There’s a certain irony in automation. You spend all this time building a brand that sounds human; then hand it over to machines that, let’s be honest, tend to write like they’re trying to win a spelling bee. The result? Marketing that feels more like a chatbot monologue than a conversation. And yet, automation isn’t optional anymore. According to Salesforce, 76% of marketers are already using it, and more than half plan to ramp it up this year.
So the question isn’t whether to automate. It’s how to do it without turning your brand voice into a bland voice.
Let’s get into it.
Build a voice that doesn’t fall apart at scale.
Before you even think about scheduling a single email or queuing up social posts, you need a brand voice guide that can hold its shape under pressure. Not just a few vague adjectives like “friendly” or “bold” scribbled in a doc somewhere. We’re talking about a living, breathing reference that spells out:
- Tone (Are you chatty? Dry? Slightly sarcastic but still helpful?)
- Vocabulary (Words you love, words you blacklist)
- Sentence structure (Short and punchy, or long and lyrical?)
- Signature phrases or taglines
- Platform-specific dos and don’ts
This guide has to be accessible; not buried in someone’s inbox from 2021. Not behind a login no one remembers. Tools like Frontify or Notion make it easy to centralize and share your voice with everyone who touches content.
Let AI help, but don’t let it run wild.
AI tools are getting smarter by the minute. Platforms like HubSpot, ActiveCampaign, and Iterable offer AI-powered content generation that can crank out emails, ads, and more with barely a human touch. Tempting, right? But here’s the catch: most of these tools default to a generic tone that sounds like it was written by a committee of interns.
To avoid that, look for features that let you customize tone, edit templates, and set up content approval workflows. Jasper AI, for example, lets you train the model using your own brand content, so it learns to sound like you; not like a software manual.
You’re not just adding names. You’re building trust.
You’ve probably heard this one before: “Hi [First Name], we thought you’d love this.” And maybe you would, if it didn’t sound like every other email in your inbox. Real personalization goes deeper than tokens. It uses behavioral and demographic data to shape the message itself.
McKinsey found that good personalization can deliver five to eight times the ROI of generic campaigns. But here’s the thing: it only works if the tone matches the context. A luxury brand shouldn’t send slang-heavy emails just because the target audience is Gen Z. Personalization without voice control is just noise.
Teach your AI to speak your language.
You wouldn’t hire a copywriter without giving them a brief; so why let an AI tool write content without training it first? Large language models like GPT-4 can be steered with the right inputs. That means prompt engineering, sure, but also feeding the model real brand content so it knows how you talk.
Tools like Writer let you build a custom brand voice model. It’s like giving your AI a crash course in how not to embarrass you.
Keep humans in the loop, especially the picky ones.
Automation should save time; not erase judgment. You still need human eyes on anything that represents your brand in a big way—emails, landing pages, social posts that might go viral for the wrong reasons.
Set up workflows that include review stages. Grammarly Business, for instance, lets you define tone and style preferences, so editors get nudges when something drifts off-brand. It’s not foolproof, but it’s better than hoping for the best.
Check how it feels, not just how it performs.
Metrics like open rates and click-throughs are great, but they don’t tell you how people feel about your brand. That’s where sentiment analysis and perception surveys come in. Tools like Brandwatch and Sprout Social can track how your audience reacts to automated content in real time.
If you see a shift; maybe your tone is coming off colder than you intended—it’s a sign to recalibrate. Could be the AI needs retraining. Could be your voice guide needs updating. Either way, don’t wait for complaints to roll in.
Audit like you mean it.
Set a recurring schedule to review your automated content. Quarterly works for most teams. Look for tone inconsistencies, outdated references, and personalization that feels off. Basically, anything that makes your brand sound like it’s running on
autopilot.
Tools like Screaming Frog or SEMrush can help you scan your digital presence and flag content that’s past its expiration date.
Here’s the wrap.
Automation doesn’t have to flatten your brand voice. With a solid voice guide, smart AI tools, human oversight, and regular check-ins, you can scale your marketing without sounding like a robot in a blazer. The trick isn’t avoiding automation. It’s making sure your brand still sounds like you—even when you’re not the one writing.
That’s one more tool in the belt.
We’ll be back soon with more you can use.
Until then, keep building.
– Perfect Sites Blog