You’ve wondered how to inject a little personality into your copy… And we’ve talked about writing with tone before (right here).
Now you can learn from one of the masters of voice and tone, Kate Kiefer Lee of MailChimp fame. Cuz I sat her down and picked her brain for 25 minutes! The result is a power-packed discussion you should listen to while you workout, while you’re drafting copy or, well, how ’bout right now?
Here’s what you’ll find in this short audio-only chat:
1:40 – The distinction between voice and tone
3:04 – How Kate describes the MailChimp tone that people love
4:05 – One technique to instantly get in a conversational frame of mind
6:01 – The business case for working on your copy’s tone
7:55 – Can you simply ‘add’ tone to your copy?
8:12 – Excellent rule of thumb for EXACTLY when to get friendly with your tone
8:27 – Kate gives an example of where the MailChimp tone can be especially lighthearted
8:37 – Where you should never, ever get heavy-handed with your personality
9:18 – I offer an example of how I’ve seen heavy-handed tone get in the way of UX
10:36 – Kate tells us how tone at MailChimp can sometimes offend – and what she does when that happens
13:05 – What if writing with personality doesn’t come naturally to you? How can startups write with tone?
14:16 – The best place to start when you’re determining your tone
14:52 – What happens when you’re unsure of what your reader is feeling or thinking? What about the grey areas in user experiences – like writing Help text?
15:23 – The 1 area where you can almost ALWAYS get friendlier with your tone
15:39 – Questions to ask yourself before you write copy
16:07 – A quick way to break down your messages to know when to get tonal… and when to ease off
16:56 – Does it help to have a mascot, like Freddie the Chimp, if you want to get really playful in your copy?
18:24 – What Freddie is never allowed to say
19:08 – Why do people love Freddie so much?
19:29 – READER QUESTION: “Should I even bother trying to develop a tone of voice?”
21:34 – Where your voice should REALLY come from!
22:26 – The #1 thing startups can learn to do better by paying attention to MailChimp’s copy
23:30 – What Kate loves most about working for MailChimp
Follow Kate on Twitter and tweet your followers to check this out
Get the MailChimp voice-and-tone guide
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