Finding Your Brand Voice in 2026

By Jackie Wilson.

So, here we are. Knee deep in Q2 2026 already. And in blog after blog, there’s something everyone’s asking: Are personal brands the way to go? The personal voice, the individual voice, the My Story approach? And if so, what does it look like?

Well, here’s something to think about: 

The Virgin Group operates more than 400 companies across airlines, mobile, fitness, space travel, and financial services. They have massive marketing budgets and dedicated corporate social media teams. 

Yet none of their carefully managed company pages can touch the engagement Virgin boss Richard Branson generates simply by being himself - sharing personal stories, behind-the-scenes moments, and his entrepreneurial philosophy.

Every blog post Branson publishes on LinkedIn gets hundreds of thousands of views, creating free marketing for every Virgin brand. 

People don't follow Virgin Airlines or Virgin Mobile on LinkedIn; they follow Richard. They trust Richard. They want to do business with companies Richard stands behind.

Elsewhere, too, the numbers don't lie: A leading marketing agency looked at its own performance and found that employees’ personal LinkedIn profiles outperformed company pages, with five times the engagement, despite having a lower follower count. 

And this Entrepreneur article confirmed that re-posts from employees tended to achieve 561% (um, yes, that is not a typo!) greater reach than a company’s own page posts. 

The message is clear: “People prefer to engage with people,” not faceless brands.

Personal branding isn’t particularly ‘new’. At all. More people are cottoning on, though, that it can be powerful.

But here's where so many entrepreneurs get stuck.

They know they need a brand voice. And end up sounding like a desperate blend of corporate jargon and a motivational poster. Or their ‘voice’ changes completely depending on which platform they're publishing to, leaving potential clients confused. 

Your voice isn't something you invent; it's something you uncover. And if it’s truly yours, it’s so much easier to use consistently. 

Which is why I think it’s important to have a handle on three or four things you can do to tap into yours.

First of all: Your brand voice already exists - it's how you talk when, let’s say, you meet an old uni friend you haven’t seen in a while and you grab a cappuccino together and she says, “So tell me about this business of yours!.

The biggest mistake entrepreneurs make is thinking they need to sound "professional" or adopt some polished, corporate tone that bears no resemblance to how they actually communicate. 

Then they wonder why their content feels exhausting to create and fails to connect… 

Try this:

Start by recording yourself (voice notes work perfectly), answering these questions as if you're talking to someone you trust: What problem do you solve? Why does it matter? What makes you different? 

Don't script it, don't edit yourself, just talk. Listen back and notice the words you actually use, not the ones you think you should use. Do you swear occasionally? Use humour? Tell tangential stories? (All the time.) Get passionate and talk faster? These quirks aren't things to eliminate; they're your voice.

Your brand voice should feel like putting on your favourite well-worn jeans.

Have a go at defining your voice. You can't be consistent with something you haven't clearly defined.

This is where vague aspirations like "friendly and professional" die, and your actual voice comes alive. 

Easy enough to choose 3-4 specific attributes that describe how you communicate, but here's the crucial part: Try pairing each attribute with a concrete example of what that means in practice. 

"Conversational" could mean anything; "conversational—meaning I write like I'm talking to you across a table, which means sentence fragments are fine and I'll start sentences with 'and' or 'but'..." is usable guidance.

Try this:

Pick three attributes from this list (or better still, create your own): warm, direct, playful, irreverent, thoughtful, passionate, candid, educational, empowering, rebellious, sophisticated, wry, down-to-earth. 

For each one you choose, write two sentences: "This means I DO..." and "This means I DON'T..." For example: "Educational - This means I DO do my research and make sure I know what I’m talking about. But I DON'T sound preachy or overbearing and I DON’T assume I always know best."

Your brand voice isn't set in stone; it's something you strengthen through practice and feedback.

Here's what no one tells you about finding your voice: it takes time and iteration. You won't nail it perfectly in month one, and that's fine. What matters is that you start using your voice consciously, consistently and pay attention to what resonates. 

Try this:

Commit to consciously sticking with your defined voice for 90 days across all platforms. (Remember, it shouldn’t feel that hard.) Then review the data: Which posts got the most meaningful engagement (not just likes, but comments, saves, shares)? Which emails had the highest open and reply rates? 

Did you get feedback? Did people say "this really sounds like you" or "I loved how you explained this"? Those are signals you're on track.

Also, notice what feels easy versus forced. If maintaining your voice feels like putting on a performance, something's misaligned. Your brand voice should feel like permission to be yourself, not a straitjacket. 

Maybe you discover your "professional but warm" voice is actually just "warm"—so drop the corporate hedging. Perhaps your "edgy and bold" voice works brilliantly on social but alienates email subscribers. Adjust accordingly. 

Your voice can (and should) evolve as you and your business grow, but the evolution should feel natural. Like Laura, that girl from down the street who went off to live in the US for three years and had this transatlantic twang when she came home. Her accent shifted, but she was still the same Laura; she didn’t switch personalities. 

The goal isn't perfection; it's genuine connection through consistent authenticity. Be recognisable.

Your audience notices when your LinkedIn sounds like it was written by a management consultant, but your Instagram stories are casual and funny. That disconnect erodes trust.

So now, to pull it all together:

Create a simple one-page voice guide you'll actually reference. Include: 

• your 3-4 voice attributes with examples,
• a "sounds like me/doesn't sound like me" column with specific phrases,
• 5-15 words you use frequently (your vocabulary fingerprint),
• and 5-15 words you avoid (perhaps "leverage," "synergy," or "circle back" make you cringe). 
• Add a sentence structure preference—do you lean toward short, punchy sentences or flowing, descriptive ones?

Update it every 3 or 6 months. Does it still ring true? Which bits have you maybe left behind? 

Today, 80% of consumers say they trust the brands they use, which is a higher level of trust than they show towards businesses, the media, their government, NGOs, or their employer.

This level of trust makes the idea of the personal brand more important than ever before. It also means that there’s been a fundamental shift in what matters, a drift towards real, personal values and lived experience. No more templates. People want connection, shared values and something approaching community.

As small business owners (and women), that is our edge. And getting a handle on your voice is half the battle (the crucial half!)—so, get set … GO!

Jackie is the founder-owner of BrickHouse, a small content creation company that mainly serves SMEs, and a media professionals with many years of standing.

She has over 25 years of experience as a freelance writer, broadcaster, and media trainer. She is a scrupulously precise editor who is utterly pedantic and very word-choosy. As a trainer, she worked with young journalists and reporters in parts of Africa and Central Asia–something she still sees as thoroughly rewarding and the most fun to be had while working.

Her content these days includes marketing copy, but she describes herself as a storyteller rather than a copywriter. A journalist to the bone, she does nothing without research, and the research object is her client’s story.