Don’t Lose Your Brand’s Voice in the Age of AI

Are you feeling like your brand’s voice is starting to waver in this new AI-driven world of image generation and content creation?

With tools like ChatGPT writing your captions and Midjourney designing your visuals, it’s become common for solo entrepreneurs or small shops to produce marketing content that rivals that of pro designers and copywriters. You can even check out this article for tips on how to utilize AI tools as a small business.

Impressive Growth Trends:

• The AI marketing market is projected to reach $2 billion by 2033.

• By 2023, 48% of small businesses had already adopted AI tools.

Using AI is no longer optional. Now, it’s essential! But even with these convenient, powerful tools, there's one thing you might still be missing: brand consistency.

The Reality of AI Branding: Insights from the Data

AI usage rates are skyrocketing. What are the results?

The Good News:

• AI tools have high satisfaction rates among small business users.

• They can create dozens of pieces of marketing content daily.

• They’ve led to significant savings in both time and money.

The Problems:

• Quantity does not equal quality. We’ve entered an era of mass produced, generic, forgettable content.

• 82% of consumers claim to be able to recognize AI-generated writing, and in the wake of the rise of AI content, customer expectations are already higher.

Why Brand Consistency Matters

Consistent branding can lead to a 23% increase in revenue.

Every detail counts, from a brand’s choice in color, font, and tone of voice.

A brand that looks and sounds consistent leads customers to believe that a business is trustworthy. This, in turn, leads to more visits from customers, both new and loyal.

For small businesses, these details can help you look more professional and reliable.

Three AI Branding Drawbacks That Can Hurt Your Business

1) Inconsistent Visuals: AI Images Lack Consistency

Have you ever seen this happen?

• A brand’s color is sky blue today, but the next day, it’s navy.

• Their style jumps from photorealistic, to illustrated, to cartoonish.

• Images in ads are missing logos or containing bizarre-looking fonts and symbols.

• Details like the number of fingers on human hands are off, and logos are strangely distorted.

Why does this happen?

Even minor tweaks to a prompt can cause AI-generated material to change drastically.

AI image generators like Midjourney can’t self-regulate based on brand guidelines. They ignore details like logo spacing, banned elements, etc., and as a result, customers are left thinking, “What is this brand even about?”

2) Random Shifts in Tone: AI Doesn’t Know Your Brand’s Voice

Businesses that use AI to generate marketing copy typically run into the following issues:

• Inconsistent tone: one day, the voice in their marketing material may sound professional, and the next, it’s overloaded with slang.

• Bland, robotic copy with zero personality

• Phrases that don’t match brand values

AI can’t tell which expressions are “off-brand” for you. This leads to what’s known as a zombie brand. It may look alive, but it feels empty.

3) Poor Quality Control: Small Errors Have a Big Impact

Common issues with AI-generated content include:

• An incorrect number of fingers on human hands

• Jumbled or unreadable text

• Incorrect or unverified information

• Ignored copyright or ethical considerations

Just one mistake can destroy the trust that you’ve built up with your clients.

The moment customers start to point out the use of AI in your comments, the authentic image that you’ve worked so hard to develop is shattered.

Bonus Tip: Create a Consistent Brand “Model” with AI Images

Want to generate consistent characters or models?

Try these tips:

• Fix the seed number from your first image to reuse later.

• Use ControlNet to maintain your reference images.

• Use negative prompts (specifying what the AI should not include) to avoid uncanny or blurry visuals, especially in human hands and eyes.

With these tips, you can train AI to act as your own personal brand model.

AI Branding Success vs. Failure

Business Owner A said, “Write a promo for my café,” and left everything up to AI. They posted it straight to social media without reviewing it personally.

The results?

• Ended up with generic, bland captions that sounded like every other café

• Regular customers recognized the shift in tone and immediately identified the use of AI

• No engagement or shares

• Social media growth stagnated

Business Owner B, on the other hand, also used AI, but they took the time to write a smart, brand-based prompt:

“Our bakery is a third-generation local shop that bakes fresh bread by hand every morning. Our customers love the cozy, homey vibe. Write a warm, heartfelt blog post in that tone. Mention the name 'Sammy’s Bakery' 2-3 times. Include descriptions of the smell of fresh pastries, and sign off by inviting readers to try our new rye bread.”

Then, after receiving the content, Business Owner B took these additional steps:

• Edited awkward phrasing

• Checked if the tone matched the brand

• Added a personal human touch

The results?

• Customers commented, “I could almost smell the bread while reading this!”

• The post received high engagement and interaction.

• The owner was left with a final product that accurately reflected the bakery’s identity.

So what’s the key difference between these two business owners?

Owner A let AI take over, but Owner B trained AI to operate like another team member.

A Three-Step Guide to Creating a Brand Style Guide in the Era of AI

Think of your brand style guide as a user manual for your brand.

Step 1: Define Your Brand’s Voice

Summarize your brand’s tone in one sentence.

• Choose 3–5 keywords that communicate your brand’s tone and identity.

  • e.g., warm, humorous, honest, nostalgic

• Create example phrases and differentiate what tones are “on-brand” and “off-brand.” For example:

  • On-brand: “A stop by our café feels like visiting an old friend.”

  • Off-brand: “Our café uses the highest-quality beans to make the best espresso possible.” (Too stiff)

• Set specific rules. For example:

  • Sentence length: short (~20 characters)

  • Is your business’s tone friendly and humble, or commanding and authoritative?

  • Does your brand use emojis?

  • Determine the level of formality you want to use with your customers. Are you strict and professional, or close and warm?

Step 2: Write a Brand Guide for Your AI Prompts

Train your AI tool of choice with detailed prompts. Define what must be included in all of your AI prompts:

• Image prompts should always include your brand color and keywords.

• Text prompts should always mention your target audience and tone.

Prompt Examples:

Boring Prompt:

“Write a social media post for our café.”

Brand-Flavored Prompt:

“Write an Instagram post introducing our third-generation bakery ‘Sammy’s Bakery’. Use a warm, cozy tone as if speaking to a regular. Describe the smell of handmade bread baked every morning. End by inviting people to try our new rye bread.”

Create lists of both prohibited phrases (e.g., teaching an AI to never use the word “cheap” in promotional content for a luxury brand) and required phrases (Brand name, slogan, unique selling points for your products, etc.).

Step 3: Content Review Checklist

Before posting, double-check your content for these seven things:

1. Brand tone alignment: Does it match your style and tone?

2. Key message inclusion: Does it include your brand name, slogan, and any other required elements?

3. Visual guidelines: Did it follow all of your directions regarding colors, fonts, and logo placement?

4. Factual accuracy: Are all product names, numbers, and details correct?

5. Grammar and readability: Is there any awkward wording or typos?

6. Prohibited phrases or sensitive terms: Did the AI include anything inappropriate for your brand?

7. A call-to-action: Is there a clear next step for the customer?

As a rule of thumb, it’s always good to check for these things regardless before sending any posts out into the public. However, it’s especially important to double-check all AI-generated material, as tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney can sometimes “hallucinate” content when it’s lacking reliable sources for it’s info. AI is more likely to make up false information than it is to admit that it doesn’t know something (this is called “AI hallucination”), so it’s important to always read through any AI-generated text and fact-check it for accuracy!

Pro Tip: You can use additional AI tools like Grammarly or Jasper to assess your tone. The final call, though, should come down to the opinion of you and your team. It’s best to defer to human instincts when something written by AI feels “off.”

Fully Leverage AI Branding with Tidy-B

No time to create a full branding style guide or to wrangle directionless AI tools? Try Tidy-B, an all-in-one AI branding tool built for busy business owners.

What is Tidy-B?

It’s a total AI branding solution that allows you to:

• Define your brand identity without an expert

• Build a consistent branding system from day one

• Save time and money without sacrificing quality

How It Works (Branding in Just Five Minutes)

1. Answer a few simple questions

   • What’s your business’s mission?

   • What kind of future do you envision?

2. The AI analyzes your brand

   • Identifies mission, vision, values

   • Auto-generates brand philosophy

3. Creates your custom visual identity

   • Generates logo, color palette, fonts

   • Outputs full brand guideline instantly

4. Provides ready-to-use design templates

   • Business cards, posters, SNS content

   • All aligned with your brand concept

5. Manages brand assets in the cloud

   • Everything organized in one place

   • Easily share with your team or partners

Outstanding Value

Real Success Story:

This Filipino restaurant built a consistent visual identity, from signboards to menus to interior decor, using Tidy-B and achieved fast local success. A small team of under 10 people gained access to high-quality brand assets at low cost.

Protect Your Brand’s Core Identity While Using AI

Five Key Takeaways

1. Brand consistency equates to trust from your customers, and trust from customers leads to revenue growth of up to 23%.

2. Your style guide should act as your compass for your brand’s tone, visuals, and messaging.

3. Give AI tools detailed prompts that are aligned with your brand.

4. Always review with a checklist.

5. Use tools like Tidy-B for structured branding from the start.

In summary, AI Efficiency + Human Emotion = Brand Success.

AI has the potential to be your best employee, but it also runs the risk of turning your business into a soulless zombie brand. Avoiding the latter is all in your hands.

Embrace the power of AI, but guide it with your brand’s unique principles. That’s the secret to preserving your brand’s soul.

How are you using AI in your business?