Collect your best and worst writing, choose where you stand on a few clear scales, such as formal or casual, and turn that into rules with before and after examples. Voice stays the same everywhere. Tone adjusts to the situation. If your team can't apply it to a real email, it isn't finished.
What is the difference between voice and tone?
Voice is your character, and it stays the same. Tone is how that character adapts to the moment. You're the same person at a celebration and when you have to deliver bad news, but you don't sound the same. Most guides stop at voice, which is why they fall apart the first time someone has to write a complaint reply.
How do you define it, step by step?
- Collect real writing. Your homepage, a proposal, an invoice email, a job ad, a complaint reply. Reading them together usually shows that you already have several voices.
- Mark what sounds like you. Ask colleagues and customers too. The founder's emails and your best salesperson's messages are often the truest source.
- Choose your position. Use the four dimensions below and be willing to give something up.
- Write the rules. Three to five, each with a before and after example.
- Test on a real job. Give someone a tricky message to write using only the rules. Then adjust them.
Which scales should you use?
A useful starting point is the four tone dimensions from Nielsen Norman Group: formal or casual, serious or funny, respectful or irreverent, and matter-of-fact or enthusiastic. Place yourself on each one. They're helpful because each scale forces a trade-off, which words like "approachable" never do.
What does a usable rule look like?
A usable rule tells someone what to do, and shows it. Compare these made-up examples with the adjectives you normally find in a brand guide:
| Rule | Not this | This |
|---|---|---|
| Say the plain thing | We offer tailored solutions for your logistics challenges | We plan your transport and handle the paperwork |
| Lead with the reader | We are proud to announce a new portal | You can now track every order yourself |
| Own the problem | Delays may have been experienced | We delivered late. Here's what we're doing about it |
How should tone change per situation?
Tone should shift with the reader's mood and what's at stake. Write this down for the moments that matter most:
| Situation | Reader feels | Tone |
|---|---|---|
| Website homepage | Curious, comparing | Confident and direct |
| Quote or proposal | Careful | Precise, no sales talk |
| Complaint | Annoyed | Calm and serious, no jokes |
| Job ad | Hopeful, a bit sceptical | Warm and honest |
How do you make it stick?
Put it where people write. Add it to your brand guidelines, then add examples to templates for proposals and common emails. If your team uses AI tools to draft text, give them your rules and a few good samples in plain text, since a general model will otherwise drift to its own generic style. Always review the result.
Be careful with a warning sign: if you can cover your logo and your text could belong to any competitor, you don't have a voice yet. That usually isn't a writing problem. It points back to an unclear brand strategy, since you can't sound distinct about something you haven't decided.
