Voice
Think of this as you would a personality—unchanging. A consistent voice helps readers internalize our point of view and intended feeling for our brand.
Principles
Our voice comes from our attitude as a maverick brand that "challenges the status quo." It's broken down into five principles:
Opinionated, but not self-absorbed.
We take a stand on topics we care about. Speak straightforwardly about our positions on the industry, our products, and what we think the future workplace should be. But we never use fear tactics. We’re not the only solution out there, so we always err on the side of humility over arrogance.
Anchored to our vision, but not exclusive.
We have a powerful vision for the future, but we won’t get there alone. We use inclusive sentiments like “with us” or “together.” The more inclusive and humble we are, the larger our community and influence grows.
Transformative, but not overwhelming.
We don't just embrace change, we give it a big, warm hug. We use an encouraging and optimistic tone when talking about the problems we’ve solved. And when we talk about a problem we always make sure to provide a solution for people at the same time.
Wondrous, but not impractical.
Tech solutions can be hard to interpret or digest, bringing a sense of disconnectedness to the industry. We use our voice to bring warmth back in by rooting it in human curiosity—“How can we make this better for people?” We use analogies or metaphors to bridge the gap between imagination and reality to make the unknown more knowable. Kind of like having a grounded imagination.
Punchy, but not cute.
This is the source of our strong personality. We have a bit of a maverick attitude. We try to surprise people with unique points of view or little turns of phrase. We want it to sound natural though, not too playful or trying too hard to be current.
Guidance
It is important to ensure our voice is in line with our principles. Here are some examples of how they should sound in-use and what to avoid:
Opinionated, but not self-absorbed.
Change isn’t as risky as the status quo is.
- Conveys a point of view
- Challenges the idea of tradeoffs for the sake of ease
The future is scary, but you’ve got us.
- Negatively portrays the future
- It’s all about “us” and how we’re the hero of your story
- Uses fear of the unknown to motivate
Anchored to our vision, but not exclusive.
From the front desk to back-end infrastructure, our workplaces should work for everyone.
- Frames our focus on the workplace and people
- Prioritizes people
- Conveys a point-of-view
Only the boldest and brightest use Envoy to better their workplaces.
- Exclusionary language
- Bragging about how awesome we are
Transformative, but not overwhelming.
We sweat the small stuff so you can focus on the big wins.
- Talks to their pain points
- Explains how we can help
Ready or not, the future of work is headed your way.
- Taunting the reader
- Not helpful, no solution or outcome provided
- Speaks to their fears or being unprepared
Wondrous, but not impractical.
Get rid of the workplace molehills so it doesn’t feel like a mountain.
- Familiar analogy (for US audiences)
- Invokes a visual
- Introduces how things can be easier
Work is hard. Let’s make it magical.
- Detached from what we actually do
- Isn’t clear what we’re offering
Punchy, but not cute.
Greet compliance with a smile and a modern registration process.
- Puts a clever spin on “Meet compliance”
- Doesn't let cuteness get in the way of the solution
- Sounds confident
The best way to sign in visitors. Unless they are zombies.
- Not relatable to Envoy or our customers
- Overly confident “the best way” “unless they’re zombies”
- Cute is cheap here. We’ve used up valuable space (or ink) to distract the reader from the point
Tone
In spoken language, we change our tone according to who we’re talking to and what we’re talking about. It is the same for our brand—our voice remains unchanged and uniquely Envoy, but the tone in which we write can vary. Defining voice and tone separately allows us to meet our readers where they are for more effective communication.
Characteristics
While our tone varies, there are steadfast attributes it should always incorporate:
Smart
Communicate in a way that is both insightful and thoughtful.
Direct
Avoid fluff or lengthy, complex words.
Human
No robotic, stuffy, or overly corporate language.
Assessment
Use the prompts below to think about your audience and their familiarity with Envoy to assess the correct tone.
- Who is my audience?
- How much do they truly know about Envoy?
- What are their motivations in their job or career?
- What are their pain points?
- What does success look like through their eyes?
Lexicon
The words we choose to use can help create a perception about who we are and how we’re different from competitors.
Sounds good
These are our “yes” words. We can have more ownership over this list, because they’re more unique within our industry and can help us differentiate from our competition by bringing in more ‘humanity’ and ‘warmth’ to the B2B space.
- Interaction
- Orchestrate
- Enable
- Untangle
- Transform
- Happy
- Delight
- Unnecessary
- Community
- Consistent
- Engage
- Wonder
- Modern
- Safety
- Automate
- People
- Meaningful
- Mission
- Design
- Thoughtful
- Possible
- Action
- Future
- Movement
- Human
- Global
- Navigate
- Workplace
Necessary evils
These are mostly shared jargon within our industry. We try to use them sparingly so we don’t sound like everyone else. Equally, there are specific moments they should be used to relate or signal that we’re part of the industry, too.
- Enterprise
- Efficiency
- Productivity
- Security
- Compliance
- First-impression
- Ecosystem
- Connect
- Workspace
- Office
- Experience
- Technology
- Platform
- Conference room
- Kiosk
Not so fast
These are our “no” words. They’re generally overused by enterprise or tech companies. These are words we want to move away from, because they do not match our goals as a brand and work against differentiation.
- OfficeOS
- Journey
- Value
- Best
- iPad
- App
- Optimize
- Agile
- Hub
- Features
- Boost
- Worklife
- Modern
- Magic
- (Clichés of any kind)
Final note
Never use exclusionary terms, cultural appropriation, ableist language, misgendering or anything that could be interpreted as a slur. If you’re on the fence about whether you’re using something that could be taken as offensive, inflammatory or exclusionary, find another word and consult a few folks for help. We would only describe people as Ninjas, Rockstars, or Gurus if they were actually those things for a living.