Speak in a Way People Recognize—And Trust

Voice is who you are. Tone is how you adapt. Together, they bring your brand to life in words.
Defining tone and voice guidelines helps ensure consistency across teams and channels while giving your brand a recognizable and human feel—whether you’re writing a landing page or replying to a support ticket.

Why it's Important

Creates trust and recognition across all touchpoints
Aligns messaging across teams, products, and platforms
Reduces friction by giving writers and creators clear direction
Reinforces your brand personality and positioning
Makes your brand feel more human and less generic

How to Implement

Start with your brand personality traits—these will shape your voice
Define your voice in one to two sentences
Example: “Confident but never arrogant. Clear, thoughtful, and direct.”
Break down your tone into situations—how does it shift for different contexts?
Examples:
Marketing page = inspiring
Help center = reassuring
System error = calm and direct
Include voice do’s and don’ts to guide team usage
Do: Use short, active sentences
Don’t: Use buzzwords or corporate speak
Add example phrases, headlines, and responses for different scenarios
Train internal teams on using the guidelines in real-world content
Bake tone and voice into content reviews, not just brand reviews
Update the guide as your audience or brand evolves

How You Know You Got It Right

Customers describe your brand with personality traits that match your intent
Content feels unified across website, app, emails, and support
Writers create faster with fewer revisions
Your internal team uses the guidelines confidently and regularly
Your brand “sounds like itself” even in different formats or contexts
UX writing, sales emails, and product onboarding all feel aligned
You don’t rely on one person to “catch the tone”—it’s built into the process

Real-World Examples

Slack

Voice: Friendly, human, a little informal

Outcome: Made workplace communication feel less like work

Headspace

Voice: Calm, supportive, positive

Outcome: Reinforced product purpose with every word and sentence

Basecamp

Voice: Direct, plainspoken, opinionated

Outcome: Attracts customers who value clarity and strong perspective

Make It Better

Create templates with tone examples for common content types
Keep the guidelines short—2 to 3 pages max
Include screenshots or real examples from your own brand
Revisit tone by channel (social vs. product vs. sales)
Collect feedback from teams using the guide to improve clarity

Don't Make These Mistakes

Writing guidelines that are too abstract to apply
Assuming one tone fits every context
Over-editing everything to sound “clever” at the cost of clarity
Forgetting support, sales, or legal teams in tone training
Creating a voice that doesn’t reflect your actual product or audience