Want to know five words that strike dread into the heart of most marketers?
“Please read the messaging guide.”
These words inspire dread because most messaging guides—and voice, and tone, and style guides—are completely useless.
They include unhelpful phrases like “we’re friendly and knowledgeable” and “we believe in powerful, empathetic language.”
In other words, they offer “guidance” that sounds good in theory, but isn’t useful when you sit down to write a campaign, or a website, or a blog post.
How to write a good style guide?
Here are some do’s and don’ts in case you ever write—or get the chance to make improvements—to one:
- Don’t: Write vague platitudes, like the ones above.
- Do: Create visualize-able, real-life scenarios your team can use and relate to. For example, “We write the way you’d casually text a good friend” or “like the way you’d email a college professor if you were their student.”
Also:
- Don’t: Create a style guide that doesn’t feature specific examples.
- Do: Create a list of do’s and don’ts with specific messaging examples people can look at to make sure they’re on the right track.
Finally:
- Don’t: Trust people to follow the style guide on their own.
- Do: Give people a checklist of rules they must read, and double-check, before they publish anything for the brand.
For example: “Could I read this to myself in the mirror without sounding awkward or laughing at myself?”
So please…
get out there and start saving the world from bad style guides, one rule at a time.
