Do you have a Brand Voice Guide for your business? During a recent presentation on brand identity at PMM Jam, I talked about how Brand Voice Guides can fall short. My observations are based both on my corporate experience as a team lead who has authored internal style guides and as a consultant who has reviewed brand voice guidelines.
Before I get into specifics, I’ll simplify Brand Voice Guide as a reference for how you write and speak about your brand. Some companies use it interchangeably with Style Guide which includes guidelines on visual style, grammar, and usage. For this piece, Brand Voice Guide refers more to what and how you communicate your brand messaging and values.
I see a lot of Brand Voice Guides that start with the same problem: too many adjectives without enough context. All brands think they have a clear voice but their internal guidelines start by describing the brand with words like ‘industry-leading’ or ‘trustworthy.’
I review guidelines that rely too heavily on adjectives to describe the tone of voice. The word ‘clear’ is a major culprit. While I agree that your messaging should always be ‘clear,’ I don’t how it helps establish your brand voice.
Other common adjectives include: professional, inspiring, confident, expert, refined, inspiring. The list goes on and on. The label words can be helpful but you need to provide specific context. When you’re in an organization, you could have a dozen different ways of describing what ‘expert’ means.
An effective Brand Voice Guide includes concrete examples of what works, what doesn't work, and why. Summarizing the rationale of why something works provides necessary context around the label words that are presented as guidance.
Do you need a Brand Voice Guide as a solopreneur? Absolutely. Whether you run a business with employees or you run a solo operation, your brand guidelines keep you consistent with your messaging and values. Staying “on brand” is not just a vibe. A structured framework saves you time and energy because you’re not starting from scratch every time.
A Brand Voice Guide is especially essential if you use GenAI as your writing assistant.
[Side note: I don’t write with GenAI but I don’t care if you or anyone else uses GenAI. I’m also not saying you should use GenAI to write. You do you.]
Every week I come across a new ‘rule’ on how to make sure that your writing doesn’t sound AI-generated. The forbidden list gets longer and longer: no em dash, no colors, no rule of 3, no this, no that.
All the conversations about whether something is “AI slop” or not starts with the wrong question. Instead of asking if something looks or sounds like ‘slop,’ the real question to ask is if the result fulfilled the goals of the creative brief.
If your AI tool of choice is not operating with brand guidelines, the output will be technically correct, well-organized, and indistinguishable from everything else in your industry. An “AI tells” list doesn't fix that.
If you do use GenAI as a writing assistant, make sure that your tool of choice understands your brand voice. It means having examples of writing that represents you at your best, not just a list of rules.
Do you know the qualities that make your writing recognizable? These are the elements that can be included in your Brand Voice Guide:
Your unique writing style and cadence
Topics you have genuine opinions about
Topics that are on your off limits list
Nonnegotiables about your brand values
When working within GenAI specifically, your instructions can include:
Words and phrases that you typically avoid
Examples of your voice in practice
Guidance on tone of voice for different contexts
Clear parameters on what the tool should and shouldn't be doing
A list of words to avoid is one small part of that. The rest is editorial direction that only you can provide.
If you’re not sure how to get started with your Brand Voice Guide, let’s chat. It’s a core service that is included in my Brand Audit and Strategy Roadmap package.
