brand-voice-guidelines

Brand Voice & Guidelines

Develop, document, and maintain consistent brand voice across all channels.

Install

git clone https://github.com/thatrebeccarae/claude-marketing.git && cp -r claude-marketing/skills/brand-voice-guidelines ~/.claude/skills/

Voice vs Tone

Voice = who you are (consistent). Tone = how you adapt to context (variable).

• Voice is your brand personality — it does not change
• Tone shifts based on situation: celebration vs crisis, social vs support, blog vs legal

Voice Development Process

Step 1: Audit Existing Content

Analyze 10-20 pieces of existing content across channels:

• What adjectives describe the writing?
• What is consistent? What is inconsistent?
• How does your audience describe you?

Step 2: Define Voice Attributes

Choose 3-5 attributes that define your brand voice. Each attribute sits on a spectrum:

Attribute	We Are	We Are NOT
Confident	Bold, direct, opinionated	Arrogant, dismissive, preachy
Approachable	Warm, conversational, human	Unprofessional, sloppy, too casual
Expert	Knowledgeable, precise, credible	Jargon-heavy, condescending, academic
Playful	Witty, creative, surprising	Silly, forced, distracting

Step 3: Brand Personality Archetypes

Archetype	Voice	Brands
The Sage	Knowledgeable, thoughtful, guiding	Google, TED, McKinsey
The Creator	Innovative, expressive, visionary	Apple, Adobe, Figma
The Hero	Bold, confident, empowering	Nike, Patagonia, Slack
The Jester	Playful, irreverent, entertaining	Old Spice, Mailchimp, Duolingo
The Caregiver	Warm, supportive, trustworthy	Dove, TOMS, Headspace
The Rebel	Provocative, disruptive, direct	Harley-Davidson, Basecamp, Cards Against Humanity
The Explorer	Adventurous, curious, independent	Airbnb, North Face, REI
The Ruler	Authoritative, premium, exclusive	Rolex, Mercedes, Bloomberg
The Everyperson	Relatable, honest, grounded	IKEA, Target, Slack

Step 4: Create Tone Matrix

Define how voice adapts across contexts:

Context	Confidence Level	Formality	Humor	Empathy
Marketing website	High	Low-medium	Light	Medium
Blog post	High	Low	Medium	Medium
Social media	Medium-high	Low	High	Medium
Customer support	Medium	Medium	None	Very high
Error messages	Low (humble)	Low	Light if appropriate	High
Legal/compliance	Medium	High	None	Low
Crisis comms	High	High	None	Very high
Sales emails	High	Medium	Light	High

Step 5: Messaging Framework

## Brand Promise
[One sentence: what you promise your customers]

## Value Propositions (3-5)
1. [VP 1]: [Proof point]
2. [VP 2]: [Proof point]
3. [VP 3]: [Proof point]

## Tagline Options
- [Tagline 1]
- [Tagline 2]
- [Tagline 3]

## Elevator Pitch (30 seconds)
[2-3 sentences that explain what you do, who you serve, and why it matters]

## Boilerplate (for press/about)
[Standard paragraph used in press releases, about pages, speaker bios]

Writing Style Guide

Grammar & Mechanics

Decision	Our Standard	Why
Oxford comma	Yes	Clarity
Contractions	Yes (we are → we're)	Conversational
Exclamation marks	Max 1 per page	Not shouty
Emoji	[Platform-specific rules]	Context-dependent
Capitalization	Sentence case for headings	Modern, approachable
Numbers	Spell out 1-9, numerals 10+	Standard convention
Pronouns	We (company), you (customer)	Direct and personal

Vocabulary

Instead Of	Use	Why
Utilize	Use	Simpler
Leverage	Use, apply	Less jargon
Synergy	Collaboration, combined	Real words
Best-in-class	Leading, top-performing	Less cliche
Disruptive	[describe what actually changed]	Show, do not label
Solution	[name the actual thing]	Be specific

Voice Consistency Audit

Audit Checklist

• Sample 3 pages per channel (website, email, social, support)
• Score each on voice attributes (1-5 per attribute)
• Identify outliers (pages that do not sound like the brand)
• Check for forbidden vocabulary
• Verify tone matches context (support should not sound like marketing)
• Test with the "read it aloud" check — does it sound like one person?

Deliverable: Brand Voice Document

Document Structure

# [Brand] Voice Guide

## Who We Are (1 paragraph)
## Our Voice Attributes (3-5 with Do/Don't examples)
## Tone Matrix (context-specific adjustments)
## Messaging Framework (promise, VPs, tagline, elevator pitch)
## Writing Style Guide (grammar, vocabulary, formatting)
## Channel-Specific Guidelines (website, email, social, support)
## Examples (before/after rewrites for each voice attribute)

Integration with Other Skills

• content-creator — Brand voice analyzer script validates consistency
• seo-content-writer — Apply voice guidelines while optimizing for SEO
• copywriting-frameworks — Use frameworks within your established voice
• social-media-strategy — Platform-specific tone adaptations
• email-composer — Maintain voice in professional communications