From Words to Revenue: Using Brand Voice to Attract Aligned Clients | RR335
Have you ever read your own website or LinkedIn post and thought, “That doesn’t sound like me at all”? I know I have.
This week on Relationships Rule, I sit down with Patricia Viscount — a brand voice strategist and former Canadian Army officer — who helps professionals find their true voice in business. Patricia believes your real advantage isn’t in fancy words or perfect grammar… it’s in sounding like yourself.
We talk about why so many people lose their natural voice when they write, how AI can actually help you stay authentic (when you use it correctly), and why your clients’ words might be the best copy you’ll ever have.
If your content feels stiff or too “professional,” this conversation will help you loosen up, sound more genuine, and connect more easily with the people you want to reach.
Listen in to discover:
- The simple way to catch “robot-speak” in your writing
- How to use AI tools without losing your voice
- Why consistency across all your messages builds real trust
- Listen now and get ready to sound more like yourself — because that’s where real connection starts.
Connect with Patricia:
Website: https://patriciaviscount.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patricia-viscount/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/patriciaviscountconsulting/
In appreciation for being here, I have some gifts for you:
A LinkedIn Checklist for setting up your fully optimized Profile:
An opportunity to test drive the Follow Up system I recommend by checking this presentation page - you won’t regret it.
AND … Don’t forget to connect with me on LinkedIn and be eligible for my complimentary LinkedIn profile audit – I do one each month for a lucky listener!
Connect with me:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/janiceporter/
https://www.facebook.com/janiceporter1
https://www.instagram.com/socjanice/
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Transcript
Pam, hello, hello and welcome to this week's
Janice Porter:episode of relationships rule. Today. My guest is Patricia
Janice Porter:Viscount, a seasoned brand voice strategist, conversion
Janice Porter:copywriter and former Canadian Army officer who spent three
Janice Porter:decades helping others clarify their message and connect with
Janice Porter:the right people. She's on a mission to help service based
Janice Porter:professionals sound more like themselves and less like robots,
Janice Porter:because their real competitive advantage in today's business
Janice Porter:world is authenticity. And I was thinking about this when I wrote
Janice Porter:that word down, and I thought that's a little bit been
Janice Porter:overused recently, in all fairness, so we can explore that
Janice Porter:in exactly what you mean by that, because I know, I think I
Janice Porter:know what it means, and so I apologize for being a bit robot
Janice Porter:like for saying that if that's a thing. So welcome to the show
Janice Porter:Patricia, and we'll dig into that pretty quickly.
Patricia Viscount:Thank you very much. I'm excited about
Patricia Viscount:being here and yes, talking about brand voice and
Patricia Viscount:authenticity.
Janice Porter:Alright, that's excellent. So I want to just
Janice Porter:start by saying that I realized when I was reading that, that
Janice Porter:you've had a pretty unique path being an army officer to going
Janice Porter:to be now a, you know, from Army officer to brand voice expert,
Janice Porter:what about that journey shaped how you think about
Janice Porter:communication today? Because I think you were in communications
Janice Porter:in the army, correct. Yes, that is correct. Yes. And did we say
Janice Porter:the Canadian Army? Yes, we did, yes, yeah.
Patricia Viscount:It's actually really quite interesting,
Patricia Viscount:because I how it shaped me is hurting all the cats. Okay, so
Patricia Viscount:there's a lot of things to think about, a lot of people to to
Patricia Viscount:consider. When you're in the army, you have leadership, you
Patricia Viscount:have senior leaders, senior officers, and then you have the
Patricia Viscount:the troops on the ground. And so you need to think about each of
Patricia Viscount:those different levels and how you can help them communicate
Patricia Viscount:more effectively. Because obviously a lot of times senior
Patricia Viscount:leaders, whether it's in corporate world or in the
Patricia Viscount:military, have a certain way of looking at things, and they have
Patricia Viscount:a certain way of expressing themselves, and it may or may
Patricia Viscount:not translate to the troops on the ground, the people that are
Patricia Viscount:at their desks or on site. I was in oil and gas and energy sector
Patricia Viscount:for a long time, and we would be in headquarters, and then we
Patricia Viscount:would be trying to talk to people that are in trucks or,
Patricia Viscount:you know, that are on site. And so how do we make sure that what
Patricia Viscount:the leaders want to say really is translated and is meaningful
Patricia Viscount:to people that might not necessarily have that bigger
Patricia Viscount:view, or that have the strategic outlook, or whatever they just
Patricia Viscount:want to know what's in it for me and how you talk to me. That is
Patricia Viscount:meaningful to me. Well,
Janice Porter:that's actually exactly the same as in a
Janice Porter:business, right? And it's funny because two things come to mind.
Janice Porter:One, I was talking today in a sort of a mastermind I go to
Janice Porter:every week, we were talking about sales people and sale and
Janice Porter:how today there's a lot of stress around always with sales,
Janice Porter:about filling your quota and not so much caring about what the
Janice Porter:customer actually needs, so you're just trying to make the
Janice Porter:sale right. Okay? And then the other thing that came to mind
Janice Porter:was a gentleman that I interviewed, actually, his
Janice Porter:episode, I think, went live last week, a couple of weeks ago, few
Janice Porter:weeks ago, Carl Walsh. And Carl talks about the oval table, and
Janice Porter:about bringing everyone to the table so that they can
Janice Porter:communicate within their organization, whether you're the
Janice Porter:loading dock manager or you're this, you know, the VP of
Janice Porter:marketing, and so that's exactly what you're talking about, so
Janice Porter:that everyone's clear that everyone, everyone has a seat at
Janice Porter:the Table in his instance, and in your case, it's about
Janice Porter:resonating what you need to say with the with the people in the
Janice Porter:different positions, which I love Exactly. That's great,
Janice Porter:yeah, exactly. And
Patricia Viscount:that's coming from the army and going to
Patricia Viscount:corporate, yeah. It's very similar, where you are taking
Patricia Viscount:complex jargon and acronyms and all of the things, and really
Patricia Viscount:translating it down each level to make sure that everybody
Patricia Viscount:understands the goals of the whether it's business goals or,
Patricia Viscount:you know, mission goals, things. So yeah, it's, it's been very,
Patricia Viscount:very interesting. And I. I've had a wonderful career so far.
Janice Porter:Well, do you work mostly with corporations? Do you
Janice Porter:don't anymore, right? I don't know. I work with small business
Janice Porter:owners, entrepreneurs,
Patricia Viscount:yes, yeah, coaches and consultants, mainly.
Patricia Viscount:So coaches and when I say consultants, their wealth
Patricia Viscount:managers, their accountants, their interior designers, that
Patricia Viscount:kind of thing. So a lot of small solopreneurs and small
Patricia Viscount:businesses?
Janice Porter:Yeah, perfect. Okay, well, you say that
Janice Porter:sounding like yourself is a business advantage. Why do so
Janice Porter:many people lose their voice when they sit down to write?
Patricia Viscount:I think a lot of it has to do with you know,
Patricia Viscount:you were talking earlier that you were a school teacher, so I
Patricia Viscount:think that we were graded on the grammar and, you know, following
Patricia Viscount:the rules and that kind of thing. So so a lot of people,
Patricia Viscount:when you meet them in person, they're engaging and they're
Patricia Viscount:gregarious and they're but then as soon as they sit down in
Patricia Viscount:front of their computer screen, they feel that they need to be
Patricia Viscount:that that grade, you know, they may meet the grade for the
Patricia Viscount:teacher. So a lot of people really make their their content
Patricia Viscount:and their messaging way more complicated than they need to or
Patricia Viscount:a lot more formal than they need Yeah,
Janice Porter:more stilted I was gonna say, so, yeah, okay,
Janice Porter:that makes sense. Okay, so I'm going to jump right in, because
Janice Porter:I want to talk about AI for a moment, and it's like, not the
Janice Porter:elephant in the room anymore. I think it's part of the
Janice Porter:conversation very much so now, so, you know, I use it and I
Janice Porter:love it, and I think that it, it can do different things for
Janice Porter:different people. For me, it helps me formulate ideas. If I'm
Janice Porter:stuck because I'm not a great writer, like I don't sit down
Janice Porter:and it flows from me. I have to really think about it. I also am
Janice Porter:hard on myself, so there's two sides to that story. But what do
Janice Porter:you notice? What are you noticing, and how people are
Janice Porter:writing, and where does that human voice get lost or get
Janice Porter:found? Let's say
Patricia Viscount:that's a very good question. I think that
Patricia Viscount:because i i also use AI, and I use it in a lot of different
Patricia Viscount:ways, and when we say AI, for me as a copywriter, it's not just
Patricia Viscount:chat GPT or perplexity or copilot or it's it's also some
Patricia Viscount:of the tools that I use to to look at different voice types,
Patricia Viscount:or It's Grammarly to make sure that my grammar and my sentence
Patricia Viscount:structure and staying away from passive versus active voice,
Patricia Viscount:yes, and it's Hemingway, to make sure that I am writing
Patricia Viscount:consistently in if I start out with grade 11 content that I'm
Patricia Viscount:sticking with, grade 11 content, or the overuse of adverbs, that
Patricia Viscount:kind of thing. So there's a bunch of different
Janice Porter:delving into it. Yes,
Patricia Viscount:exactly. So there's, there's a so many
Patricia Viscount:different ways of using AI, and I think it's all about it being
Patricia Viscount:a tool. Yeah, I agree, yeah. So if you if the worst thing that
Patricia Viscount:people can do, in my humble opinion, is cut and paste, you
Patricia Viscount:know, they put in a prompt, no matter how good the prompt is,
Patricia Viscount:and they just say, that's good enough. And then they bring
Patricia Viscount:because AI certainly chat GPT has specific words that they use
Patricia Viscount:over and over again. When I first started using it a couple
Patricia Viscount:of years ago, you know, it was seamless. Everything was
Patricia Viscount:seamless. And now everything is magnetic, you know? And so when
Patricia Viscount:you when you see these words in the writing, you can tell often
Patricia Viscount:that it is AI generated, and then a lot of people, clients,
Patricia Viscount:prospects, they, they, they make mental note of that, and they
Patricia Viscount:don't. And I'm not sure whether people judge you. I mean,
Patricia Viscount:because I'm a copywriter, my judgment that's fair. I think
Patricia Viscount:that's a trick of the trade, or, you know, an unfortunate
Patricia Viscount:consequence of the trade is because I work with words every
Patricia Viscount:day. So I think that the cut and paste you can takes the human
Patricia Viscount:out of it, where, where you can put the human back into it is
Patricia Viscount:really making the prompt talking about your voice and your
Patricia Viscount:personality. You know I want it to be. These are some of the
Patricia Viscount:words I use. This is I use grade seven language, or I avoid.
Patricia Viscount:Avoid these words, you know, that kind of thing. So you can
Patricia Viscount:put the human back into the tool, and then you look at what
Patricia Viscount:it comes up with. And then you could, you say, you know, would
Patricia Viscount:I say that is this? Does it reflect my values? Does it
Patricia Viscount:reflect my core brand words. So that's how I that's how I think
Patricia Viscount:about it from the human perspective.
Janice Porter:No, that's great. I think that it's been my
Janice Porter:experience recently. I'm starting to see where with the
Janice Porter:training that I do, with the LinkedIn training that I do, I'm
Janice Porter:starting to integrate AI, in particular for me, I have to be
Janice Porter:fair, it's chat GPT, because that's I'm trying to focus on
Janice Porter:one so I know how it works, you know, because I can't handle the
Janice Porter:technology of so many things, so that's the so I use that one.
Janice Porter:But I've noticed that when I'm talking to people, they say they
Janice Porter:use it, but they really don't know what they're doing, and
Janice Porter:they don't. They do it the hard way. And so when you're talking
Janice Porter:about, you know the putting certain things into the prompts?
Janice Porter:Well, if you customize a chat GPT and make a template for a
Janice Porter:certain thing, let's say a LinkedIn profile piece or or how
Janice Porter:you do your in your LinkedIn posts or whatever. Then you can
Janice Porter:then build those conditions and those things into the template
Janice Porter:so you don't have to do it every single time. Yes, right? And so
Janice Porter:that's I'm starting to see is going to be something I love to
Janice Porter:you know, I don't want to get too technical with it, but I do
Janice Porter:understand enough that I'm I know more. I'm dangerous because
Janice Porter:I know more than right.
Patricia Viscount:Yes, exactly well, and if I may, yes, talk
Patricia Viscount:about or reference another of your episodes. And now with
Patricia Viscount:Gunner, of course, please do Yeah, so when he was talking
Patricia Viscount:about using AI. And you know, where we are today is so much
Patricia Viscount:better than we were two years ago, right? And it's nowhere
Patricia Viscount:near where we're going to be two years from now, correct? It's,
Patricia Viscount:it's using the tool and learning enough about it, not being
Patricia Viscount:afraid to try it and test it, because for me, everything is a
Patricia Viscount:test. I try it. That's one of my values. Okay, flexibility. And
Patricia Viscount:so it's for for me, I want to try it and then see if it works,
Patricia Viscount:see how it works, and then learn how to fix it or change it or
Patricia Viscount:improve it.
Janice Porter:So, yeah, that's great. The other thing that I
Janice Porter:think, and that episode that you're referring to, I think,
Janice Porter:was episode 328, it just came out last week with Gunner hood,
Janice Porter:and it's, it is really interesting, because he's way
Janice Porter:ahead of me when it comes to AI, but something that he was
Janice Porter:talking about, and actually that was in the conversation, or no,
Janice Porter:actually it was. It was a short podcast episode I listened to
Janice Porter:this morning by one of the producers of my podcast, amplify
Janice Porter:you, and he was taught Troy was talking about SEO versus AEO,
Janice Porter:or, I think the other term is geo. So he referred because he
Janice Porter:was talking about podcasting, he was saying that when we write,
Janice Porter:and in this case, it would have been show notes, or it would
Janice Porter:have been promos for your your episodes we and anything that we
Janice Porter:do, we write for SEO, for and which search engine
Janice Porter:optimization. Well, that's changed. Now what? Because, if
Janice Porter:you notice when we do a Google search, the first few answers
Janice Porter:that come up are AI generated answers, so we're trying to be
Janice Porter:the answer to those questions that people put in there. And
Janice Porter:AEO is answer engine optimization. So if I Google,
Janice Porter:you know, how do I write show notes for my podcast, it will
Janice Porter:search the AI tools or site first. So we want to be part of
Janice Porter:the answer, if that's what we teach, if that's what we do,
Janice Porter:right? So how is that affecting what you do? Are you thinking
Janice Porter:that way yet? Like, about writing for AEO, for geo, which
Janice Porter:I don't know what the G stands for, Google? No, it's not good.
Janice Porter:No, I'll just ask chat, just to say, yeah, go ahead. Brilliant
Patricia Viscount:part, but, but people can take that too
Patricia Viscount:far, right?
Janice Porter:Because, because they can,
Patricia Viscount:they ask everything, and then they take
Patricia Viscount:it at face value, and they don't actually know whether that's
Patricia Viscount:true or not. So that it's it's a slippery slope when we're
Patricia Viscount:talking, when we're asking chat, to do everything, because, like
Patricia Viscount:we used to do Google and actually just. Little tip there,
Patricia Viscount:if you put in, you know, show how do I write show notes for my
Patricia Viscount:podcast space minus AI, it will still give you the the
Patricia Viscount:attributed articles and that kind of thing, so you
Janice Porter:can, oh, yeah, that's good point too. You can
Janice Porter:do Google
Patricia Viscount:without AI, but you have to put minus AI
Janice Porter:so that, oh, okay, you get the
Patricia Viscount:factual stuff as opposed to AI's
Patricia Viscount:interpretation. I, I am, because it's hard not to Yes, right for
Patricia Viscount:the the search for, for chat GPT search, but it's a, it's a slow
Patricia Viscount:process, I think, because it is certainly something that I'm
Patricia Viscount:thinking about, but I'm not actively doing it right now.
Janice Porter:Okay, okay, that's fair. So it says here,
Janice Porter:chat GPT said that geo stands for generalist, AI, agent,
Janice Porter:operator. Oh, my goodness. AI systems trained to handle a wide
Janice Porter:range of tasks across domain domains, rather than being
Janice Porter:specialized for one. I don't know if that's what this one is,
Janice Porter:but there you go. That's what it said. Okay, so, so we're not
Janice Porter:super well. Was it the same when you when you think SEO, were you
Janice Porter:more or were you more focused on, more
Patricia Viscount:focused on SEO? But I totally see the train
Patricia Viscount:coming for AEO, yeah. So it is something that you either need
Patricia Viscount:to test. Need to start doing or get out of the way, because
Patricia Viscount:they're because more people are like you, like me, like my
Patricia Viscount:husband. He Google. He loves it. He chats everything, yeah, yeah.
Patricia Viscount:And, and some of it is amazing. He was having a Shopify issue,
Patricia Viscount:yes, a couple of weeks ago, and he just put it in chat, and chat
Patricia Viscount:could explain it to him the way Shopify couldn't. And he's been
Patricia Viscount:fighting this issue for months, and within a couple of minutes,
Patricia Viscount:chat gave him an answer that he could understand and he could
Patricia Viscount:implement to
Janice Porter:fix magic I know I've had an eight month long
Janice Porter:going issue with Home Depot and customer service type issue, and
Janice Porter:when I finally I'm just going to cut to the chase where last week
Janice Porter:I was finally talking, they've said that they will do they will
Janice Porter:give me new whatever it is that I needed. And I had to sign this
Janice Porter:agreement, and I put the agreement into chat, as well as
Janice Porter:talking to my lawyer friend, and I said, I have to have this
Janice Porter:conversation because with the representative, because I don't
Janice Porter:want to just sign it as is, I have some issues with it. And it
Janice Porter:gave me talking points, and it gave me a paragraph that they
Janice Porter:thought I should add to the to the document, to the contract,
Janice Porter:which the girl at the other end, when I said it, she said, I love
Janice Porter:that. Send it to me. Yeah, we'll put that in. Save me look $500
Janice Porter:lawyer bill. And it was, you know, it was useful. It was
Janice Porter:like, I know, and same as your husband, I had had some tech
Janice Porter:issue, and I didn't know I was going to have to call someone,
Janice Porter:and I asked chat GPT, and it answered my question for me, and
Janice Porter:I could fix it. So I know it's amazing. Okay, we're side
Janice Porter:tracking a
Patricia Viscount:little bit. I apologize. That's okay, but it
Patricia Viscount:has, it still has to do with voice.
Janice Porter:I know it totally does. Yeah, okay, so you've
Janice Porter:developed a unique way of using client interviews to write
Janice Porter:powerful copy your system. How does it work, and why is it so
Janice Porter:effective?
Patricia Viscount:So my system is basically about getting the
Patricia Viscount:voice of customer right. So, and
Janice Porter:I'm just going to interject that it is on your
Janice Porter:website. You have it outlined nicely on your website if people
Janice Porter:want to see you know what it is, but I do want you to share you
Janice Porter:know some points about it here. Perfect.
Patricia Viscount:Thank you. Um, so obviously you start the
Patricia Viscount:conversation, you start the relationship, you have a
Patricia Viscount:discovery call, and one part of my research is speaking to my
Patricia Viscount:clients, clients, because I A it gives me some really good voice
Patricia Viscount:of customer. We call it voice of customer on why exactly your
Patricia Viscount:customers chose you. So when you when I'm talking to you, and you
Patricia Viscount:say, and I ask you, why? Why are your people calling you? Why do
Patricia Viscount:you get why your clients choosing you? You can have a
Patricia Viscount:couple of different ideas, but you don't really know you're
Patricia Viscount:just making that up. When I actually speak to your clients,
Patricia Viscount:they give. Me really good, crunchy words that you can use
Patricia Viscount:on your website, in your emails, love it, and often that is part
Patricia Viscount:of your voice, your brand voice, how you're showing up your you
Patricia Viscount:know, the expressions and the words you use, and that's why
Patricia Viscount:they love you, so those that kind of thing. So when I'm in my
Patricia Viscount:research phase, that is one of the non negotiables in my
Patricia Viscount:copywriting process is because voice of customer is so
Patricia Viscount:important.
Janice Porter:Do they pick and choose for you who to call or,
Janice Porter:okay,
Patricia Viscount:yeah, they give me. They tend to give me
Patricia Viscount:three to five people, and then I organize the interviews. I
Patricia Viscount:interview the people. I I create testimonials out of this as
Patricia Viscount:well. So it's also, you know, you get really good content for
Patricia Viscount:the for your messaging, but you also get the social proof, or
Patricia Viscount:the testimonials, the reviews that show your prospects that,
Patricia Viscount:yes, you have done this work, that you've solved this problem
Patricia Viscount:for someone else, which is so important, and if I may just
Patricia Viscount:share a really quick story, please do so. One of my very
Patricia Viscount:first clients was a restaurant tour in Edmonton, here in
Patricia Viscount:Alberta, Canada, and when I spoke to him, we were chatting
Patricia Viscount:about, you know, his positioning and his messaging. And he said,
Patricia Viscount:Well, we're at a high a high state, a premium steak house.
Patricia Viscount:People come to us for the steak, and I was perfect, excellent.
Patricia Viscount:Okay, so then, you know, everything, all of his
Patricia Viscount:messaging, all of his website content, talked about these
Patricia Viscount:high, you know, high quality stakes. When I actually started
Patricia Viscount:speaking to his customers, they said, if we want high quality
Patricia Viscount:steak, we go somewhere else. It's the atmosphere, it's the
Patricia Viscount:environment, it's the fun. So he was completely talking to the
Patricia Viscount:wrong audience. He was talking positioning his company or his
Patricia Viscount:restaurant totally different. So because when you think about
Patricia Viscount:high quality shishi steak houses. You think button down.
Patricia Viscount:You think, you know, $200 bottles of wine. You think
Patricia Viscount:certain things. Never
Janice Porter:mind that. You think $200 steaks these days,
Janice Porter:exactly, exactly.
Patricia Viscount:Yeah. And so we changed his messaging yes to
Patricia Viscount:to be more in line with the people that were going, I love
Patricia Viscount:it, yeah. And that is the power of talking to your clients or
Patricia Viscount:talking to your customers brutally. Because you really
Patricia Viscount:understand, you get to understand what they why they
Patricia Viscount:love you, and what makes you so special to them. And that's how,
Patricia Viscount:that's why it's it's such an important part of my process to
Patricia Viscount:get that kind of information, to put that out there. Amazing.
Janice Porter:Yeah, yeah. Now, just as a sideline, do you still
Janice Porter:have highs in Calgary? Yes, we do. Okay, yes, okay, because
Janice Porter:that's what I think of when I think of a steakhouse. I used to
Janice Porter:work for them when I was a kid. My father was good friends with
Janice Porter:my mom. And dad are good friends with high eyes, the owner, the
Janice Porter:original owner of highs. Yeah,
Patricia Viscount:it is, and it's delicious, but absolutely
Patricia Viscount:it is. You're not walking out of I go
Janice Porter:there ever now, $600 Oh yeah, if I go there, I
Janice Porter:have a Caesar salad and a potato, a twice baked potato. I
Janice Porter:don't even care about the steak, you know. Oh, and garlic bread
Janice Porter:and cheese bread, like it's that kind of a dinner. Yeah, anyway,
Janice Porter:but love it. Okay, so that was just an aside. So, okay, so you
Janice Porter:interview not only the client, but the client's clients. I love
Janice Porter:that, and I am curious, though I was thinking about this earlier.
Janice Porter:So when you either when you're talking to a prospect, and you
Janice Porter:look at their website ahead of time, and you you're going to
Janice Porter:have this phone call with them, or this zoom call, whichever, or
Janice Porter:you're going to be face to face with them, and you whether you
Janice Porter:get the client, lands the client or not. How quick Do you have an
Janice Porter:idea of, you know, which way you would go with that client, or
Janice Porter:what you expect to see when you're looking at their website
Janice Porter:from having the conversation with them. But then you're, you
Janice Porter:know, you're either really surprised or disappointed
Patricia Viscount:Well, and that's, that's the beauty of a
Patricia Viscount:consistent brand voice, because you read their website and
Patricia Viscount:you're expecting one way a person to be one way, but then
Patricia Viscount:when you actually get onto a phone call, or, yeah, it's so I
Patricia Viscount:can, I can see it. Almost immediately, now, because I've
Patricia Viscount:been doing it a while, but it's, it's so interesting because the
Patricia Viscount:they don't a lot of times they don't understand how important
Patricia Viscount:that consistency is, and how it could derail the know, like and
Patricia Viscount:trust process and that. And it's for me, I find it more like I
Patricia Viscount:was saying earlier. You know, with the networking, you're in
Patricia Viscount:person with someone, and you you have this great, this great
Patricia Viscount:rapport. And, you know, their their energy is so invigorating.
Patricia Viscount:And then you go to their website, and it's like, is this
Patricia Viscount:the same person? Like, it's, it's really quite interesting.
Patricia Viscount:So it's, it's, it's so important. Consistency is so
Patricia Viscount:important.
Janice Porter:Of course it is. But I also struggle. I've
Janice Porter:struggled with that so, you know, because it takes so much
Janice Porter:time to do the writing for websites and things like that.
Janice Porter:And you know, we all have our priorities, and so that's why
Janice Porter:people like you are really important that can do that
Janice Porter:easily. And like for example, I mean, of course, I want to say
Janice Porter:to you, okay, I need the first impression from you, not on here
Janice Porter:after but the first impression of my website, and what do I
Janice Porter:need to do to make it better? I know it could use work. It's
Janice Porter:just, you know, where do you put your time? But what kind of a
Janice Porter:difference would it make? So that's the key, right? How is it
Janice Porter:going to make a difference? So do people say that it also
Patricia Viscount:depends on how you use your website. If you
Patricia Viscount:could use your website just as a tool or a follow up for
Patricia Viscount:networking, if you are talking to somebody and you're you're
Patricia Viscount:creating that relationship, but you want to show them you know
Patricia Viscount:something else about you or your services, then that's the your
Patricia Viscount:website is really an ancillary tool. Yes, yeah. Whereas if
Patricia Viscount:you're if you're blogging or, you know, whatever, and people
Patricia Viscount:go there to buy things or to do something else, then that's
Patricia Viscount:totally different. Good point. Yeah. So it just depends on how
Patricia Viscount:you're using your website and the information and but the
Patricia Viscount:personality should always be congruent, right?
Janice Porter:Yes, of course. Yeah, definitely. Okay. How many
Janice Porter:or many people struggle to share personal stories in business?
Janice Porter:I'm one of them. Sometimes I have trouble with it. How do you
Janice Porter:help clients walk the line between personal and
Janice Porter:professional?
Patricia Viscount:It all starts with the conversation.
Janice Porter:Yeah, it's, it really
Patricia Viscount:is, because there are some people that, yes,
Patricia Viscount:there and that's their, that's their brand voice, right? That
Patricia Viscount:is their their accountants or their engineers or their it's
Patricia Viscount:funny because I, one of my dearest clients is a wealth
Patricia Viscount:manager, and he makes, he's has a boutique agency, and he is,
Patricia Viscount:his minimum is $2 million and he's but he is a sports fanatic.
Patricia Viscount:Got it and I wrote his website with sports analogies and like,
Patricia Viscount:you know the, you know the quarterback and his team and all
Patricia Viscount:of these things. So, so there are people, but you just, you
Patricia Viscount:need a you need to get them comfortable, if that fits their
Patricia Viscount:audience. Like, obviously, it all has to do with the target,
Patricia Viscount:of
Janice Porter:course, of course. I mean, I do that with
Janice Porter:LinkedIn, actually, with people when I find before I started to
Janice Porter:use AI to help me at all, yeah, I would spend twice as long with
Janice Porter:a client trying to do their about section on LinkedIn,
Janice Porter:because I'd be drawing things out of them, and it took me
Janice Porter:longer because I felt it had to come from their voice. And I'm
Janice Porter:not, as you know, I don't write for a living, so, but I knew
Janice Porter:what sounded right, and I knew whether it would be their voice
Janice Porter:or not, because I'm it's instinctive in some way, but
Janice Porter:it's, it's really fun, when I finished that process, that the
Janice Porter:client would say that was really interesting, or that was really
Janice Porter:fun. And yes, I'm pleased with that. Now I kind of short
Janice Porter:circuited a little bit, but then we put it in there, in their
Janice Porter:voice and and it makes my part a little bit easier, because I
Janice Porter:have a base to work with, but, but it's, it's finding what
Janice Porter:lights them up.
Patricia Viscount:Yes, 100% yes. And that's, that's the
Patricia Viscount:beauty I'm that's why I love what I do. Because, yeah, I'm
Patricia Viscount:sure I get in relationships. I love speaking to people. I love
Patricia Viscount:meeting new people. And so that is, that's the biggest thing for
Patricia Viscount:me.
Janice Porter:I know I'm frozen, frozen on Yeah, I know,
Janice Porter:okay,
Patricia Viscount:but you can still hear me.
Janice Porter:Yes, I can. And now you're coming back. There
Janice Porter:you go. I know it's weird, not, not to worry. It's, this is
Janice Porter:authentic. It's real. We don't care. It's all good. All right,
Janice Porter:so let's, let's talk results. What changes when some what
Janice Porter:changes when someone truly owns their brand. Voice, you did give
Janice Porter:one example you've given a couple actually. Do you have
Janice Porter:another story you want to share for me?
Patricia Viscount:Sorry, yes, yes, I do. So I have a client
Patricia Viscount:that she is a she does rehabilitation, for massage, for
Patricia Viscount:rehabilitation, and that kind of thing. And she had a high ticket
Patricia Viscount:retreat that she wanted to, that she wanted to sell out. And we
Patricia Viscount:were chatting. I met her at a networking event, and she was
Patricia Viscount:talking about putting it out on social media, and I was chatting
Patricia Viscount:with her about her email list, and she had 1000s of people on
Patricia Viscount:her email list, but she's never done anything with them.
Janice Porter:I wish I was her, right, you know, yeah,
Patricia Viscount:so she, as we chatted, I convinced her that
Patricia Viscount:just to take a chance on the email just to see and when you
Patricia Viscount:meet her, she's a little tiny thing, really gregarious, calls
Patricia Viscount:you beautiful, like, really Smiley. And then when she sent
Patricia Viscount:me her first draft email, it was terrible. It was very factual.
Patricia Viscount:It was very detailed, and it talked all about the fascia and
Patricia Viscount:the stuff and the muscles and Yeah. And it was like, okay, so
Patricia Viscount:this is totally incongruent, because, you know, we need to,
Patricia Viscount:we need to make people feel like, what am I going to get out
Patricia Viscount:of it? Absolutely. But you know, why is this going to make their
Patricia Viscount:life better? And so we we fixed it, and we massaged it, and we
Patricia Viscount:put it in her voice, and she sold, I think, five or eight of
Patricia Viscount:the 12 spots with the first email, wow, and, and so it's
Patricia Viscount:just, it's the power of owning it. It's the power of
Patricia Viscount:understanding how you show up and being clear and consistent.
Patricia Viscount:And the biggest thing for me, when you have a brand voice,
Patricia Viscount:you, you? Well, there's a couple of things, obviously, but one of
Patricia Viscount:them is, if you start to grow, or you want to, you want to
Patricia Viscount:focus on things. You're not a great writer. It takes you too
Patricia Viscount:much time and energy. You want to give it to someone else,
Patricia Viscount:whether it's an employee or a subcontract, or whatever, and
Patricia Viscount:you don't have a voice written down. You don't have the
Patricia Viscount:expressions you use. You don't have the, you know, we speak in
Patricia Viscount:grade three or four language. You don't talk about, you know,
Patricia Viscount:we short, short sentences, bullet points, all these things
Patricia Viscount:which are part of your voice. It adds it leads to rewrites and
Patricia Viscount:wasted time and wasted energy and wasted money, and then you
Patricia Viscount:end up a lot of time. My clients end up rewriting it themselves.
Patricia Viscount:And so it's it not having a good, solid, consistent brand
Patricia Viscount:voice helps or hinders your scaling. It hinders your time
Patricia Viscount:wastage. It's just, it's it is so important. And again, because
Patricia Viscount:you want to show up, if you meet somebody in person or online,
Patricia Viscount:you want to make sure that they know that it's you. They're not
Patricia Viscount:going to get an email from you saying, Did somebody, did
Patricia Viscount:somebody hack your inbox? Because this does not sound like
Patricia Viscount:the person that I was talking to, or this does not look like
Patricia Viscount:your website.
Janice Porter:Well, that makes me also think of, do you ever
Janice Porter:come across clients or prospects that they think they know what
Janice Porter:they want, but they really haven't even isolated who their
Janice Porter:audience is, and you know, so how can you help them if they
Janice Porter:haven't helped themselves first, like you can, but it's a longer
Janice Porter:process. I'm sure it is a
Patricia Viscount:longer process, but, but it obviously
Patricia Viscount:leads to a much better product, right? Oh, much worse outcome.
Patricia Viscount:So you do need I have in my in my process, in my framework,
Patricia Viscount:part of the after the discovery call, and we we agree that, yes,
Patricia Viscount:we're a fit, and we want to work together. Then we go through a.
Patricia Viscount:Series of questions, and that is one of the essential questions,
Patricia Viscount:is, who is your ideal client, right? And what keeps them up at
Patricia Viscount:night, and that kind of thing. And the other one, because your
Patricia Viscount:voice is also your personality, but it's also the words and that
Patricia Viscount:kind of thing. It's, you know, how do you want to show up?
Patricia Viscount:What? How do you want to be seen, whether that's, you know,
Patricia Viscount:as a trusted guide or a friend at the bar, or, you know, that
Patricia Viscount:kind of thing. So that also helps me create content for you.
Patricia Viscount:I have an exercise that I run my clients through. It's a brand
Patricia Viscount:voice finder, and it it's we go through about 120 words and we
Patricia Viscount:bucket them into Heck, no, no, maybe important, but not
Patricia Viscount:essential and core, and you can't have more than nine Core
Patricia Viscount:Words. Oh, interesting. And so it leads to a lot of
Patricia Viscount:contemplation and discussion and Googling the, you know, in the
Patricia Viscount:dictionary, what exactly does that mean? So I had a client a
Patricia Viscount:couple of well last year, and there were two male co founders,
Patricia Viscount:very different personalities, but we went through this
Patricia Viscount:exercise, and the conversation was fascinating because they
Patricia Viscount:they had to agree on the word. First of all, they had to agree
Patricia Viscount:what the word meant to them, yes. And then they had to decide
Patricia Viscount:whether it was a, was it a cow word, or was it a brand word,
Patricia Viscount:like, was it a personal word, or was it a brand word? Then they
Patricia Viscount:had to agree to the definition, and then they had to agree where
Patricia Viscount:to put it in the box. Oh, yeah, that's good, good exercise. It
Patricia Viscount:was fascinating. It was That's, yeah, another reason why I love
Patricia Viscount:what I do.
Janice Porter:Oh, I can, there's, I can see, be a lot of
Janice Porter:fun. I'm just, I'm this is really funny. Do you watch
Janice Porter:Jeopardy? Yes, okay, I'm a Jeopardy nerd. I love Jeopardy,
Janice Porter:and I usually have my phone beside me in case there's a word
Janice Porter:I want to look up or something afterwards. So this came up as a
Janice Porter:question couple of week or so ago. It might have been in the
Janice Porter:in the last What did they call it? Like a Champion run channel?
Janice Porter:Yeah, yes, or maybe not. I don't know anyway. Do you know what
Janice Porter:this word is? Tittle, T, I, T, T, L, E, do you know what that
Janice Porter:is like? A titillating No, no, no, no, it's not even No. You
Janice Porter:won't even guess it if you don't know. Because I had no idea. So
Janice Porter:the question was the name of the the dot over an i or j, is what
Janice Porter:is tittle. Never heard of it before. I know I T, T, L, E,
Janice Porter:look it up. I will. Yeah, anyway, I just thought that was
Janice Porter:fun and you would enjoy that because you probably have read
Janice Porter:my one of my favorite books. Haven't you eat shoots and
Janice Porter:leaves? Yes, love that book. Okay, I'm wrapping up on on
Janice Porter:this. Ask you if someone wants to start sounding more like
Janice Porter:themselves online, what's one small change that they could
Janice Porter:make this week?
Patricia Viscount:They could start well, they could take my
Patricia Viscount:brand voice quiz
Janice Porter:well, and I was going to say, do talk about
Janice Porter:that, because I took it and, and it's fun and I, and the answers
Janice Porter:are the some of the questions, I was like, No, that's not right.
Janice Porter:No, that's not right. Okay, I'll just guess at the one, because
Janice Porter:it wasn't in my mind, fitting me right, and yet your report after
Janice Porter:I felt comfortable with so you must get something right. You
Janice Porter:must do something right. So talk about that every once in a
Janice Porter:while,
Patricia Viscount:for sure. So I think that that's when they
Patricia Viscount:want to start talk. You know, being more consistent or feeling
Patricia Viscount:like themselves. Listen to the way you speak to people, and not
Patricia Viscount:necessarily write it down, but but be conscious of it, and then
Patricia Viscount:when you're writing emails, or when you're, you know, talking
Patricia Viscount:to people, or use some of those words and see if it's still, if
Patricia Viscount:it still feels comfortable, if it still feels authentic or
Patricia Viscount:genuine. I know I also do not. I feel like authentic is has been
Patricia Viscount:overused, so
Janice Porter:absolutely no, it's still, yeah, is it genuine?
Janice Porter:Genuine? I like that. Tell the audience. Tell my audience a
Janice Porter:little bit about your quiz and where. I find it so
Patricia Viscount:I have a 1012, question quiz called your
Patricia Viscount:brand voice quiz, why, why it's important, or why it matters to
Patricia Viscount:you. And it really helps people who don't don't know, in
Patricia Viscount:general, how they how they sound, or how they show up. So
Patricia Viscount:this is just a really fun, quick thing that helps you at least
Patricia Viscount:generalize. There's four general brand voices and it's just the
Patricia Viscount:tip of the iceberg, but it really does help you think
Patricia Viscount:about, you know, am I buttoned up like is Who Am I? Is that my
Patricia Viscount:personality? Or is that the way I have to speak to my target
Patricia Viscount:audience? Or is it, are you, do you use a lot of emojis and
Patricia Viscount:alliteration and, you know, that kind of thing, so you could be
Patricia Viscount:preppy because you're, you know? Or are you more of a yogi? You
Patricia Viscount:know, it's more heart centered conversation or words or
Patricia Viscount:content. So it's the it's a quick quiz, but it really starts
Patricia Viscount:you on that journey of, this is, this is how I show up genuinely
Patricia Viscount:and comfortably, right? And then you start to notice that take,
Patricia Viscount:take, take note of it and and write or create content in that
Janice Porter:voice and or have a conversation with you.
Patricia Viscount:Have a conversation with me, because I
Patricia Viscount:would love to help people i i love it when clients, it's like,
Patricia Viscount:oh, I never knew or I think
Janice Porter:that's so that's what I like, yeah, does it.
Patricia Viscount:A year ago in April, I was feeling very
Patricia Viscount:disconnected with my brand and with my content, and I started
Patricia Viscount:learning about brand voice. I was training on brand voice, and
Patricia Viscount:now I feel that I am more aligned and more connected with
Patricia Viscount:who I am and how I show up, and that makes me very passionate to
Patricia Viscount:help others.
Janice Porter:That's fantastic. Now I forgot what I was going to
Janice Porter:say. I was going to say something.
Patricia Viscount:And so while you're thinking, one of my
Patricia Viscount:clients that I've done the exercise with, she now uses it
Patricia Viscount:when she's doing even proposals for for work. She writes the
Patricia Viscount:proposal and then looks at her nine Core Words and says, Am I
Patricia Viscount:channeling those words in in something like a proposal, which
Patricia Viscount:I thought was amazing.
Janice Porter:That's really what was that
Patricia Viscount:it was a fly. I had a fly that I've been flew
Patricia Viscount:across the screen.
Janice Porter:Anyway, no, that's, that's really good. So
Janice Porter:when you really, when you work with a client, they get to know
Janice Porter:how to use their brand voice in all different aspects of what
Janice Porter:they're doing. So I love that. Okay? And they can find you at
Janice Porter:Patricia vicount.com, correct and on LinkedIn, yes,
Patricia Viscount:yeah, okay, Patricia vicount on LinkedIn.
Patricia Viscount:And my, my, the link to my brand voice quiz is on LinkedIn as
Patricia Viscount:well. So, and if you want to put it in the show notes, that would
Patricia Viscount:be amazing,
Janice Porter:yeah, yeah, absolutely no. This has been
Janice Porter:wonderful. Thank you so much for spending time with us and for
Janice Porter:your wisdom around I can see your passion about it when you
Janice Porter:talk, you know, it lights you up, and that's something. And I
Janice Porter:think that for my listeners, I think you can see here, see here
Janice Porter:how Patricia has reminded us that that business doesn't have
Janice Porter:to sound bland or robotic. In fact, the more we show up as
Janice Porter:ourselves, the stronger our relationships and our results
Janice Porter:can be. Whether you're a coach, a consultant or just trying to
Janice Porter:find your voice in a noisy world, Patricia's advice is a
Janice Porter:reminder that the words we choose can either push people
Janice Porter:away or pull them in, and it all starts by sounding like you
Patricia Viscount:absolutely and I love that. Thank
Janice Porter:you so thank you so much for being here today.
Janice Porter:And for those of you who want to find out more, please, I
Janice Porter:encourage you to to go and take Patricia's quiz, to go and check
Janice Porter:out how she works and to connect with her on LinkedIn. Why not?
Janice Porter:Thank you for being here and remember to stay connected and
Janice Porter:be remembered bye.
