Your Brand Should Sound Like You
In the age of AI, sounding like yourself might be one of the most valuable things your brand can do.
In a world where AI can write an email, a caption, a website, a press release, and just about anything else in a matter of seconds, we’ve started to notice something: everything is starting to sound the same. The sentences are polished. The language is elevated. The messaging is technically sound. And yet, somehow, it can all feel a little... soulless.
Whim Events, photo by Henry & Mac
(To be clear, we’re not anti-AI. We use it daily to automate, organize, brainstorm, and make our day-to-day work more efficient. But there’s a line we don’t want it to cross: between helping us work and taking over our work. Especially when it comes to our creative thinking, copywriting, distinct voices, and what we’re putting out into the world for both our brand and our clients.)
At In Good Company PR, we’ve always come back to the same advice with our clients: be yourself. Not the version you think a luxury brand, an industry expert, or a “professional” business should be. If you adhere to your brand ethos and values, and make choices to communicate those perspectives in your own, unique way - you’ll quickly attract the kind of longstanding support and brand loyalty you’re after. Because the things that make you different are often the exact things that set your brand apart - and become recognizable.
It’s something we think about in our own writing often. Our Substack newsletters and blog posts should feel like they came from the person whose name is at the top of them. Natalie, Carly, and I can all sit down to write about the exact same topic and come away with three completely different pieces, but isn’t that the point?
Natalie tends to write with a little more flourish. She’ll lean into a metaphor, take the scenic route, and give an idea room to breathe. Carly naturally gravitates toward the educational side of things, surveying the land, pulling from her experience, and giving readers something tangible to take away. I tend to be more direct, analytical, and data-driven, while still keeping things warm and conversational. None of those voices is more “professional” than the other. They’re simply ours. And if you know us, you can probably tell who wrote what without even looking at the byline.
That’s the kind of distinction we want our clients to have, too. It’s one of the reasons we’ve continued to offer brand articulation work. We know that ‘sounding like yourself’ is sometimes easier advice to give than it is to follow. You have to know what ‘yourself’ actually sounds like first - and it can be helpful for a trusted third party to help distinguish that.
When we do a brand articulation, it’s not just about choosing a few adjectives to describe a business or coming up with a clever mission and vision statement. It’s a much deeper dive into who you are, how you want to be perceived, how you actually talk, what you value, how you spend your time, who and what you’re drawn to, the world you want to build around your brand, and, perhaps most importantly, what makes you different.
Photo by Jake Anderson
What makes you laugh? What are you passionate about? What would you say over coffee that you might not think to put on your website? What do you have a strong opinion about? What phrases or expressions do you use all the time?
Those details are often what make a brand feel like a person rather than a business trying to sound like a brand.
And once you know that voice, you can start thinking beyond the written word. Sometimes, the best way to communicate a personality isn’t through another perfectly crafted caption. It’s by letting people actually hear you.
We recently helped one of our clients get on a podcast for exactly that reason. Of course, the podcast was a great opportunity for visibility, but that wasn’t the only reason we recommended it. We wanted potential clients to hear his voice, his emotional inflection, the warmth in his tone. There’s only so much personality you can express through an Instagram caption or the words on your website. But the experience also gave him a chance to get more comfortable articulating his ideas, sharing his perspective and showing up as himself. Sometimes, the best thing you can do for a brand is rethink the delivery method.
For wedding professionals in particular, that matters. When someone chooses to spend one of the most important days of their lives with you, they should have a pretty good idea of what they’re getting into before they ever sign the contract. Your website, your Instagram, your emails, your Substack, a podcast interview, the way you show up online: all of it is an opportunity to give a potential client a glimpse of the person they’ll actually be working with. If you’re warm, let them feel that. If you’re opinionated, let them hear it. If you’re a little quirky, don’t sand that down because you think “professional” means playing it safe. Because your clients aren’t just hiring your services; they’re choosing you. So let them get to know you before they officially meet you.
Authenticity doesn’t mean every piece of writing needs to be perfectly off-the-cuff. It doesn’t mean you can’t edit, refine, or use AI to help you get there. We certainly do. It simply means that somewhere underneath all of it, there should still be a person. Because in a world where it’s becoming increasingly easy to sound polished, professional, and exactly like everyone else, sounding unmistakably like yourself might be the most distinctive, powerful thing you can do.