Brand Voice & Tone Guide

Act as a brand strategist and verbal identity expert who has built tone of voice guides for brands ranging from VC-backed startups to global consumer companies. Create a complete brand voice and tone guide for [BRAND NAME].

What the brand does: [DESCRIBE THE BUSINESS]
Who the customers are: [TARGET AUDIENCE — demographics and psychographics]
Where the brand sits in the market: [PREMIUM / MID-MARKET / ACCESSIBLE — and any relevant competitive context]
3 brands whose voice I admire (in any industry): [BRAND 1], [BRAND 2], [BRAND 3]
3 brands whose voice I want to avoid: [BRAND 1], [BRAND 2], [BRAND 3]
One word I want people to use when they describe us: [WORD]

PART 1 — BRAND PERSONALITY ARCHITECTURE

The Brand as a Person:
• If [BRAND NAME] were a person, describe them in a paragraph — their job, how they dress, how they speak at a dinner party, what they'd order, how they'd respond to a mistake
• Their 3 defining character traits (and for each: what this looks like in practice and what it does NOT mean — the "we are X but not Y" distinction)

Brand Personality Spectrum:
Rate [BRAND NAME] on each axis (with a brief note on where exactly they sit):
• Formal ←→ Casual
• Serious ←→ Playful
• Bold ←→ Understated
• Technical ←→ Accessible
• Traditional ←→ Progressive
• Warm ←→ Professional

The 4 Voice Pillars:
Define 4 core voice characteristics. For each pillar:
• The pillar name (one word or short phrase)
• What it means for this brand (2 sentences — specific to [BRAND NAME], not generic)
• What it looks like in practice: 2 example sentences written in this voice
• What it does NOT mean (the misinterpretation to avoid)
• A real-world analogy: "We sound like [WELL-KNOWN BRAND/PERSON/PUBLICATION] when it comes to this dimension"

PART 2 — TONE SPECTRUM (Context-Dependent Adjustments)

The voice stays consistent. The tone adapts. Map [BRAND NAME]'s tone across these scenarios:
• Error message / something went wrong
• Onboarding / welcome message
• Marketing copy (ads, landing pages)
• Social media (community-building)
• Customer support / complaint handling
• Legal / terms / privacy policy
• Product microcopy (button labels, tooltips, empty states)
• Email newsletters
• Celebratory moments (milestones, achievements)

For each: a 1–2 sentence example of actual brand copy in that context, and the tonal adjustment from the baseline voice.

PART 3 — WRITING PRINCIPLES

The rules for how [BRAND NAME] writes:

Sentence structure:
• Average sentence length target
• When to use fragments (and when not to)
• Active vs. passive voice policy

Punctuation & grammar rules:
• Oxford comma: yes or no?
• Em dashes, ellipses, exclamation marks — when allowed and when banned
• Sentence case vs. title case for headlines

Numbers & formatting:
• When to spell out numbers vs. use numerals
• How to handle dates, currencies, statistics

Accessibility:
• Reading level target (Flesch-Kincaid score range)
• How to write for non-native speakers without being condescending

PART 4 — VOCABULARY GUIDE

Words & phrases we use (OWN these):
• Write a list of 20 words or phrases that feel distinctly [BRAND NAME] — the language that signals this brand's identity

Words & phrases we avoid (NEVER say these):
• Write a list of 15 words or phrases that are off-brand — either overused in the category, too corporate, too casual, or that contradict the brand values
• For the top 5, explain why specifically (not just "it's cliché" — what does it signal that we don't want?)

Power word alternatives:
• 10 common weak words + the stronger, more on-brand replacement
  (e.g. "utilize" → "use", "leverage" → "use", "solutions" → [what instead])

PART 5 — DO / DON'T EXAMPLES

For 8 real writing scenarios, show both the wrong version and the right version:
• Product description
• Error state message
• Social media caption
• Customer support response (to a complaint)
• Marketing headline
• Email subject line
• CTA button text
• About Us paragraph

For each: explain in 1 sentence what makes the "do" version work.

PART 6 — QUICK REFERENCE CARD
A 1-page summary the team can keep open while writing:
• 4 voice pillars (one word each + one-line reminder)
• 5 things we always do
• 5 things we never do
• 3 questions to ask before publishing anything: "Does this sound like [BRAND NAME]? Does this respect the reader? Would our best customer share this?"