brand-voice skill

---
name: brand-voice
description: Apply and enforce brand voice, style guide, and messaging pillars across content. Use when reviewing content for brand consistency, documenting a brand voice, adapting tone for different audiences, or checking terminology and style guide compliance.
---

# Brand Voice Skill

Frameworks for documenting, applying, and enforcing brand voice and style guidelines across marketing content.

## Brand Voice Documentation Framework

A complete brand voice document should cover these areas. Use this framework to help users define their brand voice or to understand an existing brand voice configuration.

### 1. Brand Personality
Define the brand as if it were a person. What are its defining traits?

Example: "If our brand were a person, they would be a knowledgeable colleague who explains complex things simply, celebrates your wins genuinely, and never talks down to you."

### 2. Voice Attributes
Select 3-5 attributes that define how the brand communicates. Each attribute should be defined with:
- What it means in practice
- What it does NOT mean (to prevent misinterpretation)
- An example demonstrating the attribute

### 3. Audience Awareness
- Who the brand is speaking to (primary and secondary audiences)
- What the audience cares about
- What level of expertise the audience has
- How the audience expects to be addressed

### 4. Core Messaging Pillars
- 3-5 key themes the brand consistently communicates
- The hierarchy of these messages (which comes first)
- How each pillar connects to audience needs

### 5. Tone Spectrum
How the voice adapts across contexts while remaining recognizably the same brand.

### 6. Style Rules
Specific grammar, formatting, and language rules. See the Style Guide Enforcement section below.

### 7. Terminology
Preferred and avoided terms. See the Terminology Management section below.

## Voice Attributes

### Common Voice Attribute Pairs

When defining brand voice, it helps to position attributes on a spectrum. Here are common attribute spectrums:

| Spectrum | One End | Other End |
|----------|---------|-----------|
| Formality | Formal, institutional | Casual, conversational |
| Authority | Expert, authoritative | Peer-level, collaborative |
| Emotion | Warm, empathetic | Direct, matter-of-fact |
| Complexity | Technical, precise | Simple, accessible |
| Energy | Bold, energetic | Calm, measured |
| Humor | Playful, witty | Serious, earnest |
| Innovation | Cutting-edge, forward-looking | Established, proven |

### Defining an Attribute

For each chosen attribute, document it in this format:

**[Attribute name]**
- **We are**: [what this means in practice]
- **We are not**: [common misinterpretation to avoid]
- **This sounds like**: [example sentence demonstrating the attribute]
- **This does NOT sound like**: [example sentence violating the attribute]

Example:

**Approachable**
- **We are**: friendly, clear, jargon-free, welcoming to beginners and experts alike
- **We are not**: dumbed-down, overly casual, or lacking substance
- **This sounds like**: "Here's how to get started — it takes about five minutes."
- **This does NOT sound like**: "Yo! This is super easy, even a noob can do it lol."

## Tone Adaptation Across Channels and Contexts

The brand voice stays consistent, but tone adapts to context. Tone is the emotional inflection applied to the voice.

### Tone by Channel

| Channel | Tone Adaptation | Example |
|---------|----------------|---------|
| Blog | Informative, conversational, educational | "Let's walk through how this works and why it matters for your team." |
| Social media (LinkedIn) | Professional, thought-provoking, concise | "Three things we learned from running 50 campaigns this quarter." |
| Social media (Twitter/X) | Punchy, direct, sometimes witty | "Your landing page has 3 seconds. Make them count." |
| Email marketing | Personal, helpful, action-oriented | "We put together something we think you'll find useful." |
| Sales collateral | Confident, benefit-driven, specific | "Teams using our platform reduce reporting time by 40%." |
| Support/Help docs | Clear, patient, step-by-step | "If you see this error, here's how to fix it." |
| Press release | Formal, factual, newsworthy | "The company today announced the launch of..." |
| Error messages | Empathetic, helpful, blame-free | "Something went wrong on our end. We're looking into it." |

### Tone by Situation

| Situation | Tone Adaptation |
|-----------|----------------|
| Product launch | Excited, confident, forward-looking |
| Incident or outage | Transparent, empathetic, accountable |
| Customer success story | Celebratory, specific, crediting the customer |
| Thought leadership | Authoritative, nuanced, evidence-based |
| Onboarding | Welcoming, encouraging, clear |
| Bad news (price increase, deprecation) | Honest, respectful, solution-oriented |
| Competitive comparison | Confident but fair, fact-based, not disparaging |

### Tone Adaptation Rule
The voice attributes remain fixed. Tone dials them up or down based on context. For example, if a brand is "bold and warm":
- In a product launch, dial up boldness
- In an incident response, dial up warmth
- Neither attribute disappears; the balance shifts

## Style Guide Enforcement

### Grammar and Mechanics
Document and enforce these choices consistently:

| Rule | Options | Example |
|------|---------|---------|
| Oxford comma | Yes / No | "fast, reliable, and secure" vs. "fast, reliable and secure" |
| Sentence case vs. title case (headings) | Sentence / Title | "How to get started" vs. "How to Get Started" |
| Contractions | Use / Avoid | "we're" vs. "we are" |
| Em dash spacing | No spaces / Spaces | "this—and more" vs. "this — and more" |
| Numbers | Spell out 1-9, numerals 10+ / Always numerals | "five features" vs. "5 features" |
| Percent | % / percent | "50%" vs. "50 percent" |
| Date format | Month DD, YYYY / DD/MM/YYYY / etc. | "January 15, 2025" |
| Time format | 12-hour / 24-hour | "3:00 PM" vs. "15:00" |
| Lists | Periods / No periods on fragments | "Set up your account." vs. "Set up your account" |

### Formatting Conventions
- Heading hierarchy (when to use H1, H2, H3)
- Bold and italic usage (bold for emphasis, italic for titles/terms)
- Link text (descriptive vs. "click here" — always descriptive)
- Image alt text requirements
- Code formatting (for technical brands)
- Callout or highlight box usage

### Punctuation and Emphasis
- Exclamation mark policy (limited use, never more than one)
- Ellipsis usage (avoid in most professional contexts)
- ALL CAPS policy (avoid; use bold for emphasis instead)
- Emoji usage by channel (professional channels: minimal or none; social: where appropriate)

## Terminology Management

### Preferred Terms

Maintain a list of preferred terms and their incorrect alternatives:

| Use This | Not This | Notes |
|----------|----------|-------|
| sign up (verb) | signup (verb) | "signup" is the noun form |
| log in (verb) | login (verb) | "login" is the noun/adjective form |
| set up (verb) | setup (verb) | "setup" is the noun/adjective form |
| email | e-mail | No hyphen |
| website | web site | One word |
| data is (singular) | data are | Unless the publication requires plural |

### Product and Feature Names
- Official capitalization for product names
- When to use the full product name vs. shorthand
- Whether to use "the" before product names
- How to handle versioning in copy
- Trademark and registration symbols (when required and when to omit)

### Inclusive Language
- Use gender-neutral language (they/them for unknown individuals)
- Avoid ableist language ("crazy", "blind spot", "lame")
- Use person-first language where appropriate
- Avoid culturally specific idioms that may not translate
- Use "simple" or "straightforward" instead of "easy" (what is easy varies by person)

### Industry Jargon Management
- Define which technical terms the audience understands without explanation
- List jargon that should always be defined or replaced with plain language
- Specify which acronyms need to be spelled out on first use
- Audience-specific glossary for terms that mean different things to different readers

### Competitor and Category Terms
- How to refer to your product category (use your preferred framing)
- How to refer to competitors (by name or generically)
- Terms competitors have coined that you should avoid (to prevent reinforcing their positioning)
- Your preferred differentiation language