The last 3 voices of our series are the “Voices of Outlook”… these voices are not identified by how their audience views them, but rather how they view the world.

Here are the 3 voices we’re talking about.

Let’s dig in.

Voice Type #7: The Downtrodden / The Underdog

In stark contrast to the authoritative voice, the downtrodden seems to be often telling you, “I don’t know anything about anything so let’s work this out together.” One of my favorites at this is Chuck Wendig. His posts have an underlying tone of tragedy to them that make them compelling and funny to read while giving great advice. Another is James Altucher, who has made his writing career about detailing the giant mistakes he’s made in his life while readily admitting he hasn’t quite got it right yet.

Louis CK is one very famous example of someone who uses a downtrodden voice. At 8:29 of this video fellow comedians talk about the vast difference in voice between Louis CK and Jerry Seinfeld (the part about voice i...

The second 3 voice types are the “voices of accessibility.” In contrast to the voices of authority who are successful by positioning above or ahead of their readers, the voices of accessibility get down to their reader’s level.  These are particularly effective in industries where the audience lacks confidence and wants to feel like they have someone “in their corner.”

Here’s the 3 voices we’re talking about.

Notice how the “voices of accessibility” dominate the bottom right of the graph: basic vocabulary and long cadence. This is because these voices are the most calming.

Voice Type #4: Friend at the bar

The “friend at the bar” can be one of the easiest and most effective voices to use in copy. Basically, you speak to your audience like you’re talking to your friend. It comes across as “hey, here’s this cool thing I want to tell you about because I like you and f