S1. Ep17 - AI Brand Voice: How to Make ChatGPT Write Like You

Katie: Welcome to the AI Automations for Business Podcasts. We're your hosts, Katie and Null, and we'll be discussing how you can use AI for your business along with the latest news, updates and automations to help you stay ahead of the curve, allowing you to grow and scale your business more efficiently. Please be sure to subscribe and I hope you enjoy this episode. Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode. Hello, hi, I'm Katie and I've got Noel here with me. Noel.

Noel: Hello.

Katie: How you doing?

Noel: Oh, excellent as always.

Katie: Good, good, good, good. What are we talking about this week, Noel?

Noel: I thought we talked about brand voice and how to implement that into your AI strategies.

Katie: Mm-hmm. Yes. I feel like it's something that's being bounced around a lot at the moment. Wouldn't you agree?

Noel: Definitely, yes. And it needs to.

Katie: Yeah. And well, how I'm seeing it is it's coming up a lot, like for me, I see it on social media, it's how to train your AI to sound like you. I feel like it's coming up a lot like that, or how to make chat GPT your bestie, which makes me cringe a little bit, but hey, if it works, it works. Do you know what I mean? Yeah.

Noel: It's not my bestie because he told me off the other week. Oh,

Katie: yeah, but besties do that, Noel.

Noel: They do, yeah, it told me the honest truth, you know, so it's all right, yeah, fair enough.

Katie: That's the real besting. Yeah.

Noel: No void.

Katie: Okay, so we're actually going to switch roles a little bit on our podcast today.

Noel: Yeah, I know. That's scary.

Katie: So now we've got asked the questions. Oh, no.

Noel: I guess where should we? start like what why should people be interested or want to implement a brand voice why should they bother

Katie: yeah i get it so let's start with like why you need one and what a brand voice is so let's get clear on on that so i would say your brand voice is like your personality your tone of voice it's your your style that you and your business used. So this is on your website, your social media, your emails,

Noel: podcasts,

Katie: how you talk to your clients and how you deliver content, like in courses or programmes. It's how you say what you say. So I like to think of it is it's like your. your business vibe in words and energy. So you could be like bold and cheeky, or you might be someone like you know who's a bit calm and grinded.

Noel: It's not what it says about my brand voice.

Katie: Really? Yeah. Tell us what your chaty-tie best that you said about you?

Noel: It was friendly and informative. Should I take that?

Katie: I can't remember what else is,

Noel: isn't it?

Katie: I would agree with that. Yeah.

Noel: We've got like a thousand word brand voice. I can't remember exactly what it says about me. Right.

Katie: I mean, that is a very in-depth brand voice.

Noel: It is very thorough. Why?

Katie: That's probably maybe a bit too thorough, if I'm being honest.

Noel: It doesn't. a good job, though.

Katie: Okay.

Noel: Give it that. Yeah. It's a very good job.

Katie: Yeah. So friendly, you could be empowering. You might maybe be sassy, encouraging, conversational. But what a brand voice does is it makes you recogniseable. So it might be the way you say things, how you say things. Maybe it's certain phrases or words like Noel always says. I'm amazing. You know, and there's other, like, catchphrases that people use, and you know straight away that it's them.

Noel: I hear that a lot when I edit this podcast. I think, oh, I've said that again. Yeah.

Katie: So obviously, it should sound like you, how you normally talk and show up. You don't want your brand voice where you've got put on a character because then that makes it like really difficult for you to be consistent because that's what you want. You want to be able to sound consistent across the whole of your content and the, you know, across all of your platforms. So people can start reading something even if they can't see your name or, you know, your brand colours or fonts or, you know, a photo. they can read something, can be like, yeah, that sounds like that person, that sounds like Noel, that sounds like Katie. And it kind of also helps you attract your dream clients as well, because if you're, you know, coming across with your energy, with your personality and, you know, the tone of voice that you say it, you will attract the right people, but also at the same time, you'll like piss people off or you'll annoy people or people will be like, oh my goodness, they are so not for me. And that's totally fine.

Noel: Yeah.

Katie: We can't please everyone. No, we don't need everyone to like us or anything. But yeah, as well, like your brand voice will help you connect with your community, with your dream clients. So that's why it is. so important and that's why you need to have one. So I would say a lot of people when they are using AI like Claude, chat GP2, deep seek, they haven't actually inserted or trained their AI best to their brand voice. They kind of just said write me a post about this and I need a hook and a call to action. Yeah.

Noel: I also find that some people miss like the real key bit as well. So there's obviously the difference in languages. So for us, everything that's kicked out in English in chat DUPT and any AI is all American English. So as in the UK, there's a lot of people that forget to say, give it to me in UK English. That's a real simple thing to do.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: A lot of people miss that, so yeah.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: That's really interesting. But what kind of, obviously, it's kind of brand voice is more like you, but then should we also include like our business values and their sort of traits within that brand voice? Or is it just all about you as the person?

Katie: I think your brand and business values, actually come through quite naturally most of the time when you're speaking.

Noel: Yeah.

Katie: Especially like when you're delivering content or courses or programmes. I think for most people it, you know, it's quite clear to understand what they believe in and, you know, because your content kind of does that work for you. And obviously within that content, it's you saying it, or writing it.

Noel: But I guess if you have like a team of people.

Katie: Yes, so then you need to train your team of people. So if, for example, there is a face of the business, but you have a team behind you, but you want people to think that you are replying to every comment, every message, then you need to train your team on your tone of voice. Or it could be that you have a business and you're quite happy for people to know that actually it's your team answering comments and questions. There still needs to be a brand voice behind that.

Noel: Yes, definitely.

Katie: So when I've been community managers for people, Like, one of the first things I do is make myself very familiar with their brand voice. Because there's no point, you know, someone building a business and say their brand voice is, it's empowering, it's calm, it's friendly. And then you've got a member of staff coming in and being really sarcastic and, you know, swearing. you know that's just not going to go down well

Noel: no they're definitely not

Katie: yeah stands

Noel: out like a sore thumb as well isn't it

Katie: yeah and then that's not providing your clients good customer service and if they're not getting good customer service then they're going to leave and it's going to cost you clients

Noel: well we don't want that

Katie: no we don't want that

Noel: bad times

Katie: yeah very bad times

Noel: Yeah. Okay. What kind of things should be put in a brand voice?

Katie: Is there any particular, like,

Noel: traits or characteristics that we need in their, like, tone, language, those sort of things. Is there any things that we definitely need to include?

Katie: Yeah, so definitely the tone. I feel like that's really important. Like what we were saying just now, like, is it friend? Is it sassy? Is it direct? Is it empowering? Is it calm? Like, that's really important. And then the language, even, like, do you use things like you are or your? Do not or don't. Even those little things make a huge difference.

Noel: Absolutely, yeah.

Katie: Yeah. So, again, it would be the language used.

Noel: Yeah.

Katie: For sure. I think that's really, really important to make sure. you've got that like sustate because you think oh it's not that important but actually your language style is what kind of I don't want to say gives you away for using AI because there's nothing wrong with using AI to create content but it's just to I guess make sure that it definitely is consistent. Like your communication style is consistent. Yeah.

Noel: Since I've really started using a brand voice for our stuff, you know, I would, you know, ask why I use Claude and I use chat to BT.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: You know, I ask it and say, well, could you correct me a draft for this? And, you know, I sit back and I read it. It's not 100% perfect, but I read it and I think, I would say that. Yeah. I think it gets me now, which is. nice. There's a lot less editing going on. Yeah.

Katie: And I think it's really important as well to, like if you don't use, like, so for example, when I'm doing my marketing and business coaching content, I don't put in a lot of jargon. I'm not overly formal. And I don't use a lot of buzzwords like here's the kicker like yeah it's the kicker but even like you know because before I kind of really like nailed my brand voice when I was using chat GPT it would come out with words like badass and I'm like well I would never use that word but I know what other people do yes or I would never use the word baddy whereas you know a lot of people are using that but for me that's those aren't words that I would use

Noel: yeah I think it's kind of important to you know once you've kind of created that brown voice is to you know test it out and then if you start seeing those words creep in but you can easily add those in and say well never use these phrases So that's something you can build up over time, so you can delete those.

Katie: Yeah, and then you can also say, but these are the phrases that I do use. Yes.

Noel: Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Katie: Yeah. Okay.

Noel: Yeah, it's really important to get that right.

Katie: Yeah, really important.

Noel: Okay. I just try to think if there's any other questions I've got. Do you think there's any other hot topics on this that we need to cover?

Katie: So I would like to ask you questions now.

Noel: Oh no. Oh no.

Katie: I'd just like to point out like Noel was just throwing these questions at me.

Noel: It's like me every week.

Katie: But now the tables are turned. Yeah.

Noel: Go on. Hit me with it.

Katie: So for those. people who are currently using AI to write their content, and they want it to sound more like them, what would be the first step in that process?

Noel: So, I guess the first step that I took was, obviously, I have a chat with AI. I said, well, I need to create a brand voice. it needs to have, so I can quickly read through what mine has. Not with 1,000 words, it'll be a while.

Katie: No, no, no, no.

Noel: So I've got like tone.

Katie: Don't worry. If anyone's listening, you're thinking, oh my God, is all about to read out a thousand words? No, I would not allow that. That would be a very hard edit out of this podcast episode.

Noel: Put it on two times speed. So I have one cut into sections. So I've got tone, language, personality. and I think I've got, yeah, so I've got the brand personality as well, the business.

Katie: So I

Noel: said to it, look, these are the core things I want to capture. You know, I want it to be like a detailed thing that I can then use going forward. So it was like, you know, so it get to understand that first. And then was like, right, here's everything that I've personally written. You know, I haven't put in other AI generated stuff.

Katie: You know,

Noel: it's everything that I've done, everything that I may have said, or read. I even gave it a transcript from this podcast. I cut you out, unfortunately, Katie. But I said, yeah, that's me. That's what I talk about. And then off it went, you created my 1,000 word brand voice, you know, which I lovingly keep in a document. And then whenever I need it, I have, like, projects set up, so you could set up a project in chat, GPT or Claude. And then, yeah, just input that in there. just remember that going forward. That's kind of how I solve the problem.

Katie: Yeah, I think giving it content that you have written without any AI help is really important. And I think that's a massive key to finding your brand voice if you're not entirely sure what it is or even how about creating your brand voice.

Noel: Yeah, even if you've never written anything like that before. I mean, you could always just write something down. You know, it doesn't matter what it is, I guess.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: As long as it's long enough. So I think for me, I put in like 10 posts, podcast transcripts. I didn't put a huge amount into it.

Katie: No, I don't remember putting a huge amount in either. I think I put in maybe like five to 10 social media posts that I had.

Noel: yeah that's plenty as long as they're like varied so

Katie: they're not

Noel: like say they're not like time posted they're the exact same format you know that that could be a bit yeah a bit boring kind of because then it's just I suppose if that's the format that you're writing I suppose that's

Katie: fine but

Noel: yeah try and vary the content so it can understand you a bit

Katie: more yeah yeah so like

Noel: a blog or you know social media posts you mix the two together

Katie: I also find I don't know know if this is actually doing anything but sometimes like if I write a post on on my own I think you know that sounds absolutely bloody brilliant I put that into chat GPT yeah and kind of like you know tell it like

Noel: this is a good one yeah that's a zinger yeah yeah It goes, what's this rubbish?

Katie: Yeah, I could have written it ten times, but let me reword it. No, no, no, no, no, no.

Noel: No, let me put some M-Dashers in there for you.

Katie: Double emoji.

Noel: Oh, no, we don't need those. No.

Katie: That has actually stopped me because I love putting the images in my content. Like, you know, I write a lot of Instagram posts. And I love whacking it. images and I must say now I don't put in like the basic emojis and you know I have to like really think or like chat GPT would probably put in this emoji so I'm not going to put in that emoji I'm going to put in something completely different then sometimes I think do know what that emoji would work really well with it and I can't because it's just two images so sometimes I only put one or sometimes I have put in three

Noel: it never does three I remember when you first told me it was a while ago now that double emoji is the biggest fingerprint of all that's a good point and I remember I was testing how AI would use like the search function and create posts from searches and as a Formula One fan I used like one of the racers and one of the drivers have broke down and basically used the formula one car emoji with like the wind emoji so it looked like it was like steam coming out the back and I was like that's a real good use of a double emoji

Katie: yeah I mean sometimes

Noel: you just

Katie: start going with the double emoji if it works it works but I'd like to just say like it's okay to use AI to write your content it the most important thing is is that your energy, your vibe, your personality comes through. So even people, like, don't even think, you know, are people going to know I've used AI? Like, don't even think that. Just think, does this sound like me? You know, am I happy with putting this post site? The answer is, yes and yes, post it. Don't get hung up about anything else. I think that's really important.

Noel: Definitely, yeah.

Katie: Because the flex isn't, oh, can you tell if AI has written this? The real flex is like your vibe, your personality and your energy has come through this piece of content so much that your audience go, wow, like, I want to know more or I want to work with this person or do you know what? That really resonated with me. I'm going to hit the follow button.

Noel: Yeah, it makes sense, yeah. I guess it's kind of also like if you were using like generic or content that didn't sound like you, it kind of be a bit weird if you then got on a call with that customer because they'd be like, wow, this is, they're completely different. You know, they've talked completely differently. You know, it's, yeah.

Katie: Yeah, I've seen like previous clients of mine use AI to write. their content and it's not that I'm like there's those tell tell signs that they've used AI I know they've used AI because it sounds nothing like them

Noel: yeah it's a big problem yeah

Katie: so I'm reading it and I'm thinking this doesn't sound anything like them so it's obviously generated by AI and that's the giveaway it's not the m dash it's not the double emoji it's not the tell-tel, you know, chat-GBT buzzwords, like, here's the kicker or, you know, anything like that. It's just purely that it has zero of their personality in it.

Noel: Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense, yeah. Yeah.

Katie: So even if you, you know, you haven't got your brand voice quite right yet using AI, just go through it and then just be like, like actually would I say that word or is there something else I might say or, you know, just feel free to like change things up as well. And I've noticed as well like chat GPT uses the Oxford comma a lot and I don't use the Oxford comma. So that's something.

Noel: I didn't even know what that is.

Katie: Honestly, since chat GPT has been around, so many. of us are learning more and more about punctuation and grammar. And I just think this is great for all of us. Yeah.

Noel: Is that the comma before and and?

Katie: Yes.

Noel: Is it?

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: Yeah. Yeah, it does like that, doesn't it. I don't like it.

Katie: I mean, I can tell you didn't listen to Vampire Weekend. No, because they've got a whole song about Oxford comma and it's like one of my most favorite songs of all time.

Noel: That's in my Royal Navy music black hole, I think.

Katie: Yeah, I think so. You Whereas it's like my indie nights out on a Friday night dancing for like six hours straight. Yeah.

Noel: I just had the World Service for company.

Katie: Had times.

Noel: Yeah.

Katie: I had vampire weekend. I don't use the winner here.

Noel: What is the weathering doggar? Oh, wow.

Katie: The sea state. Oh, God, I've always wanted to know that.

Noel: Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, Friday night out.

Katie: Amazing. Okay, well, I think we've covered everything about Brand Voice. If anyone's listening and you're thinking, actually, I've got some questions, either, you know, get in touch with us or come over into our free LinkedIn group, which is called AI Automation for Business. We're in there, and we will answer anything. You're very welcome to join. It's open to anyone. Although, like Noel said last week, apart from if you're a scammer.

Noel: Awkward. We haven't seen any yet. We've got some lovely people in there.

Katie: Oh, so many lovely people. Yeah. Well, if you've enjoyed this, please feel free to leave us a review. We would be so honored if you did. And we will catch you next time for any. another episode very soon.