Creating the right first impression: getting started with a content style guide

First impressions matter.

Your brand can invest as much time and money as you want into generating content, but without a style guide to direct your output, the result will be confusing to stakeholders and could create a negative experience for users. Here, we run through the steps for creating a content style guide that works for your business.

The importance of consistency 

A consistent style means a consistent experience for your user. In our previous blog in the series, ‘The power of consistency: why your B2B brand should have (and use) a style guide’, we outlined the importance of coherent tone and messaging in creating company content. This will not only help market your brand successfully, but will ensure you build brand recognition, credibility, and trust amongst customers.

Consistent content will also mean your sales team sees a greater conversion of leads through the sales funnel. As customers move through the engagement stage, to the consideration stage, and finally to the buying decision stage they will ideally have been met with clear and cohesive messaging along every step of their journey. This lessens the risk of customers ducking out at the last stage because they are left unsure what they were buying into.

Components to consider

Every brand is unique so the elements you want to prioritise in your style guide my vary from other businesses, or even change as your company grows. To help you out, here are some of the components we recommend addressing.

Values: what do you stand for? 

Values are the underpinning of any brand and so should be reflected in its visual identity and content. Before you launch into writing the copy for your brand, ask yourself: what are the values I want to communicate, and how will the key words and tone of voice I choose reflect this?

Articulating brand values can be tricky, but now more than ever there is a pressure on businesses to take a stance. However, deciding on these principles is largely pointless if you don’t incorporate it into your content.

One organisation that are leading in this area are the multinational technology corporation IBM, who have defined their core values as promoting innovation, inclusion, and ‘being oneself’. Their content is written with these values in mind so that any visitors to their website should immediately understand the principals of the brand they are dealing with. For example, IBM consistently refer to their workforce as IBMers, which suggests an inclusive working environment that appreciates every individual within it. This copywriting decision would have been implemented from a style guide created to promote their inclusive and innovative values.  

Messaging: what are you communicating? 

The messaging communicates what experience people can expect when engaging with your brand. This is where consistency becomes particularly important, as conflicting messaging will confuse your customers and stakeholder groups, and may cost you valuable sales.

The sportswear designer and manufacturer Nike’s overarching messaging is ‘demonstrate the drive towards expanding human potential.’ Their marketing content is consistent with this messaging by using language that empowers the customer and employing keywords like ‘daring’, ‘risk’ and ‘ground-breaking’. At every stage of the buyer-journey their content should be consistent in their communication of this idea.

Audience: who are you communicating with? 

Understanding your audience and delivering according to their expectations is fundamental. Last week we wrote a blog about why brands need to put customers at the centre of sales – a lot of this is applicable when creating content for customers too.

It’s important to ask yourself: who are your audience? What language do they speak? What do they want to know about and how will they benefit from your brand?

Once you’ve started collecting these answers, you can also question how much time your intended audience have to interact with your brand collateral. For example, are they glimpsing a billboard while driving a car, or reading product packaging instore? Different target audiences will also use different mediums to access brand content, whether that be via a smartphone, PC, magazine, or brochure. And finally, at the end of all of this, you need to ask: what do you want them to do next?

Tone of voice: how are you delivering it? 

Tone of voice is how you communicate using content. It is about how you say something rather than what you are saying. Your brand’s tone of voice should reflect your values, convey your messaging, and meet the expectations of your target audience. These considerations will help you decide whether you want your content to read as chatty or authoritative, personable or formal.

A consistent tone of voice builds trust with your audience. Having the same tone of voice across all the touchpoints that your audience has with your brand reinforces your reliability. This builds a sense of familiarity – what they read and see makes them feel at ease as they know what to expect from you. For more about this, see our blog: What is tone of voice?

Next step: follow the rules 

Once you’ve established your content style guide, don’t be fooled into thinking the hard bit is over. You’d be surprised how many companies waste time on creating guides only to never refer to it when writing content.

Some marketers get unfairly labelled as the ‘brand police’ for their efforts in ensuring guidelines are on brand, yet the reality is that a member of your team will probably need to oversee enforcing your style guide. Saying that, it is also important to reflect on the guide and make changes if employees feel it is appropriate. And remember, if a style guide is so hard to follow it causes issues amongst your workforce, then it is probably a sign that the guidelines aren’t right. However, if employees follow the guidelines outlined, before long the style rules will become second nature.

If you need assistance creating a content style guide for your brand, contact us today or view our resource page here. We are always happy to meet face to face or virtually.

If you need support to write engaging, audience-driven content for your B2B brand or agency, contact Copestone today.