Spring 2020

The Importance of Tone
This essay came in our inbox the other day, and we thought we’d share an excerpt of it. The author is
Robert Rose from the Content Marketing Institute.
After 26 years of marriage, there are
very few things my wife Elizabeth
and I still fight about. But when we
do fight, it’s rarely about something
one or the other said, but rather the
way it was said.
It’s really not the tone itself that
causes the argument. It’s the
meaning the listener infers from
the speaker’s tone – which might
or might not be the actual meaning
that was intended. I can tell you
from experience that my first name
can mean many things, depending
on the tone in which it’s said.
Beyond communicating meaning,
tone of voice also contains strong
signals about who we are and
whether we’re believable. Audiences
can pick up on clues about where
speakers (and writers) are from, their
education level, age, values, sincerity,
and authority simply from their
tone.
Of course, it’s possible to misinterpret
every one of those things.
That’s where the depth of trust
between speaker and listener is
helped by using a variety of tones of
voice. As Stephen M. R. Covey said
in his book The Speed of Trust, “In a
high-trust relationship, you can say
the wrong thing, and people will get
your meaning. In a low trust relationship,
you can be very measured,
even precise, and they’ll still misinterpret
you.”
How we speak, listen, and associate
meaning with communication is
influenced by our experience and
our recognition of tonal patterns.
When brand communicators
struggle with what to say, it’s not
that we’re always seeking the right
words. It may be because we don’t
have the right way to say it. If we
work on developing multiple tones
of voice, we’ll develop deeper
trust with our audiences. And then
everything from the goofiest tweet
to communicating the actions we’re
taking in a global crisis will land better
– both because of what we say
and the way we choose to say it.
It’s your story. Tell it well.
2