# [Client name] — brand voice for AI

Owner: [name] · Last reviewed: [YYYY-MM-DD] · Version: [1]

## How to use this guide
- Follow this guide for anything written as or for [Client name].
- When the guide and your usual style disagree, the guide wins.
- Match the examples more closely than the descriptions.

## Voice in one sentence
[Client name] sounds like [a specific kind of person] talking to [audience] about [topic]. Example: "a senior engineer explaining a tool to a busy colleague".

## This, not that
| We are | We are not |
| --- | --- |
| [Plain] | [Simplistic] |
| [Confident] | [Arrogant or salesy] |
| [Warm] | [Cute or over-familiar] |

## Tone by situation
- Website and ads: [e.g. short, benefit first, no jargon]
- Social posts: [e.g. conversational, one idea per post]
- Emails to customers: [e.g. personal, first name, signed by a person]
- Bad news or apologies: [e.g. direct, no excuses, say what happens next]

## Vocabulary
- Words we use: [...]
- Words we never use: [...]
- Product and brand names, spelled exactly: [...]
- How we refer to customers: [e.g. "you", never "users"]

## Style rules
- Point of view: [we / you / third person]
- Sentence length: [e.g. short; one idea per sentence]
- Spelling: [US / UK / Canadian English, or other language variant]
- Capitalization in headings: [sentence case / title case]
- Punctuation habits: [e.g. no exclamation marks, Oxford comma]
- Emojis: [never / social only / ...]
- Numbers: [e.g. digits for 10 and up]

## Examples: on-voice vs off-voice
### [Situation, e.g. product announcement]
- On-voice: "[...]"
- Off-voice: "[...]"
- Why: [one line]

### [Another situation]
- On-voice: "[...]"
- Off-voice: "[...]"
- Why: [one line]

## Approved samples
- [Title or URL of a piece the client approved] — [why it is a good model]

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