How to build a brand voice guide: sections, examples and common mistakes
Kübra Tunca, brand manager
10 November 2026
6 min read
A brand voice guide is the document that puts into writing how a brand speaks. It covers the brand's personality, writing principles, words to use and avoid, how tone shifts by channel, and examples of right and wrong sentences. Its purpose is simple: whoever writes the copy, the brand speaks with the same voice.
A brand's logo looks the same everywhere, but its voice often changes with whoever is writing. A brand that is playful on social media, formal on its website and distant in customer service feels like three different brands to the customer. A voice guide closes that gap. In this article I cover what a brand voice guide should include, how to build one and the most common mistakes.
Are brand voice and tone the same thing?
They are close but different. Brand voice is the brand's personality and stays the same everywhere. Tone is that personality adjusted to the situation. A person is the same with a friend and in a meeting, but does not speak the same way in both. Brands work the same way: the voice stays fixed, the tone shifts with the channel and the moment.
What should a brand voice guide include?
- Brand personality: three or four adjectives that describe the brand and what each one means.
- Writing principles: short or long sentences, whether technical terms are used, how the reader is addressed.
- Word list: words the brand uses often and phrases it avoids.
- Tone settings: how tone changes on social media, the website, email and customer service.
- Style rules: formal or informal address, capitalisation, how numbers are written, emoji and punctuation choices.
- Example sentences: right and wrong examples for each principle. This is the section that makes the rules clear.
We are, we are not
Personality adjectives alone are not enough, because everyone reads them differently. The most useful method is to write the limit of each adjective too. An example table:
| We are | We are not | |
|---|---|---|
| Warm | We speak to readers in a close, friendly way | We do not use crude jokes or slang |
| Clear | We say what we mean, briefly and plainly | We do not sound harsh or bossy |
| Knowledgeable | We show what we know through examples | We do not talk down to the reader |
| Calm | We use a measured voice that builds trust | We do not sound cold or distant |
How does tone change by channel?
- Social media: shorter, more casual and quicker. Personality shows most freely here.
- Website: clear and informative. Visitors come to make a decision and the tone should guide them.
- Email and proposals: careful and personal. It speaks to the person by name and to their need.
- Complaints and bad news: plain, accountable and focused on the fix. Humour has no place here.
Here is the same message in two different tones. Example: telling a customer their order is delayed.
Dear customer, due to high demand there has been a delay in the delivery of your order. We thank you for your understanding.
Your order will ship two days later than we planned. The delay was on our side, so we have refunded your shipping fee. We will send you the tracking number as soon as your parcel is on its way.
How to build one, step by step
- Start with positioning: you cannot decide how a brand speaks before it is clear what it says and to whom. I cover this in how to write a positioning statement.
- Collect existing copy: gather examples from the website, social media, emails and decks. Seeing how the brand speaks today is a good starting point.
- Choose the personality: pick the three or four adjectives that describe the brand best.
- Write the limits: fill in the we are and we are not lines for each adjective.
- Add examples: write right and wrong example sentences for each channel.
- Test with the team: give the guide to a few people and ask them to write the same piece. If the results are close, the guide is doing its job.
Common mistakes
- Adjectives everyone uses: "trustworthy", "innovative" and "customer focused" do not set a brand apart.
- Rules without examples: "write warmly" is not enough. The guide should show what a warm sentence looks like.
- One tone for everything: a brand that answers complaints and campaigns with the same cheer loses trust.
- Giving it only to marketing: sales, customer service and leadership also write on the brand's behalf. The guide should reach everyone.
- Word for word translation: in bilingual brands, copy should be rewritten with the same principles rather than translated.
Where should the voice guide live?
The voice guide is a section of the brand book and should be attached to every brief given to an agency. I run brand voice work in the Brand Foundation package, right after positioning. The resulting guide lets everyone who works with the brand write in the same voice.
The easiest way to see whether a voice guide works is to give it to someone who does not know the brand and ask them to write a short piece. If it sounds like the brand, the guide is well written.
Frequently asked questions
Should a brand address customers formally or informally?
There is no single right answer. It depends on the audience, the sector and the brand's personality. What matters is that the choice is written in the guide and applied the same way on every channel. Switching between formal and casual makes a brand look scattered.
How long should a brand voice guide be?
For most brands a few pages are enough. When personality, principles, a word list and example sentences are short and easy to search, the team actually uses the guide.
Is a brand voice guide useful when writing with AI tools?
Yes, that is where it helps most. When the principles, word list and example sentences are given to the tool as instructions, the output sounds much closer to the brand. A person who knows the brand should still do the final read.
How does a bilingual brand keep its voice?
The guide should include example sentences for each language. Rather than translating word for word, copy should be rewritten in each language using the same principles. That way the brand speaks with the same personality in both.
Shall we write your brand's voice together?
In Brand Foundation, positioning, brand voice and visual identity come together in a single brand book in 3 to 5 weeks. Whoever writes the copy, your brand speaks with one voice.