This past weekend I made a trip to my favorite local old-timey cocktail bar – you know the kind of place that prides itself on making all those fancy pre-prohibition concoctions that you read about in The Great Gatsby or see in the movies. At some point during the evening, I got to wondering why I enjoyed the place so much – the drinks are really good, but took a long time, they’re pretty expensive and it can be hard to find a seat in the place sometimes. Yet, this place is still my favorite for cocktails, bar-none.

As I watched the bartender make my drink, the care with which he executed every step of the process struck me. Precisely measuring each ingredient, giving just the right number of shakes, waiting until the drink is being made before cutting any fruit for garnish or flavor purposes – all of these things significantly increase the time it takes to get the drink, but also increase the quality dramatically. It’s not just the quality of the drinks, though. It’s the care itself that the bartenders take when crafting each drink that impresses me. It is indicative of the attention the managers and owners put into all the aspects of the business.

This brings me to my larger point. Care matters. Whether you’re crafting cocktails, writing a blog, building a house or formulating marketing strategies, it is important that you put care into the thing that you do. It matters because the result is important to your customer. Customers will notice when their vendor/manufacturer/bartender cares enough to do the job right. So be the one who takes care and craft something truly worthwhile.

The Wall Street Journal recently published an article describing how the tone and sound of a person’s voice can affect peoples’ opinion of that person in a variety of different ways. The scary part of this pre-judgement is that speakers usually have no idea how others feel because it is so difficult to hear your own voice. It can take a great deal of training and attention to make sure you’re speaking in a tone that allows you to present yourself in the way you’d like.

Similar dynamics are at play when you’re representing your company/brand/self online. So often we simply say/type/post the first thing that comes to mind. The important thing is to get yourself out there, right? This is only partly true. In fact, if you’re engaging your audience with the wrong tone and presentation, you can do a lot to harm your online presence. Here are some quick tips to make sure you’re engaging with tone in mind.

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1. Know your audience. Who is your primary customer? How do they talk, both in real life and online? Answering these questions will help you figure out if you need to be more casual or more formal with your audience. Is it ok to use slang or abbreviations? Do my customers prefer proper grammar over short statements?
2. Give your brand personality. If my brand were a movie star, who would it be? If it were a car? A historical figure? These questions will give you some examples to follow when acting as your brand online. Define these personifications and keep them in mind whenever you’re engaging with your audience.

3. Be consistent. Once you have defined the elements above, do your best not to stray, or slip into your own personal style. Consistency is important when developing rapport with customers and will help you to engage in more lasting and meaningful conversations. Too much fluctuation in your tone may cause your audience to lose interest and look elsewhere.

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If you have multiple people writing on behalf of your brand we’d recommend a Tone & Voice Guide.  It gives each of your writers the details they need to stay consistent with the tone of your organization and includes a special statement they can read aloud to help get in character for writing as your business.