A REAL-LIFE EXAMPLE

Monzo and Santander are banks. However, according to Wikipedia, Santander Group was founded in 1857 while Monzo are an online-only offering. Do you think their communications would be interchangeable?

Monzo use the rather lovely line; ‘help us build the kind of bank you want to use’ before prompting you to download their app.

If you saw that line on the Santander website, I don’t think it’s unfair to assume they’d want you to fill out a customer service survey – it's a great example of a corporate trying to be chatty. But teamed with Monzo, and their friendly, conversational tone of voice, it works.

From internal documents to your website’s landing page, if you were to look at your brand’s communications, do they sound like they come from the same voice?

Would your customers recognise it and take action? (Of course, I’m no stranger to a hearty comms audit, if you can’t face it.)

So, before you go telling your customers to ‘treat yo’self’ when you sell office supplies, have a think about your purpose, because communication without purpose is your brand throwing words at the wall and seeing what sticks.

Sofia Farelli