Guide · Writing
Brand Voice Guide: How to Write One Your Team Uses
Brand voice guide is the name for a short page that tells every writer how your company sounds. Build one in five steps: know your reader, pick three traits, list your words, set one grammar rule, and test it on real text.
What a brand voice guide is
A brand voice guide is a short page that tells writers how your company sounds. It names a few traits, shows the words you use and avoid, and gives examples. A new hire should be able to read it in five minutes and write a good email.
Voice is not the same as tone. Voice stays the same everywhere. Tone shifts with the moment. You sound friendly in both a welcome note and an apology, but you are calmer and slower in the apology.
Keep the guide to one page if you can. Long guides sit in a folder and nobody opens them. A short one gets pinned next to the draft.
Start with your reader
Write down who reads your words before you pick any trait. The federal plain language guidelines make this the first rule: use language your audience understands and feels comfortable with. They also say to take the reader's current knowledge into account.
Answer four questions in a few lines each:
- Who reads us: buyers, users, job seekers, or all three?
- What do they already know about our field?
- What do they need from us today?
- What questions will they have?
These questions are adapted from the same guidelines. Your answers set the floor for how technical you can be. A guide for engineers can use more jargon than a guide for small shop owners.
Pick three traits and show them
Choose three traits, not ten. Each trait needs two lines: what it means and what it does not mean. Without the second line, a trait like "bold" turns into rude.
Trait We mean We do not mean Clear Short sentences, one idea each Dumbed down or vague Warm We say "you" and "we" Chatty or over friendly Direct We state the point first Blunt or cold The plain language guidelines back this approach. They say to express only one idea in each sentence, and they note that shorter sentences help with complex information because they break it into smaller units.
Sources: plainlanguage.gov, Write for your audience; plainlanguage.gov, Write short sentences
Add word lists and one rule on grammar
A word list is the part writers use most. Make two columns: say this, not that. Start with plain swaps from the federal guidelines, then add your own.
Instead of Write commence begin or start additional more or added assist help close proximity near utilise or utilize use at the present time now Most of these swaps come from the plain language lists. Add words only your company uses, such as product names and how to spell them. Also list any jargon you allow. The guidelines say technical terms are fine when the reader needs them. Jargon that only impresses is not.
Add one rule on grammar. The best one to pick is active voice. The guidelines say active voice makes it clear who is supposed to do what. "We will send your invoice on Friday" beats "Your invoice will be sent on Friday."
Sources: plainlanguage.gov, Avoid jargon; plainlanguage.gov, Use simple words and phrases; plainlanguage.gov, Use active voice
Run a before and after test
A guide is only useful if it changes the draft. Test it with a real sentence from your own site. Rewrite it using the traits and the word list, then compare.
Before After Your request has been received and will be reviewed at the earliest opportunity. We got your request. We will reply by Friday. It is recommended that customers utilise the portal to ascertain their balance. Check your balance in the portal. Assistance is available in the event that issues are experienced. Need help? Write to us and we will fix it. Check each rewrite against four tests. Is the point first? Is it active? Is there a plain word for every fancy one? Can a new hire write the same thing without help? If the answer is no, fix the guide, not the writer.
Give the guide an owner and a date. Review it twice a year. Pull three recent emails or web pages, mark where they drift, and update the examples. Real examples age fast, so swap old ones for fresh ones.
Sources: plainlanguage.gov, Use active voice; plainlanguage.gov, Write short sentences
Make the team use it
Put the guide where people write. Pin it in the chat tool, link it in the style checklist, and attach it to every new writer's first task. Ask editors to quote the guide when they leave a comment, so the page becomes the shared language.
Keep it honest, too. A guide that says "friendly" while every email reads like a contract will lose trust. Fix the gap in the writing or change the guide.
To sum up: know your reader, pick three traits, list your words, set one grammar rule, and test it on real text. That is a brand voice guide your team will actually use.
Sources