Does your website and blog content represent your company exactly as you want it to? If you feel that your writers just don’t get your brand voice, or you find formatting inconsistencies from one article to the next, this brand style guide template for writers will help get your content more uniform.
Why does any of this matter?
You probably already have visual brand guidelines for your company. These typically define which colours and fonts should be used, how your logo should appear, etc. The idea is that your customers can easily recognise anything associated with your brand by its visual appearance.
However, many companies overlook the importance of having similar guidelines in place for written content.
Once you have connected with a potential customer, how your brand sounds is just as important as how it looks. If they read a blog post that’s upbeat and witty but then receive an email that’s formal and dense, they’re going to be confused about what your company really stands for.
And confused customers will quickly lose interest in what you have to say.
You need your brand voice to be stable and well-defined so it speaks to exactly the kinds of people you want to reach.
Get your free brand style guide template for writers now!
And by the way, it’s not just a template. We’ve written a 2-page guide to show you how to get the most out of your company’s style guide for writers. We’ve also included plenty of examples so you shouldn’t get stuck for ideas.
Who can use this writing style guide template?
We’ve created this style guide not just for companies, but for freelance writers too. It’s a useful resource if:
- You’re a company that hires writers (in-house or freelance) to produce content for you. Wherever you have more than one person writing content for your company, the likelihood of inconsistencies increases. Using a writing style guide will help keep all your writers on the same page, and it should also reduce the amount of editing required.
- You’re writing content for your own business. Even if it’s just you in charge of content creation for your company, documenting everything in a writing style guide will help you keep your own writing in check. It also means that if any other content writers come on board in the future, you already have a document with which to brief them.
- You’re an agency that provides content writing services to your clients. If you employ writers to work for several different clients, a writing style guide will be an invaluable resource to help them remember the requirements for each client when they’re constantly switching from one to another.
- You’re a freelance writer working for any number of different clients. If you’ve ever suffered the frustration of writing what you thought was a great piece and then having the client return it with a long list of edits, perhaps you need to get clearer up-front about what they really want.
As a writer, I always ask new clients to complete a style guide for the content I’m creating for them – unless they already have one of their own. It helps me – and them – be clear about exactly what is required before I start work. Having everything laid out in advance makes it much easier for me to create content they’re happy with.
What kind of content should this style guide template be used for?
All of it! Seriously; anything from your blog to your emails to your social media pages to your business cards should consistently reflect your brand’s tone of voice and style specifications.
We’ve included sections on keywords and CTAs – which are essential if you’re writing content for websites and blogs as part of a content management strategy – but these can be removed if they don’t apply to the content you’re creating right now.
The aim is to give your customers and readers a seamless brand experience no matter where and how they connect with your business.
So, are you ready for content that fits your brand personality and works hard to meet your content strategy goals?
Request your brand style guide template for writers now!
Did we mention that it’s completely free?
If you have any questions about this guide then please just get in touch or leave a comment below.
And if you’ve given this writing style guide a go but still aren’t getting what you want from your writers, well, perhaps you need some better ones.
