This is the 2nd piece in a 3-post series on the ABCs of Voice Values, featuring H-P.

What can your Voice Values teach you about your business brand beyond just how your brand sounds? Today we’re in the middle of the alphabet.

‘H’ is for Handbook

When you’ve grown your business to the point where you need a small team to help you run things, it’s time for an Organizational Handbook —  a guide to the principles and protocol that establish the tone of the brand conversation and norms of doing business. As you might’ve guessed, a brand with a high Audacity value is a different animal than a brand with a high Intimacy value, and the norms will reflect that.

‘I’ is for Insider Status

Every brand has an ‘insider’ component to it. As brand creators, we can design special opportunities for the innermost circle — or uppermost tier, if you prefer to think of it that way — of readers, subscribers, clients, etc. (those who are most highly engaged). How different would the insider communications of a brand with a high Transparency value be from that of a brand with a high Power value?

‘J’ is for Joint Ventures

When brands high in certain Voice Values get together with brands high in other Voice Values — it’s a beautiful, compelling thing that makes good intuitive sense to all who see it. But there are certain Voice Values that should never intentionally mix (at least not in a joint venture or collaborative project). Can you guess which Voice Values would be complementary to your own, and which would be anything but?

‘K’ is for KISS Principle

You know the KISS Principle: Keep It Simple, Not-Very-Nice-Word. While simplicity aids clarity and clarity is something most brands could use an extra helping of, ‘simple’ looks different from brand to brand. A brand with a high Depth value will render clarity differently than will a brand with a high Playfulness value.

‘L’ is for Lived Realities

Do you grok life as your Right Person knows it? Is your Most Likely To Buy Person more than a thumbnail sketch to you, more than a creative writing exercise, more than a theoretical proposition? Successful business brands marinate themselves in the lived realities of their Right Person’s experience — past, present, and future — so as to understand what will connect with her and why, and what will miss the boat. (This is what we help our clients do in Empathy Marketing.)

‘M’ is for Market-ing

While there are best practices in marketing that we highly encourage you to learn about, market-ing is a highly specific process. It’s about preparing your offers for the marketplace where your Right Person will encounter and receive them. It’s an intimate and exciting endeavor, and market-ing looks different from one Voice Value to the next.

‘N’ is for Needs

Needs. We’ve all got ’em, including your Right Person. Just what are his needs in the context of what you provide? Understanding your Right Person’s core needs on a deep level is the beginning of crafting an offer he would love to buy from you. Moreoever, understanding the needs that draw him to you because of your Voice Values can provide many clues as to what he wants to buy. People drawn to a high Legacy value need something quite different than people drawn to a high Innovation value.

‘O’ is for Oversights

We’ve all got blind spots, and so do the brands we lead. That’s okay to some degree, because as brand creators, we aren’t here to speak to all people’s needs — just our Right Person’s. But in the context of our Voice Values, it’s easy to go so far in one direction that we stop seeing the forest for the trees. Learning more about your Voice Values can sensitize you to where your own blind spots may be in relationship to your Right People.

‘P is for Packages

What suite of solutions or services does your Right Person want to buy from you in a single transaction? What’s the core offer and the complementary features she’ll be looking for? Your Voice Values hold some clues. Someone buying from a high Excellence brand is looking for a different sort of package than someone buying from a high Community brand.

I’m currently in the creation process for Voice Values Profiles. These beautifully designed digital dossiers will explore and explain how your natural, innate Voice Values work to serve your Right People and help you sell more of your products and services. There will be a pre-sale with a one-time-only-and-ever discount. To get on the list for this announcement (which will not be made publicly), sign up below with your best email address.

In the next post, I’ll introduce ‘Q’+.

In the comments, I’d love to know:

What are you most curious about from this list above? What are you already noticing about how your Voice Values inform your business and your branding?