# Brand Voice & Tone Guidelines Reference for maintaining consistent voice across all written content. These are defaults — override with client-specific guidelines when available. --- ## Voice Archetypes Choose one primary archetype per brand. A secondary archetype can add nuance but should never dominate. ### Expert - **Sounds like:** A senior practitioner sharing hard-won knowledge. - **Characteristics:** Precise, evidence-backed, confident without arrogance. Cites data, references real-world experience, and isn't afraid to say "it depends." - **Typical vocabulary:** "In practice," "the tradeoff is," "based on our benchmarks," "here's why this matters." - **Risk to avoid:** Coming across as condescending or overly academic. - **Best for:** Technical audiences, B2B SaaS, engineering blogs, whitepapers. ### Guide - **Sounds like:** A patient teacher walking you through something step by step. - **Characteristics:** Clear, encouraging, anticipates confusion. Breaks complex ideas into digestible pieces. Uses analogies. - **Typical vocabulary:** "Let's start with," "think of it like," "the key thing to remember," "don't worry if this seems complex." - **Risk to avoid:** Being patronizing or oversimplifying for an advanced audience. - **Best for:** Tutorials, onboarding content, documentation, beginner-to-intermediate audiences. ### Innovator - **Sounds like:** Someone who sees around corners and wants to bring you along. - **Characteristics:** Forward-looking, curious, willing to challenge assumptions. Connects dots across domains. Thinks in systems. - **Typical vocabulary:** "What if," "the shift we're seeing," "this changes the calculus," "the next wave." - **Risk to avoid:** Sounding like hype or vaporware. Must ground vision in evidence. - **Best for:** Thought leadership, industry analysis, product vision content, founder blogs. ### Friend - **Sounds like:** A sharp colleague sharing advice over coffee. - **Characteristics:** Warm, direct, conversational. Uses "you" and "we." Comfortable with humor when it's natural. Doesn't hide behind jargon. - **Typical vocabulary:** "Here's the thing," "honestly," "we've all been there," "the trick is." - **Risk to avoid:** Being too casual for high-stakes topics or enterprise audiences. - **Best for:** Community content, newsletters, brand blogs aimed at practitioners. ### Motivator - **Sounds like:** A coach who believes in your potential and pushes you to act. - **Characteristics:** Energetic, action-oriented, focused on outcomes. Uses imperatives. Celebrates progress. - **Typical vocabulary:** "Start today," "you can do this," "here's your edge," "stop waiting for perfect." - **Risk to avoid:** Empty cheerleading. Must pair motivation with substance. - **Best for:** Career content, productivity content, entrepreneurship, course marketing. --- ## Core Writing Principles These apply regardless of archetype. ### 1. Clarity First - If a sentence can be misread, rewrite it. - Use the simplest word that conveys the precise meaning. "Use" over "utilize." "Start" over "commence." - One idea per paragraph. One purpose per section. - Define jargon on first use, or skip it entirely. ### 2. Customer-Centric - Frame everything from the reader's perspective, not the company's. - **Instead of:** "We built a new feature that enables real-time collaboration." - **Write:** "You can now edit documents with your team in real time." - Lead with the reader's problem or goal, not the product or solution. ### 3. Active Voice - Active voice is the default. Passive voice is acceptable only when the actor is unknown or irrelevant. - **Active:** "The script generates a report every morning." - **Passive (acceptable):** "The logs are rotated every 24 hours." (The actor doesn't matter.) - **Passive (avoid):** "A decision was made to deprecate the endpoint." (Who decided?) ### 4. Show, Don't Claim - Replace vague claims with specific evidence. - **Claim:** "Our platform is incredibly fast." - **Show:** "Queries return in under 50ms at the 99th percentile." - If you can't provide evidence, soften the language or cut the sentence. --- ## Tone Attributes Tone shifts based on content type and audience. Use these spectrums to calibrate. ### Formality Spectrum ``` Casual -------|-------|-------|-------|------- Formal 1 2 3 4 5 ``` | Level | Description | Use When | |-------|-------------|----------| | 1 | Slang OK, sentence fragments, first person | Internal team comms, very informal blogs | | 2 | Conversational, contractions, direct address | Newsletters, community posts, most blog content | | 3 | Professional but approachable, minimal contractions | Product announcements, mid-funnel content | | 4 | Polished, structured, no contractions | Whitepapers, enterprise case studies, executive briefs | | 5 | Formal, third person, precise terminology | Legal, compliance, academic partnerships | **Default for most blog/article content: Level 2-3.** ### Technical Depth Spectrum ``` General -------|-------|-------|-------|------- Deep Technical 1 2 3 4 5 ``` | Level | Description | Use When | |-------|-------------|----------| | 1 | No jargon, analogy-heavy, conceptual | Non-technical stakeholders, general audience | | 2 | Light jargon (defined inline), practical focus | Business audience with some domain familiarity | | 3 | Industry-standard terminology, code snippets OK | Practitioners who do the work daily | | 4 | Assumes working knowledge, implementation details | Developers, engineers, technical decision-makers | | 5 | Deep internals, performance analysis, tradeoff math | Senior engineers, architects, researchers | **Default: Match the audience. When unsure, aim one level below what you think the audience can handle. Accessibility wins.** --- ## Language Preferences ### Use Action Verbs Lead sentences — especially headings and CTAs — with strong verbs. | Weak | Strong | |------|--------| | There is a way to improve | Improve | | This section is a discussion of | This section covers | | You should consider using | Use | | It is important to note that | Note: | | We are going to walk through | Let's walk through | ### Be Concrete and Specific Vague language erodes trust. Replace generalities with specifics. | Vague | Concrete | |-------|----------| | "significantly faster" | "3x faster" or "reduced from 12s to 2s" | | "a large number of users" | "over 40,000 monthly active users" | | "best-in-class" | describe the specific advantage | | "seamless integration" | "connects via a single API call" | | "in the near future" | "by Q2" or "in the next release" | ### Avoid These Patterns - **Weasel words:** "very," "really," "extremely," "quite," "somewhat" — cut them or replace with data. - **Nominalizations:** "implementation" when you mean "implement," "utilization" when you mean "use." - **Hedge stacking:** "It might potentially be possible to perhaps consider..." — commit to a position or state the uncertainty once, clearly. - **Buzzword chains:** "AI-powered next-gen synergistic platform" — describe what it actually does. --- ## Pre-Publication Checklist Run through this before publishing any piece of content. ### Voice Consistency - [ ] Does the piece sound like one person wrote it, beginning to end? - [ ] Does it match the target voice archetype? - [ ] Are there jarring shifts in tone between sections? - [ ] If multiple authors contributed, has it been edited for a unified voice? ### Clarity - [ ] Can a reader in the target audience understand every sentence on the first read? - [ ] Is jargon defined or avoided? - [ ] Are all acronyms expanded on first use? - [ ] Do headings accurately describe the content beneath them? - [ ] Is the article scannable? (subheadings every 2-4 paragraphs, short paragraphs, lists where appropriate) ### Value - [ ] Does the introduction make clear what the reader will gain? - [ ] Does every section earn its place? (Cut anything that doesn't serve the reader's goal.) - [ ] Are claims supported by evidence, examples, or data? - [ ] Is the advice actionable — can the reader do something with it today? - [ ] Does the conclusion provide a clear next step? ### Formatting - [ ] Title is under 70 characters and includes the core keyword or topic. - [ ] Meta description is 140-160 characters and summarizes the value proposition. - [ ] Headings use parallel structure (all questions, all noun phrases, or all verb phrases — not mixed). - [ ] Code blocks, tables, and images have context (a sentence before them explaining what the reader is looking at). - [ ] Links use descriptive anchor text, not "click here." - [ ] No walls of text — maximum 4 sentences per paragraph for web content.