Having an authentic brand voice matters more than ever. But lately with AI, so much online content feels eerily mundane, stale and repetitive. Even communities where creativity is meant to thrive are quickly becoming a cacophony of generic voices and AI-generated imagery.
So, we have to ask: Is your team building a brand voice based on authenticity and trust, or are they just generating content to check a box on their to-do lists?
Marketers — and everyone else — are using AI tools like ChatGPT to get more done in less time. And it’s true; many things, including the production of written content, are exponentially more efficient with AI. However, we’ve found that some of our favorite brands have lost the unique essence that once helped them stand out from their competitors. At the same time, others have stronger brands than ever (We see you, Wendy’s!).
The main differentiators? How marketing teams are leveraging generative content tools and the guardrails brands are building around them.
Building an authentic brand matters in the AI era
Many companies are championing the same headline: “With our new AI tool, anyone can generate content faster than ever!” But to a brand marketer, that sounds more like a warning than a win. Speed without strategy can quickly dilute a message and erode brand trust.
We see it happening every day on LinkedIn and Google as people post content that feels watered down, boring and misaligned with their company’s mission. So, how do you stop it from happening to your brand? We have some ideas.
Create a brand guide that goes deeper
Does having an authentic brand — and using AI — matter to you? Start here. A brand guide is essential for achieving brand consistency. Historically, these documents outlined logos and color palettes, tone of voice and writing style. But now that everyone on the team has a content-generating tool at their fingertips, brand guides must dive deeper into the details to keep everyone aligned.
A modern brand guide should go beyond visuals to protect and reinforce a distinct identity. At a minimum, your brand guide needs to include the following:
- In-depth context, not just about how your brand looks, but how it thinks and speaks.
- Audience insights to ensure your team knows who they are talking to and what those people care about. Include personas, customer pain points, buying behaviors, and other elements.
- Examples of how tone of voice rules might flex depending on the context (e.g., when is it OK to take a more casual vs. formal tone?)
- Guidelines for using AI-generated content. Concrete examples are key. For instance, offer a comparison of “on-brand” language vs. an “off-track” message.
Creating a comprehensive, detailed brand guide will make it a more useful training tool and reference point for everyone in your company, from IT to customer service and sales.
Build a brand-specific prompt library
Want to sound more authentic? Help your team adhere to brand guidelines when using generative AI tools by providing them with pre-approved prompts that are aligned with your company’s voice, tone, values and goals. An example prompt for a LinkedIn post might look like this:
“Write a LinkedIn post about [TOPIC] in the voice of [Brand Name]. The tone should be confident, clear, and a bit witty. Avoid jargon. Start with a bold statement, include one main insight, and end with a call to action.”
Or, a more generic prompt that could be used prior to generating any content could be something like this:
“Before generating content, always remember: [Brand Name]’s voice is [e.g., smart, warm, direct]. We speak like real people, avoid fluff, and focus on clarity. We never sound overly formal, salesy, or generic. Our audience is [DESCRIPTION], and they value [VALUES].”
Putting guardrails on generative content can go a long way toward keeping everyone aligned and your brand authentic (which matters in this AI era).
Create a prompt library for your brand and make sure everyone on your team has access and understands how to use it. Take this one step further and train a custom version of ChatGPT with your brand’s content, tone and values, remembering to test and retrain until you get the best results.
Centralize content strategy and oversight
In today’s wild west of content, a lot of things can go wrong very quickly. Whether it’s led by the brand team, your content team or an outside agency, have a plan for who signs off on ALL content, AI-generated or otherwise. AI should accelerate content creation, but it should never replace the editorial judgement of experienced professionals — your authentic brand voice matters, after all!
Just as important as the content approval process is a process for flagging off-brand content. Build in regular content audits and team reviews to help catch inconsistencies before they start to dilute your brand.
Train your team, not just your AI tools to keep your brand authentic
It really matters. A well-trained team is your best defense against brand drift. With generative AI so easily accessible, we all get a little punchy and excited to push out content before we’ve done a brand check. Regular brand training, well-branded internal materials and a brand-first culture are the absolute best investments you can make to keep your brand strong.
Together, these tools create a strong foundation for brand consistency across your organization. When used intentionally, they make it easier for everyone to represent your brand with clarity.
Prevent AI overusage from hurting your brand
AI can be a great way to kick-start brainstorming, analyze a transcript or plan out a project. It can also be an awesome tool for writing a dreaded email or populating a quick post that you’ve been putting off. However, when it comes to longer-form or high-value content, a strong, human editorial voice that weaves the foundational elements of your brand will go a long way in resonating with readers and buyers.
Your brand and the content that supports it are your lifeline for nurturing trust with your customers and prospects. But take shortcuts, and your bottom line might pay the price.
- Generic content gets buried. Think no one reads your blog anyway, and you’re just using a quick blog prompted in an AI tool for SEO? Well, SEO as we know it is different, and now your marketing strategy should include fragmented search. And if you’re using minimally edited AI-generated content, you might not break through the noise at all.
- You’re not citing real data. Have you heard of an “AI hallucination?” It’s when an AI tool fabricates a fake data point or statistic. Why does it do this? According to MIT, it’s the training data sources — generative AI models are trained on vast amounts of internet data. This data, while rich in information, contains both accurate and inaccurate content, as well as societal and cultural biases. Buyers don’t want to be lied to.
- Human magic is missing. We’ll say it again: Buyers crave connection, even in tech and B2B environments. A trained human writer does more than put words on a page — they make them sing! (It’s art and science, baby). Experienced copywriters follow brand guidelines while infusing conversational elements and current trends into content. A pro will know how to vary sentence length and structures, avoid repetition, and, of course, when and where to place an em dash so it delivers just the right amount of impact.
A solid brand is like an old friend to your customers
David Ogilvy, considered by some to be the grandfather of advertising, is credited with saying, “A brand is not just a product, it is the total of all the impressions a customer has, based on every interaction they have had with you, your company, and your products.”
Your brand is more than your logo or the colors on your website. It’s how people feel when they engage with your company. Buyers want to feel a connection, especially in crowded categories like tech. A solid, consistent brand builds credibility because it shows customers they can trust your business to deliver on its promises, every time and across every interaction.
In a world with thousands of SaaS and AI tools, brand trust and voice are the differentiators. When a company builds a brand, there’s a lot that goes into the process. But done right, it’s well worth the investment.
Your brand is your edge: Use it wisely
For businesses, your brand is one of the few things you truly own. To build brand credibility and stand out from the AI-generated noise, you need a clear, consistent voice rooted in strategy. This is one area where a shortcut could tank everything.
The bottom line for building an authentic brand that matters in this AI era? Invest in your brand, enforce the rules and bring in the right partners to help you scale it with intention.