Tone.  Your attitude, demeanor, overall tone, this can be the difference in something working or not working.  The majority of communication breakdowns often come back to some point of miscommunication that could have most likely been avoided.  In a technological world filled with e-mail, text messaging, instant messaging, etc., how do we accurately communicate tone?  As face-to-face communication becomes a thing of the past, how do we ensure our tone is accurately reflected despite the fact people may not be able to hear our tone of voice, see our facial expressions, and interpret our body language?
     The tone you use when writing e-mail, sending a text message, instant message, can be interpreted a million different ways by one person.  I can’t begin to tell you how many times I have received an e-mail that I interpreted as rude, come to find out that I had just misread the tone.  So, how do we avoid this?  How can we accurately communicate our tone?  
     When researching tone, I ran into an interesting article titled Tone in Business Writing.  This article specifies exactly how you can ensure that your messages have the appropriate tone.  By asking yourself these three simple questions, you can save yourself time, money, and a possible headache in the long run. 

•    Why am I writing this document?  
•    Who am I writing to and what do I want them to understand?  
•    What kind of tone should I use?  

     As a marketing specialist I can’t help but wonder how things would change, if all clients asked themselves these same questions when referring to the tone of their entire marketing campaign, website, whatever it is they may be doing.

•    Why am I changing my current marketing strategy?  Why am I redesigning my website?  Why am I driving traffic to my website?
•    Who is my audience?  How can I reach them?  What is it I want them to remember?  What makes me different in their eyes?
•    What kind of tone will accurately reflect my key message? 

     In our personal lives, our marketing materials, anywhere, we should ensure our tone is being communicated accurately.  Take a moment to pause and reflect on your own marketing, how does your target audience interpret your tone?  It is time to learn how to communicate two-dimensionally, in a three-dimensional world.  

Rachel Cantor brings to BIGSHOT a vast amount of drive and ambition, having graduated college in only three years with a degree in Interpersonal and Public Communications, as well as a minor in English. A Magna Cum Laude graduate from University of Missouri-Kansas City, Rachel brings to BIGSHOT the same amount of passion. Learn more about Rachel. 

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