There are factors which can result in your audience scrolling away from your post or clicking your blog closed. One of those factors is cognitive dissonance, which if not managed, can cost you money and time. We take a look at what it is, and how we can mitigate its effect.
Cognitive dissonance defined
Cognitive dissonance is a psychological concept that deals with the idea of being caught in a situation involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs or behaviours. It often causes mental discomfort. An example is a smoker cognisant of the fact that cigarettes cause cancer. Incongruence in your copy can create a sense of cognitive dissonance. It is therefore essential to take the necessary steps to create cohesion in your copy. To avoid cognitive dissonance, consider the following:
Determine your brand voice and tone
Defining your brand voice and tone provides direction to people creating copy for your business. It helps them to accurately represent the vision of your brand. The voice of your brand is the personality of your brand shown through writing. It must communicate what your brand represents to the desired target market. It is unchanged, compared to brand tone. Brand tone is how something is said. It portrays values using a particular style e.g. warm or formal. It changes to suit the need of a particular campaign. Some steps to determine a brand voice and tone as well as ensure it is consistently communicated:
- Establish a strong idea of who your audience is.
- Collect examples of copy that represents your brand as inspiration.
- Highlight three words that you want to be identified with your brand. How you would like your target audience to describe you?
- Create a brand voice chart. Review this over time and make changes as needed.