Helping local service team define their marketing personas & brand voice
Project Snapshot
Godwin knew generally who they were and had an idea of their customers, but they'd never honed in on the details.
We worked with them to clearly define their audience and build a voice and tone to help us write consistent content across all channels.
(We've worked with Godwin Plumbing since before Yellow Lime was even Yellow Lime.)
Client Overview
Godwin Plumbing has been serving West Michigan since 1955 and has over the last 70+ years has expanded to include water treatment, heating and cooling, a hardware store, as well as a kitchen and bath design center.
When Godwin Plumbing came to us, they had strong brand recognition in West Michigan, but their marketing efforts lacked consistency beyond their logo and a limited color palette. They needed a clear understanding of who they were talking to and how they should communicate to keep their messaging focused, impactful, and aligned across all platforms.
Project Goals
Define key customer personas
to guide their marketing strategy.
Establish a brand voice and tone
to consistently unify their messaging.
Be intentional and authentic
to ensure all marketing efforts—digital, print and beyond—felt intentional and authentic to their brand.
Here's What We Did
We started by diving deep into Godwin Plumbing's existing customer base, industry trends, local market research, and internal team insights. Our process included:
Persona Development
Through research and team member interviews, we identified key customer personas for Godwin, outlining their needs, motivations, and pain points. One example that came from this was Violet VandeHomeowner (yes, we usually come up with silly names-it helps us remember them!), a 40-something mom living in Grand Rapids. Once we know her and the other personas, we can craft our voice & tone to reach them most effectively.
Voice & Tone Guide Creation
We built a voice and tone guide based on Godwin's values, goals, and audience. Godwin's key voice is: honesty, reliability, and positivity. These are non-negotiables so they don't change. But tones can shift depending on specific audiences within personas, or which platform you're using (web, print, social media, etc.). These tones (friendly, helpful, knowledgeable) can be adapted for different scenarios, from social media posts to service estimates.
Implementation Recommendations
As Godwin's full-service marketing team, we took the personas, our voice and tone guide, and then applied them to all our marketing efforts. We updated copy on the website, for email campaigns and social media captions, on print materials, and even in phone scripts. This way we know for sure that Godwin always sounds like Godwin.
Follow-Up
And Now... The Results!
By aligning their messaging with their ideal audience, Godwin Plumbing now has:
Stronger customer engagement
Messaging resonates more with target audiences, which increases trust in their brand and creates more conversions.
More efficient marketing efforts
With clear personas in place, the team spends less time guessing and more time making effective content.
A cohesive brand presence
Wheter it's an email, social post, or radio ad, Godwin Plumbing sounds like Godwin Plumbing—every time.
For Godwin Plumbing, this project wasn't just an exercise in branding-it was a game-changer for how they connect with customers and their ability to grow their business.