brand-voice

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 Weekly Installs322Repositoryanthropics/know…-pluginsGitHub Stars9.7KFirst SeenJan 31, 2026Security AuditsGen Agent Trust HubPassSocketPassSnykPassInstalled onopencode255claude-code253codex248gemini-cli241github-copilot234amp220