Unpopular Opinion: Finding Your Own Voice is Overrated
Find your voice and use it – it’s unique! Good advice for life, art, poetry, and personal channels. Copywriters, however, know there’s a catch.
Tone of Voice. One of the trickiest parts of brand guidelines. Colors have precise RGB and CMYK codes, layouts have clear templates, but text? Text is slippery. Most guides end up with abstracted descriptions or Do’s and Don’ts lists. Nothing wrong with that, but it all comes down to the writer’s take. What is confidence? Warmth? Approachable? Ask a local corner store shopper versus a luxury boutique regular – you’ll get very different answers.
The Copywriter’s Hat Rack is Full
Copywriting can be tightly scoped but endlessly varied. Scripts, ads, wordplay, editorial work, social content, even poetry – all on the same head. And clients? Equally diverse: heavy industry, consumer brands, niche services, shiny innovations, old classics. Each client is (hopefully) different from the next. One experience doesn’t teach you the next.
The world is full of voices, text, and chatter. Consistency is key. But here’s the million-dollar question: whose voice are you loyal to – yours or your client’s?
Of course, developing your own voice matters. It’s part of your identity as a writer and a person. Love your strengths, be aware of your blind spots.
But when writing for a client, your voice takes a backseat. Even if you’re not naturally blunt, whimsical, or verbose, as a copywriter, you must be sometimes. For a moment, your pen is the brand. What you produce isn’t yours: it belongs to the client. One of the most essential copywriting skills is to switch personas effortlessly.
No Hangover? You’re Doing It Right
Many writers recognize that client work feels different from writing under your own name, even if the audience is smaller in the latter case. And yes, reading this, I’m probably feeling the publishing hangover. Again! It’s human and humbling.
Don’t get me wrong. Every content creator wants their work to succeed and hit the mark – that’s the paycheck (or lack thereof, which strangely motivates, too).
But the writer’s “hangover” isn’t about the content. It’s about exposure. “This is me. This is my voice.” Success in client work is the opposite: you don’t reveal yourself. That’s when you and the brand become one.
So if you stress less over client posts than your personal LinkedIn, that’s a good sign – you’ve adopted the client’s voice well enough! After that, it’s just about who gets to tell the story.
Your client’s audience doesn’t need your personal voice. And that’s a relief.
Annika Ohtonen
The author is a Creative Lead whose natural tone of voice tends to ramble.
