The way a company communicates with its audience is inherently important for brand recognition, effective engagement with the consumers, and, ultimately, a steady increase in sales volumes. That's why a brand voice is a staple element of a successful marketing strategy across industries.

In the outdoor niche, where the competition is really high, it's of utmost importance not to overlook this aspect. In this comprehensive guide, we'll explain how to develop the perfect brand voice to match your values, explain how to keep it relevant throughout the years and share some great brand voice examples.

What Is a Brand Voice?

A brand voice is the distinct style of communication a company uses for interactions with its audience across channels.

The main brand voice elements include:

• Word length
• Sentence length
• Tempo
• Pronouns
• Conciseness
• Contractions
• Jargon
• Colloquialisms

Adjusting these aspects to what feels in tune with your company's philosophy, choosing which ones to use and which to omit, is the general idea of developing a brand voice.

The resulting "personality" will be applied to every brand communication channel, including email, social media, ads, and even a chatbot if you have one.

Top Outdoor Brands with Unmistakable Brand Voices

A great way to understand how much a brand voice can influence a brand's recognition is by taking a look at some prominent examples. 

Below, you'll find three renowned outdoor companies that have established unmistakable brand voices:

1. Patagonia

Patagonia is an outdoor apparel company with disruptive marketing campaigns (find out more about it in our detailed overview). What's equally as interesting about Patagonia is its brand voice that supports the company's mission-driven approach to business.

Here's an excerpt from Patagonia's promotional email introducing a new line of work apparel:

"We set out to build a Workwear line — jackets, pants, sweaters, shirts, and hats — that is more durable and uses less harmful materials. Our design process begins with the basic elements — innovative hemp blends or warm, superdurable synthetics — and from there, we add exactly what is necessary for the specific end use."

As you can see, Patagonia's brand voice is direct, educational, and trustworthy. Here are some factors that contribute to it:

• The language is straightforward and unfussy
• The reader isn't overwhelmed with many adjectives or descriptors
• A matter-of-fact introduction to new items
• A natural tie into "less harmful materials" 
• A brief insight into the Patagonia design process

While the email is simple, it does a lot of work by drawing back the curtain just enough to invite the customers in and see if they are interested in more.

Bottom line: Cohesive narrative is one of Patagonia's superpowers. It continuously reinforces itself as a brand rooted in transparency through each of its communication channels with the help of relevant content and a consistent brand voice. Moving beyond direct sales to engaging and sparking interest with impact-driven content, the company created the perfect environment for consumer trust and loyalty.

2. Moosejaw

Moosejaw is a US-based store specializing in outdoor recreation apparel and gear. What sets Moosejaw aside from its competitors is its consistently hilarious and quirky brand voice that runs across all of its website copy, advertising, and customer service channels.

When you read Moosejaw's content, you immediately get a sense of what the company stands for. It is a brand that loves life and adventure but doesn't take itself too seriously, living up to its slogan, "The most fun outdoor retailer on the planet".

Here are some examples of Moosejaw's tweets:

Every piece of Moosejaw's communication is fun, punchy, and quirky, which effectively matches its brand values and creates a unique experience for its clients. The aspects that contribute to it include:

• Jokes incorporated in every post
• Slang and non-standard spelling, such as "tho" instead of "though"
• A playful tone of voice 
• Addressing clients informally

Bottom line: Moosejaw often prioritizes fun over exhaustive informativeness over its communication channels, which is still effective, as it invites the consumers to learn more about the brand's products in a relaxed way. The company communicates with its clients as if they were old pals, creating an atmosphere of familiarity and trust.

3. The North Face

The North Face is an American outdoor recreation products company that celebrates a passion for exploration and pushing limits. According to the brand's guidelines, its voice is true to and reverent toward athletes and their expeditions. 

Here's a fragment from The North Face's website:

The North Face communicates with a voice that's insightful, confident, and truthful. While the tone of voice appears conversational, it is always respectful and never overly casual. Here are some elements that comprise it:

• Powerful statements
• An inspiring message
• Emphasis on history 
• A strong mission at the core

Bottom line: The North Face claims to always place the focus on the journey and the exploration more than the triumph of achievement, making every step of the way significant. This philosophy is reflected in the company's brand voice that consistently sounds epic, inspiring, and motivating, from Instagram posts to emails.

How to Find a Brand Voice for an Outdoor Company

Did these examples inspire you to create a brand voice for your company? If so, these step-by-step guidelines are for you:

1. Determine a Clear Mission or Value Statement

A lot of key characteristics of your brand voice will derive from your company's mission and values, so it's best to determine those first.

Perhaps, your main focus is transparency, eco-friendliness, and a modern approach? Incorporate a clear, straightforward, and direct writing style, support it with opinions regarding the environment and sustainability expressed throughout the piece, and use a casual, informal tone of voice.

2. Know Your Target Audience

While conveying your values and beliefs in your content is extremely important, it's also critical to ensure the form in which you do it appeals to your target audience. Thus, when working on the brand voice, consider your buyer persona.

Are you targeting niche professionals that have a high level of expertise in the topics you're covering? In this case, formal, journalistic-style pieces with occasional jargon and advanced terms can be a good idea. 

3. Analyze Your Best-Performing Pieces

If you've already been publishing content, it's worth reviewing it to define your top-performing pieces and determine the key characteristics of the voice you used in them. This will show what your audience responds to the most and will be a great point of reference when you start creating your brand voice.

4. List All the Dos and Don'ts

Understanding what elements you want to see as a part of your brand voice is equally as important as knowing the aspects you don't want it to contain. Thus, it's always helpful to list the dos and don'ts.

For example, you might decide that your brand voice shouldn't be:

• Uppity or pretentious
• Too serious
• Excessively grandiose
• Unfriendly

However, you think it should be:

• Motivating
• Casual
• Helpful
• Down-to-earth

This technique gives you more specific insight into your company's future brand voice.

5. Fill Out a Brand Voice Template

As soon as you've selected the main 3-5 characteristics, you can formalize the results by filling out a table known as a brand voice template.

This table will consist of 4 columns: voice characteristics, description, do's, and don'ts. Fill them up with information that will be helpful for your content creators, such as examples and tactical advice.

Share this file with all content creators to ensure brand voice consistency across all channels.

Ensuring the Best Brand Voice Creation Results

There are nearly 5,000 hiking and outdoor equipment businesses in the US as of 2022. Being ahead of such competition takes a combination of factors, from top-quality products to a smart marketing strategy. 

Creating your brand voice is a cornerstone to building consumer engagement, trust, and loyalty. One way to ensure the best results when working on it is by referring to the brand voice examples and following the advice we mentioned above. Another option is to reach out to Algofy Outdoors, a 360 digital marketing agency with years of successful industry experience. 

Our team of skilled professionals is always happy to help achieve outdoor brands' marketing goals, so reach out now and share the details of your project to get started!

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