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Brand voice for a small business

Written by Jack Harrington and Gabriel Pozo, the founders of Urban Media, Melbourne. Updated .

Brand voice is how your business sounds in writing and speech. When it is written down, every post, email and web page sounds like the same business, even when different people write them.

General guidance from the studio, from how we write brand guidelines for new businesses.

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Step 1: pick three traits

Choose three words for how you want to sound, such as direct, warm and practical. Then write what each one means in practice and what it is not.

Step 2: words to use and avoid

  • A short list of words you use for your product, your customers and your process.
  • A list of words you never use, such as jargon and empty hype.
  • How you talk about price: plainly, with the number and what it covers.

Step 3: show it in examples

Write the same message three ways: a headline, a social caption and a reply to an enquiry. Keep the best version of each as the reference.

Step 4: put it in the style guide

Add the traits, the word lists and the examples to the one-page brand guide, next to the logo and colours, so anyone who writes for you can match it.

Where Urban Launch fits

Voice is part of the brand step in Urban Launch, and it carries into the website copy and the content, so everything reads as one business.

Official sources

This guide was checked against these official pages on 15 October 2026. Rules change, so confirm on the source before you rely on a detail.

More guides for new businesses

All of them are on the guides page.

Who is behind this

Jack Harrington and Gabriel Pozo, the founders of Urban Media, on a shoot in Melbourne

Urban Launch is built and run by Urban Media (ABN 28 169 446 902), a Melbourne studio founded by Jack Harrington and Gabriel Pozo. Urban Media makes video, design and websites for clients including Box Hill United, Brighton Grammar and Porsche Club Victoria.

If you want to talk to the people doing the work, call 0456 785 904. More about who we are, and how to check us, is on the About page.

Jack Harrington, co-founder of Urban Media, on how Urban Launch works. Captions are on screen.

Common questions

What is brand voice?
How your business sounds in writing and speech, described as a few traits plus the words you use and avoid.
How do I define a brand voice?
Pick three traits, list words to use and avoid, write the same message three ways, and add the result to your brand guide.
Does a small business need a brand voice?
Yes, if more than one person writes for it, or if you want every page and post to sound like the same business.
Where should I write the brand voice down?
In your one-page brand guide, next to the logo, colours and fonts.

Start with a Launch Call

Live and generating enquiries within 45 days, or we keep working at no extra cost until you are. The Launch Call is where we check it is the right fit before we book anything in. For a real example, read the Airwize case study (12 conversions, meaning leads that became sales, in the first month of Google Ads from $70 of ad spend, our figures). You can also read how a launch package compares with hiring separately, or go to the packages and prices on the homepage. If you are setting up from scratch, see the business start-up package.

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More: Brand and website package, Melbourne, Startup package for a new business, Melbourne, Branding, website and photography package, Melbourne.