The secret to getting your business recognised

4-minute read • 528 words

Let’s begin with some film and TV trivia:

What do these 3 phrases have in common?

a) “Winter is coming.”

b) “My brother, my captain, my king.”

c) “For England, James.”

Here’s a clue:

The phrases are from the TV series ‘Game Of Thrones,’ and the blockbuster films ‘The Fellowship Of The Ring’ and ‘GoldenEye.’ Any guesses?

A big shiny medal if you got the correct answer:

Each phrase was spoken by a character played by an iconic Sheffield actor…

That’s right: Sean Bean.

And apart from having starred in some of the most successful movies and shows ever, there’s something particularly special about this Steel City legend…

Whether Sean’s playing a king or a spy, his roles always sound… similar. There’s a certain ‘flatness’ in the voices of each of his characters, but why?

The Sheffield accent.

It doesn’t matter if Sean’s performing as somebody posh, or someone poor. He never fully disguises the dialect he used as a child growing up in the Handsworth area, and here’s the interesting thing about that:

It’s impossible to confuse Sean Bean with anyone else. Even if you can’t see him on screen, you can recognise him just by listening. For example…

On the TV adverts for the O2 mobile phone company, guess which famous Yorkshireman does the voiceover?

There’s a lesson to be learned here for small business owners and startups. If you can talk to your customers in a distinctive way, they’ll recognise you, like we recognise Sean Bean and his unmistakable voice…

…so that’s what your company needs: a distinctive ‘tone of voice’. But what do you need to do to get one?

It couldn’t be simpler. According to the Nielsen Norman Group, there are just 4 things to think about:

The 4 dimensions of tone of voice

Funny vs. serious

How much humour will you use in your marketing? Some, or none, or somewhere in between?

Formal vs. casual

Will your marketing have a strict, official feel to it? Or will it be more relaxed?

Respectful vs. irreverent

How will you talk about your product or service? Should you use an irreverent, cheeky style, or not?

Enthusiastic vs. matter-of-fact

Will the promotion for your product or service be passionate and excited? Or will you give your customers information in a straightforward way?

If you’re, say, a financial adviser, helping customers with serious matters like taxes and investments, it might be best to use a formal, respectful tone. Or you could take a different approach…

Maybe you’ll stand out more from your financial adviser competitors if you promote your services by being funny, casual or irreverent? Whichever products or services you sell, think about this:

You know your customers better than anyone, so you’ll know the best way to tweak the ‘dimensions’ of how you’ll speak to them. The trick is to talk the same way consistently… and who does that remind you of?

As an actor, Sean Bean’s job is to pretend to be someone else. As a Yorkshireman, though, he’s always himself, and you should copy him:

Just use your own tone of voice whenever you talk to customers, and you’ll make your business unmistakable.

Until next time,

Adam