STAY HUMAN - Curing Your Corporate Voice Affliction

Welcome to Attention Matters, the newsletter from Storythings which gives you practical insights and tools on how to tell better stories and grow your audiences’ attention.

This is the fourth post in our campaign exploring the seven signs you might be about to become a B2B Zombie. We’ll cover the symptoms, the cure, and simple steps to success. And read to the end for a useful reading list (we know from our stats you all love a reading list).

1 - How to avoid Generic Thought Leadership Disease
2 - Escaping from Buzzword Dependency Syndrome 
3 - Overcoming Algorithmic Addiction 
4 - Curing your Corporate Voice Affliction (that’s this post!)
5 - Moving away from Template Dependence Disorder
6 - Breaking out of Risk Aversion Paralysis
7 - How to cure Engagement Entropy Rot

Thank you to everyone who got in touch about last week’s post. I was especially pleased to hear from Steve Pratt, the author of Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers. We’re huge fans of Steve’s book at Storythings, so if you haven’t already read it, get a copy now!

And if you’re enjoying the series, or if you want help to de-zombify your thought leadership content - whether that’s podcasts, video, editorial, or reports - please hit reply and let me know. I love hearing from you all!

1 - What are the symptoms?

Humans are social animals, and our unique and diverse voices are the tools we use to transmit ideas, experiences, and culture. But you wouldn’t know that from reading most B2B content. Somehow, the process of making B2B comms flattens everything into a generic ‘corporate voice’ that is passive, dull and lifeless. Here’s the signs you might be suffering from Corporate Voice Affliction:

• Inability to use contractions

• Excessive passive voice

• No evidence of humour or personality

• Content that sounds like it was approved by 17 lawyers

• Same tone whether announcing layoffs or company picnics

The most obvious symptom, though, is one particular phrase: “We are delighted to announce…” Admit it, you’ve probably used that phrase on LinkedIn, haven’t you? (*raises hand*). Here’s a search for the phrase on LinkedIn - look how delighted (or thrilled/excited) we all are! Going to work must be like having Christmas every day!

Let’s unpick that particular symptom to understand why it’s so bad:

“We are…”
Right. I’ll stop you there. Who is the ‘we’ here? The whole company? The 25 people who were consulted to sign off the message? Or just the poor Gen Z intern who had to write something that didn’t contravene the brand guidelines?

The ‘Royal we’ - using the phrase to stand for both an individual and an organisation - is only supposed to be used by kings, queens, and bishops. If your job title isn’t something you’d find on a chessboard, stop saying ‘we’. It just makes you sound less human.

“…delighted/excited/thrilled…”
Quick emotion check - on a scale of one to winning the lottery, how excited are you really about the news you’re sharing? And even if you are a bit juiced about it, what difference does that make for the audience? You should be focused on making your audience delighted/excited/thrilled, not you. Instead of telling people what you’re feeling (although, you’re not really, are you?) make THEM feel something.

“… to announce … “
Right, this is the problem with all press releases since the beginning of time. A press release is an attempt to claim credit for something that hasn’t happened yet. The story is never in the announcing, it’s in the action. Tell me what you’re doing, or what you’ve done, not what you might be doing in the future.

2 - Take The Test

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. And please do search through every Storythings post to find the times we’ve broken our own rules. I’m sure we’ve done it loads - I’ve just used ‘we’ twice in this paragraph alone. So take this test to see where you are on the scale of Corporate Voice Affliction. I think Storythings is about 3 on a good day, rising to 6 when we’re all tired:

3 - Here’s the cure

The thing about using the Corporate Voice is that it’s like the old adage about IBM - nobody ever got sacked for using it.

Corporate voice affliction thrives in conditions of uncertainty. If you’re not sure what your company really thinks about something, you’ll fall back to using the corporate voice. When you are asked to write a story that really has no purpose or audience, you’ll fall back to using the corporate voice. And when you’re asked to have an opinion on something that you don’t really understand, you’ll fall back to using the corporate voice.

Corporate Voice is the sound of organisations desperately trying to be heard, but saying nothing. Because it’s not coming from a human, it doesn’t need to say anything, or stand for anything. It’s safe, boring, and dull.

The antidote is simple - USE REAL VOICES.

4 - Our simple steps to success

But how can you introduce more real voices in your comms and cut out the corporate voice? Here’s a few simple things you can try:

• Add bylines to everything - You don’t have to turn every person in your comms team into a creator/influencer, but you should still bring the humans to the front. For all your newsletters, social media and blog posts, always have a named author, and encourage them to introduce themselves to your audience. This will give them the opportunity to develop their voice, and your audience will find them more memorable.

• Use diverse voices - If you’re creating stories around a tricky or complex issue, don’t play it safe - interview real people and use their voices. This is how we learn, by contrasting different voices and opinions and coming up with our own conclusions. So use diverse voices to help your audience understand something, rather than dictating to them in a bland corporate voice.

• Show your sources - One of the most valuable things you can do for your audience is curating different perspectives to make it easier for them to explore and understand an issue. Bring in quotes and examples from other organisations and experts that have helped you understand the issue. Nobody expects you or your organisation to know everything - share your own learning journey, and your generosity and humility will be greatly appreciated by your audience.

4 - Go Deeper

Our Incredible Journey - This is a very amusing old project from friend of Storythings Phil Gyford. He noticed that tech startups reverted to corporate cliches when they were acquired by big tech companies like Google. The pivot from being the plucky outsider to being subsumed within a corporate behemoth meant that their individual voice and culture was about to be wiped clean. Along with all the products and services that the users had relied on.

Tone Knob - We’ve recommended this newsletter from copywriter Nick Parker loads of times across our Storythings newsletters. In each episode Nick unpacks a particularly distinctive brand tone of voice, and gives you tips on how to apply the lessons in your own copywriting. Such a great title as well!

Brands & Humour - And if you subscribe to Tone Knob, you really should subscribe to Paddy Gilmore’s Brands & Humour as well. Brands often try to be funny, but very rarely actually are. Paddy is great at unpacking why, and what humour can do to make your brand stand out.

So that’s part four in our series done. We’re over half way through! I hope you’re finding these posts useful to de-zombify your B2B marketing, and are already sounding more human as a result. I’d love to know what you’re finding useful, or what you’re like to see more of in the last few episodes.

Please reply to this email to get in touch, or share the article on Linkedin tagging Storythings.

Matt