--- title: "Brand Voice Guidelines: How to Write Them in Six Steps" description: "Write brand voice guidelines in six steps: audit your content, choose personality traits, set tone by channel and give your team and AI one page." image: https://www.finemediabw.com/hubfs/Blog/Loop%20Marketing/Awareness/Brand%20Voice%20Guidelines%20-%20How%20to%20Write%20Them%20Before%20You%20Start%20Loop%20Marketing/brand-voice-guidelines-share-1200x630.png --- [![Fine\_Media\_logo\_Set\_HubSpot Website Logo Stacked](https://www.finemediabw.com/hubfs/Fine_Media_logo_Set_HubSpot%20Website%20Logo%20Stacked.svg "Fine_Media_logo_Set_HubSpot Website Logo Stacked")](https://www.finemediabw.com/) - Solutions - [Inbound Marketing](https://www.finemediabw.com/inbound-marketing) - [Website Design](https://www.finemediabw.com/website-design-and-development) - [Sales Enablement](https://www.finemediabw.com/sales-enablement) - [Customer Success](https://www.finemediabw.com/customer-success) - [HubSpot Services](https://www.finemediabw.com/hubspot-services) - [Insights](https://www.finemediabw.com/blog) - [About](https://www.finemediabw.com/about-us) Show submenu for About - [About us](https://www.finemediabw.com/about-us) - [Meet the Team](https://www.finemediabw.com/our-team) - [Our Story](https://www.finemediabw.com/our-story) - Solutions - [Inbound Marketing](https://www.finemediabw.com/inbound-marketing) - [Website Design](https://www.finemediabw.com/website-design-and-development) - [Sales Enablement](https://www.finemediabw.com/sales-enablement) - [Customer Success](https://www.finemediabw.com/customer-success) - [HubSpot Services](https://www.finemediabw.com/hubspot-services) - [Insights](https://www.finemediabw.com/blog) - [About](https://www.finemediabw.com/about-us) Show submenu for About - [About us](https://www.finemediabw.com/about-us) - [Meet the Team](https://www.finemediabw.com/our-team) - [Our Story](https://www.finemediabw.com/our-story) - [Contact us](https://www.finemediabw.com/contact) - [Contact us](https://www.finemediabw.com/contact) ![Brand Voice Guidelines: How to Write Them Before You Start Loop Marketing. Dark and slate type on a light grey ground, Propello.](https://www.finemediabw.com/hubfs/Blog/Loop%20Marketing/Awareness/Brand%20Voice%20Guidelines%20-%20How%20to%20Write%20Them%20Before%20You%20Start%20Loop%20Marketing/brand-voice-guidelines-share-1200x630.png) Oct 10, 2026, 11:44:33 AM | [Loop Marketing](https://www.finemediabw.com/blog/tag/loop-marketing) # Brand Voice Guidelines: How to Write Them Before You Start Loop Marketing Write brand voice guidelines in six steps: audit your content, choose personality traits, set tone by channel and give your team and AI one page. Share - [mailto:?&subject=Brand%20Voice%20Guidelines:%20How%20to%20Write%20Them%20Before%20You%20Start%20Loop%20Marketing&body=Brand%20Voice%20Guidelines:%20How%20to%20Write%20Them%20Before%20You%20Start%20Loop%20Marketing%0A(https%3A%2F%2Fwww.finemediabw.com%2Fblog%2Fbrand-voice-guidelines)](mailto:?&subject=Brand%20Voice%20Guidelines:%20How%20to%20Write%20Them%20Before%20You%20Start%20Loop%20Marketing&body=Brand%20Voice%20Guidelines:%20How%20to%20Write%20Them%20Before%20You%20Start%20Loop%20Marketing%0A(https%3A%2F%2Fwww.finemediabw.com%2Fblog%2Fbrand-voice-guidelines)) - - - If you lead revenue or marketing at a growing B2B company, brand voice guidelines are the short document that sets your tone of voice and tells everyone, and every AI tool, how your business sounds. You write them from what your best customers respond to, then test them on real copy. This guide is for CEOs, founders, CROs and the marketing lead who writes the document. You get six steps, the fields to fill in and the mistakes to avoid. It is the groundwork for the Express stage of HubSpot's [Loop Marketing](https://www.finemediabw.com/blog/what-is-loop-marketing-guide) framework, where your brand context is set before any campaign starts.   | **Brand Voice** The consistent personality your company shows in every word it publishes, built from its core values and expressed through the language you choose. | | --- | ## By the end you will have one page every writer and every AI tool can follow Most teams carry a loose sense of how they sound, and it lives in one senior writer's head. A written set of voice guidelines moves it onto a page, so a new hire, an agency or an AI assistant can match it on the first draft. - A short statement of your brand's personality, with three to five personality traits. - A tone guidelines table showing how the same voice shifts across channels and moments. - A word list: phrases you use, phrases you avoid and how you handle product names. - Before and after examples, plus a review date and an owner. ## What to have in place before you start ![A voice built on evidence at the centre with four things to gather first: your mission and core values, real content, your ideal customer profile and customer conversations.](https://www.finemediabw.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Blog/Loop%20Marketing/Awareness/Brand%20Voice%20Guidelines%20-%20How%20to%20Write%20Them%20Before%20You%20Start%20Loop%20Marketing/brand-voice-guidelines-voice-evidence-before-writing-blog-1600x900.png?width=1600&height=900&name=brand-voice-guidelines-voice-evidence-before-writing-blog-1600x900.png) Gather these first. A blank page tends to produce a voice you wish you had. - **Your mission statement and core values.** The voice should express what your brand stands for, so collect the current wording. - **Ten to twenty pieces of real content.** Pull web pages, emails, proposals, social posts and sales decks, so you can see the current voice. - **Your ideal customer profile.** Voice is shaped by the audience, and the [ideal customer profile template](https://www.finemediabw.com/blog/ideal-customer-profile-template) is the place to settle who that is. - **Two or three customer conversations.** Call recordings, interview notes and support emails show the words your buyers use. ### Know where brand voice fits next to your brand identity and style guide Brand identity is the whole picture of how your company presents itself: name, look, message and manner. A brand style guide is the document that records it. Brand voice is the verbal part of that identity. Brand guidelines often cover logos, color and other design elements as well. Voice guidelines can be a section of that document or a page of their own. Either way, they answer one question: how do we sound? Three terms are easy to mix up. Brand voice is your brand's unique perspective and values put into words. Brand tone is the attitude you use to convey those values. Brand personality is the set of traits attributed to your brand voice. A brand style guide covers voice, tone and visual elements, and it helps maintain brand recognition across platforms. Define your brand identity before you address the visual elements, so the words are not left to chance. ### What a strong brand voice looks like A strong brand voice is authentic, specific and steady. It reflects the company's core identity and gives the business a unique identity that buyers can recognize without seeing the logo. That recognition helps build brand awareness and supports brand recognition each time someone reads you. A strong brand voice enhances brand recall and engagement, and a distinct voice acts as a differentiator in crowded markets. Look at any brand you can recognize by its words alone and you will find the same key elements in each real world example: a clear personality, a considered tone, chosen language and firm style rules. The rest of this guide builds those four. Consistency builds trust and authenticity with customers, and a distinct voice fosters deeper connections with them. Brand voice guidelines are the documented rules that define a company's communication style. They also prevent conflicting messages from different team members. ### Why HubSpot asks for it in the Express stage HubSpot describes [Loop Marketing](https://www.hubspot.com/loop-marketing) as a four-stage framework: Express, Tailor, Amplify and Evolve. In Express, HubSpot says to encode your taste so AI knows who you are and who you are talking to, starting with a Taste Profile. HubSpot's Express page lists Brand Identity (Beta) as the tool for creating a brand style guide that captures your distinct perspective. Its [Loop Marketing guide](https://knowledge.hubspot.com/campaigns/understand-loop-marketing) says to define a brand style guide that captures your branding and how it applies to your target audience. Once that is set up, the guide says AI content carries brand-specific context including voice, tone and ideal customer profile. Your written guidelines are the raw material. For all four stages together, see the [Loop Marketing playbook](https://www.finemediabw.com/blog/loop-marketing-playbook-stages). ## How to write brand voice guidelines in six steps ![Six steps in order: audit the voice you have, anchor it in your values, choose the traits, set tone for each channel, add a word list, then test, sign and load it into your writing tools.](https://www.finemediabw.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Blog/Loop%20Marketing/Awareness/Brand%20Voice%20Guidelines%20-%20How%20to%20Write%20Them%20Before%20You%20Start%20Loop%20Marketing/brand-voice-guidelines-six-step-voice-flow-blog-1600x900.png?width=1600&height=900&name=brand-voice-guidelines-six-step-voice-flow-blog-1600x900.png) Each step ends with what done looks like, so you know when to move on. ### 1. Audit the voice you already have Lay your collected content side by side and read it aloud. Mark the passages that sound like you at your best, and the ones that could belong to any competitor. Ask whether each one reflects how the business wants to communicate with its audience. Note where the current voice changes from page to page, since those gaps show you where a guideline is needed. Also check what customers say about you in reviews and calls. Their words show how your voice lands. You are done when you have a one-page audit that marks five passages as on voice and five as off brand, with a line on why. ### 2. Anchor the voice in your mission statement and core values A voice that is not tied to anything becomes decoration. Start from your mission statement and your brand's core values, which define what the company stands for, then ask how each value would sound if a person spoke it aloud. A value such as "plain dealing" sounds like short sentences and no jargon. A value such as "craft" sounds like precise, specific language. This link gives your brand values a practical effect on every draft. You are done when each core value has one sentence describing how it shows up in writing. ### 3. Choose three to five traits that define your brand's personality Pick personality traits that describe how your brand sounds, and that a rival would not claim. "Professional" and "innovative" fit every company, so they filter nothing. "Direct, warm and exact" is a stronger set because each word rules something out. For each trait, write what it means and what it does not mean. The second half stops the trait from tipping into its opposite. - **Direct** means we state the point first. It does not mean blunt. - **Warm** means we write to one person. It does not mean casual slang. - **Exact** means we name the thing. It does not mean heavy technical detail. You are done when each trait has a "means" line and a "does not mean" line, and a stranger could tell the traits apart. ### 4. Set your tone of voice for each channel and audience Voice stays the same while tone shifts. Your voice is your personality. Your brand tone is the mood you take on for a given audience and situation, much as a person sounds different at a funeral and at a launch party. A one size fits all tone does not work. Audience expectations differ on different platforms, and the right tone for a board proposal is wrong for a short social post. Writing to different audiences with different tones is normal, provided the voice underneath stays recognizable. Different channels require different tones of voice, and a brand's tone can change based on context and intent. Your tone should still reflect your brand's core values. Build a small table with one row per channel or moment, such as your website, sales emails, social media platforms, support replies and a bad-news message. For each, state the tone, what to emphasize and what to avoid. Using different tones for different places is how a brand stays recognizable without sounding repetitive. Keep the same voice and the same tone for people in similar situations. A consistent tone means a customer who reads your proposal and your support email recognizes one company. You are done when each channel has a tone line, and tone shifts are written down rather than left to each writer's guess. ### 5. Add a word list and set guidelines for style Now make the tone guidelines usable. Write the rules a writer needs while drafting. Effective guidelines include dos and don'ts for specific phrases and terminology, and they connect the brand's identity to specific writing choices. That reduces guesswork in content creation and helps ensure clear communication. - Words and phrases to use, with the meaning you want them to carry. - Words and phrases to avoid, such as hype, filler and jargon your buyers do not use. - How to write product names, titles and numbers. - A preference for active voice over passive voice, and for positive language over negative wording where the facts allow. - Sentence length and paragraph length limits for each content type. Add three to five before and after examples. Show a real sentence from your audit, then the rewrite in your voice. These examples teach faster than any description. You are done when a writer can check a draft against one page and mark each line as on voice or off. ### 6. Test the guidelines, sign them and put them to work Give the draft to two writers and one person from sales. Ask each to write the same short message, such as a welcome email, using only the guidelines. If their drafts sound like one company, the guidelines work. If they differ, tighten the traits and examples. Then ask the sales, marketing and customer success leads to sign. Record an owner, a review date and where the page lives. Load the guidelines into the tools your team writes with, so AI can communicate in the same voice. In HubSpot's Loop Marketing guide, that means adding your style guide to the Brand Identity tool, so AI drafts start from your voice. You are done when the page is signed, stored where every team can find it and loaded into your writing tools, with a review date six months out. ## A finished set of guidelines sounds specific Here is an illustrative example, invented for this guide and not a real company. - **Personality:** Direct, warm and exact. - **Mission link:** We help owners see their numbers clearly, so we explain before we sell. - **Website tone:** Confident and plain. Short sentences. One idea per paragraph. - **Sales email tone:** Personal and brief. Open with the buyer's situation, never with our company. - **Support tone:** Calm and practical. Say what we will do and by when. - **Avoid:** "Industry-leading", "solutions" on its own and exclamation marks. - **Before:** "Our robust platform empowers teams to unlock insights." - **After:** "You see which deals will close, and why, in one view." ## Mistakes that weaken brand voice guidelines Check your draft against this list before you sign it. - **Choosing traits every company claims.** If a competitor could use the same adjectives, they will not guide anyone. - **Describing the voice you wish you had.** Anchor each trait in your audit, or mark it as a goal. - **Skipping tone.** A single flat voice fails when you move from a launch announcement to an apology. - **Writing a long manual.** A twenty-page document goes unread. Keep it to a few pages. - **Forgetting AI tools.** Writers now draft with assistants, so give the tools the same page you give people. - **Copying another brand.** Borrowed personality sounds borrowed, and your buyers notice. The hushed formality of luxury brands, for example, sounds stiff coming from a software company. - **Leaving it without an owner.** A voice nobody maintains drifts as the team grows. - **Never testing it.** If two writers cannot reproduce it, the guidelines are descriptions, not guidance. ## What you gain when this is done properly ![Three teams in turn and what a written voice gives each: sales gets messages that sound like the company, marketing gets faster drafts and customer success gets a steady tone in hard moments.](https://www.finemediabw.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Blog/Loop%20Marketing/Awareness/Brand%20Voice%20Guidelines%20-%20How%20to%20Write%20Them%20Before%20You%20Start%20Loop%20Marketing/brand-voice-guidelines-what-each-team-gains-blog-1600x900.png?width=1600&height=900&name=brand-voice-guidelines-what-each-team-gains-blog-1600x900.png) A written voice builds recognition and a sense of authentic character. When your emails, pages and proposals sound like one company, buyers connect them, and brand building stops depending on one writer's memory. It also builds trust, because a consistent tone signals a team that is in control of how it talks. The gains show up differently for each team. ### Sales gets messages that sound like the company Sales teams spend less time rewriting marketing copy, since their emails, decks and proposals start from the same voice. A buyer who reads the website and then a seller's note meets one personality, which supports the first conversation. ### Marketing gets faster drafts and fewer review rounds Marketing can brief an outside marketing agency, freelancers and AI assistants with one page and expect drafts that are close to ready. Reviewers check against written rules rather than taste, so feedback becomes specific and quicker. The same page keeps content on social media platforms and your website aligned. ### Customer success gets a steady tone in hard moments Customer success replies, renewal notes and apology emails follow tone guidance written for those moments. Customers hear the same company when something goes wrong as when they signed, and that consistency supports deeper connections over time. ## Write your brand voice guidelines this month Brand voice is not a creative exercise. It is a record of how your best work already sounds, sharpened into rules a team and its tools can follow. Start with the content audit this week, and aim to have the guidelines signed before your next campaign brief. Propello is a HubSpot partner and designs and builds connected go-to-market systems on HubSpot. If your teams cannot agree on how the company should sound, an audit is the place to start. [Book a Propello GTM Audit](https://www.finemediabw.com/contact) ## Frequently asked questions What are brand voice guidelines? They are a short document that describes how your company sounds in writing: personality traits, tone for each channel, preferred and avoided words, and examples. Writers and AI tools use it so every email, page and proposal reads as one company. What is the difference between brand voice and tone? Voice is your constant personality. Tone is how that personality adjusts to the audience and situation, such as a friendly welcome or a calm apology. Voice rarely changes, while tone shifts by channel and moment, and your guidelines should document both. How do I find my brand voice? Audit your best existing content, read customer reviews and call notes, and link your core values to how they would sound. Choose three to five traits that rivals would not claim, then test them with two writers on the same short message. How long should brand voice guidelines be? One to three pages is enough. Include traits with what they mean and do not mean, a tone table, a word list and a few before and after examples. A short document gets used. A long manual rarely does. How do brand voice guidelines connect to Loop Marketing? HubSpot's Loop Marketing starts with Express, where you encode your taste so AI knows who you are. Your voice guidelines feed the brand style guide in that stage, and later stages reuse them to adapt, distribute and refine content. ![Tumisang Bogwasi](https://app.hubspot.com/settings/avatar/77d7e2eaad8ff71b24463dcc39a31e9e) ### Written By: Tumisang Bogwasi Tumisang Bogwasi is the founder and CEO of Propello, a HubSpot partner that designs and builds connected go-to-market systems. 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