How do you create a digital tone of voice guide?

1 Identify your brand attributes

The first step is to identify your brand attributes, which are the characteristics that describe your brand's identity, such as its mission, vision, values, and personality. You can use tools like surveys, interviews, workshops, or brainstorming sessions to gather insights from your stakeholders, customers, and competitors. Then, you can use words or phrases to summarize your brand attributes, such as innovative, friendly, trustworthy, or professional.

2 Define your tone of voice principles

The next step is to define your tone of voice principles, which are the rules that guide how you express your brand attributes in your digital communication. You can use a framework like the four dimensions of tone of voice, which are formality, emotion, humor, and respect. For each dimension, you can choose a scale or a spectrum that reflects your brand's position, such as casual vs formal, enthusiastic vs calm, playful vs serious, or friendly vs authoritative. You can also provide examples or tips for each principle, such as using contractions, emoticons, or slang.

3 Create your tone of voice guidelines

The third step is to create your tone of voice guidelines, which are the practical instructions that help you apply your tone of voice principles in your digital content. You can use a format like a style guide, which covers aspects like grammar, punctuation, spelling, formatting, and word choice. You can also use a format like a content guide, which covers aspects like structure, layout, headings, calls to action, and keywords. You can also include dos and don'ts, best practices, or checklists for each guideline, such as using active voice, short sentences, or clear headings.

4 Test and refine your tone of voice guide

The final step is to test and refine your tone of voice guide, which is the process of evaluating and improving your tone of voice based on feedback, data, and results. You can use methods like user testing, analytics, or surveys to measure how your audience responds to your digital content, such as their engagement, satisfaction, or conversion. You can also use methods like peer review, editing, or quality assurance to ensure that your digital content follows your tone of voice guide, such as using a checklist, a tool, or a team.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?