reproduce a brand voice. It’s a lot like ghostwriting, where you’re trying to seamlessly and undetectably take on another personality in your writing. That’s why I’m always skeptical when I hear about companies treating their copywriting as an afterthought. Sure, any writer can put the facts you want in a post, but it takes a certain amount of time, experience, and commitment to the craft to bring that brand voice to life in every piece of copy. The right writer can make the difference between copy that feels like a conversation with an old friend and copy that leaves readers scratching their heads.

Here are the top 3 things I check for in my own copywriting to make sure that I’m nailing the brand voice:

1. Vocabulary: Are you using words that would be an SAT head scratcher when writing for a relaxed social media audience? Or maybe throwing in too much contemporary slang into a serious think piece? Make sure to take an inventory of the vocabulary your client likes to use to get the feel for it and find any particular words or phrases that are a signature for them.

2. Tone: Does the brand you’re writing for want to sound chill and relatable like a 20-something hanging out with their friends? Or are they trying to give serious advice like they’re on stage at a conference? We all shift our own tone throughout the day to match the moment and our audience and while brands may shift alter tone a little bit here and there depending on the context, they typically have more consistency than a person does.

3. Cadence: This is one of the most difficult points for brands to articulate and writers to capture but one that can easily make branded writing feel “off.” The pattern used in someone’s speech is like a verbal fingerprint. Pay attention to pacing and inflection. Does the brand use short quippy sentences or long descriptive ones? What kind of punctuation marks do they rely on to set pacing and pauses? Do they make assertive statements or end posts with a question?

Trying to convey personality for a brand or a Love Is Blind contestant is a complex task with more going on behind the scenes than it might seem on the surface. The best copywriting and dubbing is an often under-appreciated art form and the more people who learn to learn to love it (and pay well for it), the more good copywriting and dubbing we’ll see.

Where have you noticed inauthentic brand copy that sticks out like a sore thumb? (And do you watch international Love Is Blind subbed or dubbed?)