How Specky Scribbler Creates Tone of Voice Guidelines

Whenever I’m brought in to create a tone of voice guideline for a client, the final product is different. That’s because each brand and organisation is different, so each brand voice is different, so each tone of voice guideline is different. However, there is a process that I follow that remains similar, and the main foundation stone of that is to be collaborative.

If you want to get a bit of insight into how I operate with clients to do this, then this is the place to find out. (Unless, of course, you’d rather reach out to me directly.)

STEP ONE, THE INITIAL MEETING:

The first step is an informal one, off the clock, and is used to decide whether or not this is the process your brand needs to undertake. This can either be done in person or over the phone, depending on where you’re based. Depending on the situation, it might all be done over email.

This is just a brief 30-minute chat for us to discover whether we’re the right fit to work together, and how the process may work. If you decide that you do want me to create a tone of voice guideline, then great! If not, I hope you’ve learned a bit more about the process as a whole.

STEP TWO, THE STATEMENT OF WORK:

Following on from our initial conversation, I will ask that you send me an idea of when you want the work completed, and what you want to be included in the final guideline. I’ll email you with a list of all the options, a preliminary timeline, and a project cost. I will also ask for any existing material you have, such as brand guidelines, newsletter templates, emails, blogs and social media posts. These will give me an idea of how you currently present yourself to your audience.

Once we’re in agreement, I’ll schedule a morning/afternoon to run a brainstorming workshop with you and your stakeholders. This can take place on-site in your offices, or over conference calls, again depending on where your stakeholders and key team members are based. The most important thing about this is that the decision-makers in your company are present, along with the people who are primarily responsible for communications and/or marketing.

STEP THREE, THE WORKSHOP:

Prior to the workshop, I’ll send out a list of key topics for discussion and consideration. The idea is that everyone will have some time to consider the questions we’ll be looking over, but I ask that nobody shares their initial notes with anybody else.

Then, during the workshop, we’ll discuss each of the questions asked, and how each individual responded. I’ll actively listen during this time, and make notes of the main ideas that came up consistently throughout the meeting, looking for common threads. This workshop will take between three and four hours, to make sure we have a solid foundation for the brand voice going forward.

The day after the workshop, I’ll compile my summary of findings and the main traits of the brand, as discussed in the workshop. These will be the ‘personality’ traits of the brand voice and serve as the foundation stones of the rest of the guideline. For example, your brand voice may be: inclusive, professional, friendly, innovative, dynamic, encouraging, excited, etc.

Once your team has agreed on these key elements, I can begin to define these further and begin working on the tone of voice guideline.

STEP FOUR, THE GUIDELINES:

This step is where I combine all the notes, feedback, and competitor research together and start drafting your brand’s tone of voice guidelines. Each section of this document will be sent to your team for feedback before proceeding onto the next section, to ensure that the process is working.

The content that clients most often request are:

• Website

• Newsletters

• Social media (posts and messages)

• Language Usage (UK/US English, Plain English, abbreviations, acronyms, etc.)

Some clients also ask for practical examples for emails, including how to respond to certain emails. Other clients have requested slightly different tones for use with clients and investors, while others ask for language usage to different online and offline in print material.

Each project is different and your final document can include whatever you think would best suit your needs. As standard, a guideline will include language usage, a summary of your brand voice elements/personality and the key takeaways.

STEP FIVE, COMPLETED GUIDELINE:

Once the guideline has been signed-off, I will send you a finalised PDF of the guidelines in their entirety, and this is yours to keep and share internally as necessary. It should be remembered that a guideline is a guide, they are not strict rules to be followed, but the guideline should be used as a way to make sure your brand is consistent in its communication, and its key personality traits are coming across in all written content.

Case Study: THE Krayon TONE OF VOICE

Krayon was founded to create an online marketplace for listing, searching, and booking offline, hands-on workshops. Specky Scribbler was approached by Krayon’s co-founder, Keith Farrell, to develop a complete tone of voice guideline to complement the existing visual brand guideline and create a verbal brand that adhered to Krayon’s vision.

One of the most important things for Krayon was to encourage learning and community building for teachers and students. This meant that Krayon wanted all communications to be friendly and accessible. English is the main language for Krayon users, but with an increasingly multicultural world, it was important that we stayed away from Irish slang or colloquialisms. We also made sure to adhere to Plain English usage, so that language or literacy issues would be lessened.

Krayon’s tone of voice guidelines were substantial and covered a broad range of application uses, including social media posts, internal and external emails, and also had different tones for use with Krayon users, and Krayon investors. Krayon already had a brand guideline in place, so the tone of voice guideline was slotted into the brand book for Krayon, to make sure the entire team knew about the complementary guidelines for visual and verbal brand symmetry.

The guideline is used by the entire Krayon team, and applies to any and all communications sent out on behalf of Krayon. The guideline will remain the property of Krayon, and this excerpt is used with their kind permission.

How long it takes

How long is a piece of string? This question is dependent on so many variables: how many different sections your guideline will include, how many team members are involved, how timely you are with feedback. A project like this can be done as quickly or as leisurely as you want. On average, it takes about one month from the initial workshop to the sign-off of the final guideline.

Everything included in a tone of voice guideline is tailored especially for your needs, but every guideline I create for clients is done through a collaborative and communicative relationship with the stakeholders and C-level executives.

If you’d like to find out more, please contact me: michelle@speckyscribbler.com