Brand Tone of Voice Template

I built this template to be short enough that people actually use it. It turns vague goals like 'friendly but professional' into specific rules, real examples and a checklist anyone can apply to a draft.

It's for business owners, marketing teams and anyone briefing freelance writers or AI writing tools. Fill it in once, then share it with everyone who writes for the brand.

What’s included

• Brand in one sentence: a fill-in formula for what you do, who it's for and why it matters.
• Audience: who you're writing for, what they already know and how they describe things.
• Personality traits: a We are / We are not / Sounds like table that makes each trait specific.
• Tone by situation: how the voice adjusts for homepages, product pages, support emails, social, error messages and apologies.
• Vocabulary: words to use and words to avoid, with the reason for each.
• Grammar and style rules: spelling standard, numbers, dates, capitalisation, Oxford comma, contractions and emojis.
• Before-and-after rewrites: five worked examples showing the guide in action.
• Reviewer checklist: ten quick checks to run on any draft before it goes out.

How to use it

1. Gather 10 to 15 pieces of existing copy: some that sound right and some that don't.
2. Fill in the brand sentence and audience sections first, ideally with the business owner in the room.
3. Choose three or four personality traits and complete the We are, We are not and Sounds like columns for each.
4. Work through tone by situation, vocabulary and style rules, replacing the Harbour Coffee Co. examples with your own.
5. Rewrite at least four real pieces of copy using the guide and add them to the before-and-after table.
6. Share the doc with everyone who writes for you, and paste the key rules into your AI writing tool's instructions.

Tips from my client work

• Give every trait an opposite. 'Friendly' means little on its own, but 'friendly, not over-familiar' shows a writer exactly where the line is.
• Use real customer language in the vocabulary table. Reviews, support emails and sales call notes show you the words people actually use.
• Write your error messages and apology emails with the guide early on. They are where an inconsistent voice does the most damage.
• Keep the guide to a few pages. If it takes longer than ten minutes to read, most people won't finish it.
• Review it every 6 to 12 months, and update the examples when your products or audience change.

FAQs

What is the difference between voice and tone?

Voice is your brand's personality, and it stays the same everywhere. Tone is how that voice adjusts to the situation: an apology email and a product launch post should sound like the same brand, but not in the same mood.

How many personality traits should a brand have?

Three or four is usually enough. Any more and writers can't keep them in mind, and some traits start to contradict each other.

Can I use this tone of voice guide with AI writing tools?

Yes. Paste the personality table, vocabulary list and style rules into the tool's custom instructions or project settings, then check the output against the reviewer checklist. AI drafts still need a human edit.