How to find your authentic (brand) voice

Kirsten Back Author

You have a message to share and a voice that matters - insights on how you can discover your voice!

Share your message with impact

Finding your voice is as frustrating as it is elusive.

Are you one of those who are tired of hearing that you need to find your voice to market your business effectively?

What does that even mean? What is this voice that coaches and marketers want you to find?

To be honest, it’s pretty hard to find something that is only a vague concept in your mind.

Let me clarify the term for you and then make a few suggestions on how you can find your voice.

What do you even mean by “finding your voice”?!

Telling you to find your voice is actually great advice. However, it’s useless advice if you don’t know what it means and how you do it.

I struggled to find my voice for quite a long time. When I started my business, I didn’t even have a voice because I had been in a corporate job for many years. My writing style was corporate and impersonal. I hadn’t even realised that it is super helpful to “have” your own voice.

Here’s how I understand the term “voice” when you’re running a one-person coaching or consulting business - or any kind of service-based business.

I see your voice as being fuelled by the core message and greater purpose that drives you and your business.

It’s about…

• Your purpose, mission, and what you want to achieve
• Your contribution and how you can help
• How you show up
• Your perspective and the messages you share
• What matters to you, what you stand for & how you talk about it
• The stories you share
• How you sound and the language you use
• Your point of difference and the pillars your brand stands on
• Your value proposition and Unique Selling Point (USP)

In short:

Your voice is a collection of messages that you share with the world to serve and achieve your purpose.

Your voice is a crucial part of your branding because it helps you be visible, valued and trusted so that people feel aligned with you, be part of the change that you bring to the world, and want to work with you.

Looking at the bulleted list above – you’ll notice that it’s a comprehensive list that needs a lot of consideration and deep work to figure out all the things that are listed.

A “voice” doesn’t suddenly appear. It grows and develops over time and you can’t create it – you need to find it.

To do that, it’s helpful to think about what goes into you your voice.

What goes into my “voice”?

You are part of a community and while you grow up, you’re developing your mind, your attitude, your perceptions, your position and how you think about things, your knowledge, skills, aptitudes etc.

In short – YOU go into your voice. You are the processor and filter of all the information that enters your brain and is transformed into the messages that you want to share.

And to find your voice, it’s good to give yourself some space and time to reflect and process to gain clarity about the messages that you want to share.

Here are a few things that you should get clarity on…

• Your beliefs and values
• Your preferences and style
• Your strengths and talents
• Your purpose and who you are as a person
• Your goals and aspirations

And a few things that influence your voice

• The content you consume
• The topics you’re interested in
• The stories you listen to
• The experiences you make
• What you learn and your self-development process
• The people you talk to
• The knowledge you gather

At this point, I recommend getting out your pen and paper or opening a notes section on your computer.

How do I define my voice?

Explore each of the bullet points listed in the section above and jot down your thoughts on each of these points.

Next, review your notes and sort them into themes That can take a little while because you will need to process your thinking.

When you’re done you will have a lot of material to work with. You’ll have adjectives that will help you to describe the tone of your voice, the messages, topics, and stories that you want to share.

Reflect some more and extract the details that you find most important.

Up to this point – the “finding your voice” process has been quite theoretical.

However, your voice is something that you want to be heard. And that means using it whenever and however you can!

How do I use my voice?

Think about how you want to share your voice. Do you want to…

• Write social media content
• Write a book
• Create videos
• Run a podcast
• Speak on stages
• Or share your voice in coaching sessions, masterminds, and courses?

Once you know that, the only thing left to do is to get started. Start  creating! 

The reflection and processing that you’ve already done, should have inspired lots of topics to write about.

And if you need support with finding your voice – send me a message and we can work together and get crystal clear on your messaging and your voice!

Categories: Brand Messaging, Brand Promise, Branding, businessfoundations, Marketing, Messaging, messaging foundations