People recognise our name; Mole Valley District Council and that we deliver high quality, value for money services to Mole Valley’s residents and businessses.
We have our visual identity (our logo, colours and typography) but our written identity is key in reflecting our personality.
Getting the right tone of voice is crucial in building strong and positive relationships with our audiences.
The more consistent we are, with our visual and verbal identity, the more our residents and businesses will respect us and in turn trust us.
We need to ensure that we, at Mole Valley understand our strong verbal identity and know how to use it.
Our personality
Our personality helps guide how we talk and write. We want to ensure that we are informative, trustworthy, inspiring, friendly, and approachable. We therefore need to write in a way that brings our personality to life.
We need to be honest, open, and direct in how we communicate, making sure that we are human, inclusive, and warm. We are efficient in how we respond and help to make things happen. We are supportive, empathetic, welcoming, give advice, are helpful and encourage feedback.
We need to ensure that what we write is easy to understand, clear and simple, so we can get our message across successfully. Good writing is accessible to all.
We need to show that we are an expert in what we are talking about and are willing to share our knowledge and give our audience useful information.
Our tone of voice
We want to communicate in a simple, straightforward and consistent way with our businesses and residents. We need to ensure that we use the right language to reach them.
It is important that we adapt our tone of voice to the relevant platforms and audiences. E.g. for legal and democratic reports, we would need to have a formal tone and structure, but on social media we can be more friendly and fun.
Using the right tone, with plain English will help ensure a positive image of the council and get your message across in the simplest way. Using the wrong tone, or lots of jargon can have a negative impact on how it is received.
It is also important to put yourself in the reader’s shoes. Show empathy and provide a way forward. You may have to give a firm, unwelcome answer, but be helpful and polite as possible. If you are going to apologise, do so early on. If the problem is your fault (or our fault), then say so.
Apologise completely, concisely, sympathetically, and sincerely. Whether it is your fault or not, try to emphasise what you can do for the other person.
Our vision
A place where a beautiful environment, enterprise and opportunity combine, creating a vibrant place to live, work, and enjoy.
This vision is for us and gives us a clear focus on what we want to achieve for our district.
Our guiding principles
Our guiding principles should be felt through our tone of voice and in the messages, we are trying to communicate:
Putting People First
Ensuring a people focussed culture in our organisation to provide the best possible experience and services for our residents, businesses, and visitors.
Openness and Accessibility
Listening to and engaging with people, and giving clear, timely, accessible and transparent information that enables residents, businesses, and visitors to help themselves, while still providing support for those who need it.
Acting Sustainably
Meeting the needs of the present without compromising future generations requires responsible decision-making and innovation.
Living within our means
Be mindful of current and future costs in our approach to delivering and developing services.
Our values
Our values are important as they show our commitment to providing good customer care to our residents and businesses.
These always need to be embraced when we interact with our audiences.
