10 tips to establish a consistent, captivating corporate tone of voice

Every company is a unique community shaped by quirks, habits, preferences and pet peeves.

The onus is on communicators to craft messaging that resonates with people from a range of backgrounds, ages, experience levels, geographic locations and proficiencies. You can’t (and won’t) please everyone all the time, but you can establish a consistent, compelling tone of voice that serves as a unifying beacon for employees.

Here are 10 ways to make your comms captivating—not cringeworthy:

Your messages should be understood by complete newcomers to the business. Don’t assume everyone is familiar with industry terms or insider language. If you want people to consume your communications, make every message simple and straightforward.

If you need employees to take a specific action, use incentives to boost compliance. Also, don’t force colleagues to wade through paragraphs of minutiae to get the gist of your message.

Make sure your tone is neither patronizing nor autocratic. This is a tricky balance, but strive to hit the sweet spot where professional, warm and uplifting overlap—without dumbing anything down.