Is your brand putting your audience to sleep like an old-fashioned history teacher? In education, how we say something is just as important as what we say. In a sector so close to people’s hearts, it’s important to find the right balance between building trust and standing out. That’s why in education marketing, choosing the right brand voice deserves careful thought.
What is brand voice?
Brand voice describes the style you use to communicate with your audience. It reflects your values, positioning and reputation. Essentially, it’s your brand’s personality in writing. Are you playful? Snarky? Encouraging? Sincere? Your brand voice comes through in your choice of words, sentence structure and emphasis.
In an ideal world, your brand will be a method actor, using a consistent, recognisable voice wherever there’s an interaction with your audience. Established educational brands, such as universities, have guidelines to help their writers stay consistent across different platforms, such as on their website, social media and printed marketing materials. Here’s a great example of brand guidelines from Lingokids.
Tone of voice (TOV) is sometimes used interchangeably with brand voice. But to be more precise, tone of voice describes how your brand voice adapts for different audiences and platforms, while still retaining its most important characteristics.
How to define your education brand’s voice
In the emotionally charged, value-laden world of education, it can be tempting to play it safe with brand voice. Unfortunately, this can mean you risk sounding like every other education brand out there, making it hard for your audience to understand why they should choose you. So how do you stand out without damaging trust?
Tone of voice: know your audience
The best tone of voice depends on who you’re talking to. Is it schools? Parents? Kids? Teens? You might have more than one audience, such as parents and children. You can adapt your tone of voice for marketing materials aimed at different audiences, while keeping your overarching brand voice.
Researching your ideal audience, defining their profile and testing your work is all part of the process of refining your brand’s tone of voice .
Read my blog post about adapting brand tone of voice for different education sector audiences.
Brand voice: know yourself
Dig deep into your offer, values and existing messaging. What are you known for? What sets you apart from your competitors? Done well, your brand voice will signal your values and positioning to your audience before they even look at your About page.
A fun way to make your brand voice more concrete is to develop a brand persona. If your brand was a character, who would they be? From there, you can work out how they would speak. My brand persona is an eccentric teacher. Can you tell?
Three Effective Education Marketing Brand Voices
Choosing is probably the most difficult bit when it comes to brand voice. You likely want to be warm, playful and inspirational. But these brand voices aren’t mutually exclusive. It’s more a question of which is the star, and which are supporting actors.
For example, an institution with a focus on academic achievement might adopt an inspirational brand voice. To avoid sounding elitist and unapproachable, they might also include elements from the warm voice playbook.
So what do these different voices look like and how can they be achieved? Let’s explore three examples in detail.
1. A warm and welcoming brand voice
Works well for: Primary schools, charities, brands with a focus on inclusivity, brands with parents or teens as their main audience
Example: Busy Bees
As a nursery and childcare provider, Busy Bees has parents as its main audience. The call-to-action on their website asks visitors to book a visit, and the copy supports this with its welcoming, inviting tone: “Say hello to Bee Curious!”
The homepage promises “warm, nurturing environments that parents and children love” and encourages parents to “see the world through your child’s eyes” by downloading the app.
How to use this voice in your education marketing:
- Use the second person (you) to address the reader.
- Use informal, chatty language that reflects how you would speak to your audience in real life.
- Use inclusive language.
- Humanise your content where appropriate, showing the people and stories behind your brand.
- Use social proof such as testimonials to build trust and confidence in your brand.
- Avoid jargon and use everyday language.
- Show empathy: focus on benefits rather than features and address the problems you are trying to solve for your audience. This is marketing 101 but doing it well shows genuine attention to your users.
This brand voice as a primary school motto:
“We are all friends and together we succeed.” (Rosebank Primary School)
2. A fun and playful brand voice
Works well for: Early years, tutors, brands which position themselves as an alternative to formal education, edtech brands offering gamified learning, brands with children as an audience
Example: Class Dojo
Class Dojo has an audience of teachers, parents and children. The fun, playful brand voice they adopt on their website and social media reflects their gamified approach to classroom management, where students can earn points for their cartoon avatars and spend time on virtual islands.
How to use this voice in your education marketing:
- Jokes, puns and wordplay are your friends.
- Emojis are go! (But not too many – they can be a nightmare for screen readers.)
- Mix up your sentence types: exclamations and rhetorical questions will create more engagement than a series of plain statements.
- Short sentences and punchy pacing.
- Use the active voice with powerful verbs.
- Give the grammar police the slip. Informal writing for the win. “Write like you talk.”
- Pop culture references, relatable anecdotes and self-deprecating silliness can help you to be perceived as a “fun” brand (see Innocent’s Great British Bake-Off obsession…)
This brand voice as a primary school motto:
“Learn, laugh, love.” (Harehills Primary School)
3. A sincere and inspiring brand voice
Works well for: Edtech, secondary schools, further and higher education, STEM resources, brands with a focus on academic achievement, experimental schools
Example: Teach First
With the aim of recruiting high-performing graduates to teach in underprivileged schools, an inspirational, aspirational brand voice is a natural fit for Teach First. The first heading you see on their homepage is “Lead from the front”, a stirring call-to-action directly addressed to their target audience of graduates with a desire to make a difference.
How to use this voice in your education marketing:
- Employ short, direct sentences beginning with action verbs.
- Use “you” and “we” to suggest belonging to a wider movement.
- Include future-focused language, such as “inspire the next generation” or “help young people achieve their potential”.
- Show authority and urgency with statistics.
- Classic persuasive language techniques, such as groups of three and appeals to emotion, work well.
- Make sparing use of technical language, explained clearly, to show authority and expertise. (This is not a free jargon pass.)
This brand voice as a primary school motto:
“Rise above the ordinary.” (St Mary’s CE Academy)
Questions to consider when choosing a brand voice for your education marketing
Use these reflective questions to help you decide which style best matches your mission, audience, and personality.
Warm and welcoming brand voice
- Are you trying to build a community?
- Does your audience need reassurance or a sense of safety?
- Are you comfortable showing the human stories behind your brand?
Fun and playful brand voice
- Are you trying to stand out and offer something a little different?
- Is your audience looking for joy or light relief?
- Are you comfortable with low stakes risks like making jokes?
Sincere and inspiring brand voice
- Are you trying to start a movement or make a big change?
- Are your audience passionate and waiting to be activated?
- Are you ready to prove yourself as a brand?
A distinctive brand voice is possible
Education brands can and do stand out with their brand tone of voice. The examples we’ve looked at show it’s possible to find a voice that’s both reassuring and engaging, creative yet clear. When done well (and supported by research, where possible), the right brand voice doesn’t just make you stand out. It tells your audience who you really are.
Want to see more examples?
Read my blog post about adapting brand tone of voice for different education sector audiences.
Find Your Voice
Need help with your brand voice?
I love helping brands dig deeper into their values to find a voice that works for them.
