“If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?”
- Writer for DDI on Medium
- Jun 24
- 4 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
In 2017, the company I worked for closed. The economy was shrinking — something I would later hear echoing through the fears of my clients. Prior to starting TheBrandTUB, I developed websites and designed marketing materials for big brands and small businesses. While the work was somewhat fulfilling, the pay wasn’t. Graphic designers and web developers were a dime a dozen, so beyond the numerical value, companies and clients never understood much else.
There is something to acknowledge about the perseverance of the human spirit when it’s at its breaking point.
When all you have is 20 dollars to show for your work and you have a family to feed, when you’re told your worth is 2 thousand dollars, but your tuition could’ve bought you a Hilux! Or when life or nature throws you a curveball and you have to start from scratch, push through, or stay stuck in a life you didn’t design for yourself? You start thinking differently about everything!
So, things took off for me when I started selling one-page websites, but the gig was more impactful when I called it TheOne-PageProject™ and gave it a voice. Losing money and not being liked are real fears for new businesses. Many perspectives were shared on why “I don’t have a target market per se”, and why “I don’t want to create the wrong vibe with my images” that made me feel like screaming Shake The Cock N Bull Stories™; be you: let the things that’s different about you, lead with that, show that, let that stand out!
I didn’t make money during COVID, got invited by Regus in 2020 to present, was published by Bootcamp, closed a big client last year when everyone was crying about the forex shortage, or even got shared on Candace Owens stories by appealing to everyone, or trying to fit in. I earned those things by being true to myself!
I worked on my voice and owned everything about it.
WHAT IS A BRAND VOICE?
All the information you’ve read about what a brand’s voice is expresses what it does and what it includes, but never what it is.
My perspective on a brand’s voice? It’s a call out of something into something else:
1. Come out of her, my people, be not partakers of her sins 2. Shake the cock n bull stories, let your freak flag fly 3. Put frustration in your past by stepping into a variety of comfortable dress shoes 4. Restore the health of your feet in 60 days or less 5. Launch your beauty business in 60 days or less
6. Wouldn’t it be nice to have control over how much money lands in your pocket?
This call is designed with specific people in mind, so regardless of what it tackles (I wrote about it in 2018), not everyone has the ear to hear it.
People will mock it
Measure it against what they do/ how they see things
Try in various ways to undermine it/ kill it
An entire nation crucified one man with 12 followers. It would be telling if people felt nothing at all about what comes out of your mouth.
A “No Cock N Bull” BRAND MESSAGE
Many use messaging as beautiful one-liners that manipulate or support a self-serving narrative.
On the low end of this spectrum, think:
"I was just like you.”
“If I were selling energy drinks, I’d stop talking only about the ingredients.“
"AI is the best employee.”
On the high end, think:
“Water for all.”
“The government is not going to close down Petrotrin.”
“Weapons of mass destruction.”
And somewhere in the middle, all the content you view that peddles a product or a laundry list of services, articles you’ve read (Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide, for eg) that's written to control a narrative, and stories you hear during general election campaigns (think selling Stuart Young’s “zammy” comment as bullying).
But messages connected to a brand’s voice are actually fully fleshed-out thoughts based in truth that collectively, dovetail a much more complicated picture in a digestible way for the listener.
Think:
1. Redemption 2. Visual branding for 1–3 man shows. 3. Custom-made Spanish leather shoes for men 4. 1–2 months intensive treatment for callus removal and fungal infection for women between the ages of 35–60 5. Beautiful skin and seriously healthy hair for men and women 6. The ONLY brand of polyurethane bushings COMPATIBLE with our Trinidad roads!
When the voice of one cried in the wilderness, his messages prepared the right people for the coming of Jesus Christ.
So this pretty talk of motivation and manipulation being two sides of the messaging coin is a perversion of the true purpose of messaging, which is for preparation.
How many times have you heard someone say, when they’re ready to work with you, “I’ve been following your work for a while”? Mentally, they’re prepared to experience your services because your messaging got them there.
The other thing about messaging is that it must bring out a picture. So, if you’ve ever posed as someone you’re not to seem relatable, you’re not doing yourself any favors if the goal is to be, at best, liked. And if you subtly pervert your messaging to play the convincing game, you’ll have a hard time earning trust because there is a disconnect somewhere.
Developing a voice with purpose takes time, but it’s a long game that most local small service businesses lack the stamina for.
HATTER’s must productize their solution not only to know what to say to their audience but also develop a language that describes their purpose, values, and what they sell, or risk sounding, well…similar.
Be honest, have you ever felt like saying something and “mellowed” it out instead? Have you ever admired someone’s writing style and tried to mimic it because you don’t know how to bring authenticity to what you say?
Differentiation isn’t similar, it’s different, and different is interesting.
Be interesting.
Listen to the message here:
