Sovereign tone of voice documents
Sovereign Housing wanted to adopt a consistent tone of voice when dealing with its diverse range of audiences. It felt that too many of its resident communications were too formal and too full of jargon. I worked with Sovereign's in-house communication team to first create the Sovereign tone of voice then write the comprehensive guide. I also run training courses for Sovereign employees on how to use the tone of voice in internal and external documents.
About the project
We’re also friendly and approachable so our writing should be natural, engaging, inclusive and written in an adult to adult style, where we treat everyone with mutual respect.
Our tone of voice should sound as if it has been written ‘from a person to a person’ and not ‘from an organisation to client’.
Being friendly and approachable is also about sharing our human side and giving more than just the facts and figures. By injecting some personality into our writing, we’re more likely to connect with our audience and get them to do what we need them to do. An easy way to make your writing friendlier is to write in the first person.
For example, “I’ve received your application to work with our Connect team” or “we’re received your application” sounds friendlier than “Sovereign Housing has received your application”.
