Why your content needs a Style Guide

I've been doing some pretty fun work lately, helping an organization find its voice through its content.

Identifying a target audience, setting objectives for that audience, creating a corporate persona with a voice and tone is only the first part of getting your content on track.

To have everyone consistently creating content that is on brand (and we're talking everything from executive speeches, board reports, advertising campaigns and social media posts), it's a great idea to have an editorial style guide.

I've seen a lot of style guides. As a journalist, I can easily recall The Globe and Mail's full binder of "Globe-isms", as well as an editor who would read the paper each day looking for style infractions. You did not want to open your email inbox to learn you've broken a style rule.

This very strict Style Guide led to hilarious errors like its once-inflexible honourific style rule that had the newspaper quoting "Mr. Meatloaf."

Just like the editorial style guide at a news organization, a company or organization can benefit from having a tool that helps multiple content creators with conflicting style preferences (let's say you've outsourced your content to one freelancer with a Dickensian rhetorical flourish, and another with a penchant for bullet points) find your organization's true north.

Without an editorial style guide, Content Marketing World warns, you’re asking your content teams to reach a destination without a map and compass.

And if content creators don’t know where they’re going or how to get there, CMW advises, you may have to do some explaining to your CMO when their expectations don’t match your outcomes.

Worse, I'd add, your audiences won't ever connect with you and your unfocused, schizophrenic voice and tone.

A style guide doesn't need to be a biblical effort. The best style guides are strategically sharp and brief.

You don't necessarily need a binder of stringent rules, you need a shared understanding across your content team on who your audience is, how you want to sound, some do's and don't's as well as some awesome key words. Generally, we're talking four pages, max.

I worked with one Senior Editor who handed out a one-page cheat sheet that the organization's writers could print off and hang in their cubicles. LOVE THIS.

As you're thinking about who needs to see your content style guide (maybe it's your marketing and communications team of four, maybe it's everyone in the company), consider how you disseminate it. A word doc is a great nice to have, but a company wiki means you can update it as needed, and everyone can view it when they want. It won't get lost under a pile of papers. Check out this Style Guide from email marketing provider MailChimp.

There are a few basics I usually include in a style guide, so that everyone is on the same page:

• Target Audience
• Content pillars
• Who we are/Persona
• Voice and tone
• Inclusive language
• Do's & Don'ts
• Key words
• Linguistic rules (generally this is an adherence to AP/CP style)

However, you can absolutely make an editorial style guide your own, including taglines, how you respond to comments on social, visual branding, etc.

I've also found that the most successful style guides are owned by a team or an individual. Not so much the Style Editor I worked with at the Globe, policing content every day. But it's great if there's someone who can answer questions as content is created, host team discussions on shifts in style, etc.

There are times you might want to adapt or evolve your style guide, and that's fine too. Your content needs to be reflective of the changing world your audience lives in, and not stuck in a point in time. Consider a section on inclusive language that might not have seemed important even five years ago. (sadly)

RIP, Mr. Meatloaf.

PS: Hey! It has been awhile since I've written. I've been balancing a growing business and adventures with family. I hope you've been having a great summer too. I look forward to hearing from you!