Talking the Talk: How Seafood Brands Can Find Their Voice and Use It Everywhere

Ever notice how a lot of seafood brands sound exactly like their competitors?

"Premium quality."

"Sustainably sourced."

"Family tradition since…"

"Fresh from the ocean to your table."

While these claims may be true, it leaves consumers adrift in a sea of sameness. If you've heard one, you've heard them all, and they’re as fresh as last month’s catch.

If your brand voice could belong to any other seafood company, it’s not doing its job.

Whether you're pitching to a major retailer, walking through your sustainability practices in front of a media panel, or trying to connect with consumers swimming in options, it’s your brand voice that makes you memorable.

But here’s a plot twist: most seafood brands don't actually have one.

They have a patchwork of messages written by different people, at different times, for different reasons. And it shows. The result? A brand that sounds like it was built by a committee — because it was.

But just because your brand voice sounds like it was written by a group chat doesn’t mean it has to stay that way. The good news? Brand voice is a muscle. You just have to decide to start training it.

What Brand Voice Actually Is

A true brand voice isn't a list of adjectives your team voted on during a Wednesday Zoom. "Approachable but professional"

"Bold yet trustworthy"

Cool… but what now?

Those are descriptors — not directions. They don't actually tell anyone how to write, speak, or show up in a way that feels consistent, recognizable, or real.

Your brand voice is your identity in language — the personality that shows up in everywhere from your homepage to your CEO’s podcast appearance. It’s how your values, your expertise, and your perspective radiate through your tone.

And here’s the kicker: It’s not just vibes and word soup that accidentally sound good. It’s built. Intentionally. So your messaging doesn’t rely on a gut feeling, a lucky draft, or a fishing story where the catch gets bigger every time you tell it.

It’s not folklore. It’s documented brilliance.

Why Every Seafood Brand Needs a Brand Voice (Not Just a Vibe)

When you don’t have a clear brand voice, your sales team describes your products one way. Your marketing materials say something slightly different. Your website copy was written by three different freelancers over five years. And yeah — it shows.

Suddenly, neither you nor your audience knows what you actually stand for.

Are you the innovation-focused aquaculture operation?

The heritage-driven family business?

The data-first sustainability leader or the relationship-first local supplier?

You might be all of those things – and well done if you are! But without a stable sense of voice, the message gets muddy. Brand voice is what frames that complexity without confusing people (and dizzying them away from your product or partnership).

It’s how you communicate across all channels in a way that feels cohesive, credible, and uniquely yours.

In the seafood industry, this confusion is costly. Buyers choose brands they trust and understand. Consumers reach for products that feel real and consistent. Investors fund businesses with a clear vision and plan, communicated with a confident voice.

When your messaging is scattered, your opportunities slip through the net.

How We Build Brand Voice Frameworks That Actually Work

Think you need to work on this but don’t know where to start? We’ve got you. At InnaSea, we help seafood industry brands find and define their brand voice — starting with strategy, not adjectives.

First: Who are you talking to? Communicating with a procurement manager is a different dance than talking to a food blogger — but your core brand voice should always come through, no matter who’s in the room.

Next: What makes you different? What's your take on the industry? What do you believe that others don't? What's your angle on sustainability, quality, innovation, tradition — whatever matters most to your brand?

From There: We build your messaging architecture.

• The core pillars that support everything you say.

• The proof points that back up your claims.

• The frameworks that help your team adapt your voice across any situation.

This isn't a creative writing exercise. It’s strategic infrastructure, packaged into a tangible Brand Voice Guide, that makes every future communication decision faster, clearer, and more effective.

The Three-Layer Approach That Makes Your Brand Voice Stick

We don’t believe in one-size-fits-all copy-paste branding. Your voice should flex without ever losing its shape. Here’s how we build that kind of staying power:

Layer 1: Core Brand Voice & Values

This is your foundation. The traits and beliefs that never change — no matter the audience, the channel, or the pressure. This is who you are in words.

Layer 2: Audience-Specific Messaging

Now we adapt, without diluting. For example, your sustainability story might sound different when you're talking to a traceability-focused retailer vs. writing copy for packaging you know will end up in front of a conscious consumer at a grocery store. Different angle, same voice.

Layer 3: Platform & Context Guidelines

A great Instagram caption and a trade show pitch need different approaches, but they should both sound unmistakably like you. This layer makes sure your tone doesn’t fall apart the moment you switch from a mic to a megaphone.

Brand Voice Work Isn't Fluff

We get it. Compared to launching a new product or redoing your website, brand voice can feel… squishy. But here’s the reality: every move you make in marketing starts with having something clear and compelling to say.

You can have the most beautiful website in the world, but if the copy doesn't connect, you've just built yourself a very expensive piece of digital bait. And no one’s biting.

Brand voice is the foundation that makes sure every message — from sales to social to sustainability — is on the same team, speaking the same language, toward the same goal. It’s what makes your traceability story sound authentic instead of performative. It helps your sales team close deals. It helps your marketing team create content that actually converts.

And in an industry under constant scrutiny where trust is everything, having a voice that feels real, consistent, and confident isn't optional anymore. It’s the baseline.

How We Talk the Talk (and Help You Do It, Too)

Most agencies treat brand voice development like a creative brainstorm. We treat it like strategic consulting — because that’s what it is.

We don't just ask what adjectives describe your brand. We ask, “What do you believe?” What makes your customers choose you over competitors with similar products or price points? What are you here to stand for?

Then we translate those insights into language frameworks your whole team can actually use. Because the best brand voice in the world doesn't matter if only one person knows how to use it. (Yes, we’re looking at you… the one still writing your company Instagram captions personally at 11:07pm.)

And we don’t just know brands. We know seafood. We bring industry context, awareness, and nuance that general agencies can't.

We know what matters to buyers.

We know what investors need to see.

We know what actually resonates with real people standing in front of a fridge trying to choose between you or five other fillets (and the rest of the protein category).

That combination — strategic depth + industry fluency — you won’t find anywhere else.

When Brand Voice Work Pays Off

We yap a lot about walking the talk — and New Brunswick Deliciously Canadian is a perfect example of what happens when a brand has their voice already dialed in.

When we partnered with NBDC, their messaging was consistent, cohesive, and confident. That solid foundation made it easy for us to jump in, create aligned influencer, visual, and written content, and save everyone time, energy, and money.

That’s the power of a strong brand voice. It doesn’t just help your internal team communicate — it helps every project move faster and hit harder. Briefing creatives? Launching a campaign? Onboarding a new hire? Everything runs smoother when you already know who you are and how you sound.

You Don’t Have to ‘Invent’ Your Brand Voice — Just Uncover It

Your brand already has a personality, we just need to fish it out of the noise. It’s in the way your founder lights up when they talk about the business. In the stories your team tells when explaining why they love working in seafood. In the values that shape your decisions, even when no one’s watching.

That’s your voice.

We just help you spot it, shape it, and share it everywhere that matters.

No More Copy-Paste Seafood Speak

If your brand still sounds like an oceanic mono-culture or a committee-written compromise, it’s time for a change.

At InnaSea Media, we help seafood industry brands like yours uncover their authentic brand voice and build the messaging frameworks that make it stick across every touchpoint.

Great seafood deserves great storytelling. And great storytelling starts with knowing exactly what you want to say, and how to say it.

Ready to stop sounding like every other fish in the sea? Let's talk.

P.S. This is the third article in our deep dive series on the InnaSea Marketing Roadmap — our step-by-step breakdown of the services we offer to help you build a seafood brand with staying power.