Every strong brand brain needs more than data, assets, and guidelines. It needs a voice. Not editorial rules. Not just style guides.
A voice.
The consistent personality that shows up across everything you publish, no matter the format.
Today, let’s break down why brand voice is different, how to codify it, and how to make it repeatable across channels.
What is a Brand Voice?
Think of your brand voice like a personality.
It’s not what you say, but how you say it.
It lives in vocabulary choices, sentence rhythm, and tone.
It should feel recognizable even when the medium changes.
Example: the way you talk to your closest friends is different from the way you talk to your partner’s parents. Both are “you,” but adapted to the context.
Your brand should have that same range. One that’s adaptable, but never inconsistent.
Why Voice Isn’t the Same as Editorial Guidelines
Editorial guidelines tell you the rules: grammar choices, formatting, punctuation, capitalization.
Voice tells you the vibe.
Editorial: “We use Oxford commas.”
Voice: “We sound approachable, confident, and a little playful.”
You need both. But without codifying voice, your content will come out sounding robotic (or worse, like ten different people wrote it).
How to Codify Brand Voice Across Channels
Here’s a simple, repeatable system:
Define the Core Personality
Is your brand witty or straightforward? Warm or authoritative? Optimistic or pragmatic?
Pick 3–4 traits that describe your voice.
Map Voice to Channels
Social: shorter, punchier, more casual.
These are obviously examples and will vary from brand to brand
Blog: clear, explanatory, with room for storytelling.
Email: personal, inviting, conversational.
Build Examples You’d Actually Use
Don’t leave it vague. Show exactly how a tweet, a blog intro, and a sales email should look when written in your voice.
No placeholders, no “almost right.” Real, repeatable samples.
Create a Living Doc
House these examples in your brand brain.
Update them as you publish and refine.
The Bottom Line
Most teams obsess over what to say: the message, the campaign, the CTA.
But your brand voice—the how—is the multiplier here. It’s what makes a blog post sound like you. What makes an email instantly recognizable. What makes your audience trust that, no matter the channel, they’re hearing from the same brand.
Codify it once. Apply it everywhere. That’s how you make your brand brain smarter and your marketing stronger.
On Friday, we’ll cover the docs you’ll need to make channel-specific editorial guidelines.
