An Ultimate Guide on Creating a Content Style Guide

What is a content style guide?

A content style guide is essentially a brand’s personality. Just as each person has their unique traits and mannerisms, so do brands. Do you want your brand to sound like a “too cool for school” teen who doesn’t use punctuation but references the latest memes? Or maybe you want your brand to appear approachable and helpful, with perfect grammar and punctuation? 

This is where a content style guide comes in handy. 

It’s not just about what’s said, but also about how it’s presented. Imagine if this article suddenly changed fonts in the middle or started using a different regional dialect? You’d probably be confused and put off, and for good reason. 

Customers feel more comfortable if the content they encounter is dependable and easy to understand. This is why everything, from email marketing content to TikToks, should be consistent. To achieve this consistency, brands use content style guides — rules for a brand’s messages.

The importance of content guides

Now that you know what a content style guide is, you might be wondering why it’s important to have one. 

A good style guide helps ensure that everything you create is in sync and makes your brand recognizable to your audience. Other benefits include:

• Delivering more effective communication. A style guide ensures that all content aligns with your strategic goals and audience preferences. 
• Building loyalty and trust. Consistent brand messaging helps build trust with your customers. 
• Encouraging best practices. Style guides give your writers clear rules and examples. This helps the content stay consistent regardless of who’s making it. Having clear guidelines also saves time for designers. Developers can rely on content style guides for code structure guidelines. 
• Creating better content. A style guide helps your writers and marketers do their job well and avoid common errors. This results in better quality content that stands out from your competitors. 

Essential parts of a content style guide

Let’s look at what a style guide consists of. We’ll also look at how each component helps create a consistent and memorable experience for customers. 

Voice

Brand voice is the overall personality of the content. Think of it as the kind of presence you want to convey through what you say. A brand voice can be cheeky but educational… 

…or it can be formal and respectful.  

Brand voice doesn’t have to match the type of work an organization does. In other words, formal organizations can have an informal voice, and vice versa. Your voice is up to you and your target audience. 

Brand voice covers the language you use and phrases you want to avoid. This helps you stay consistent and avoid any legal issues. 

Tone

While voice refers to what you say, tone is all about how you say it. Your brand voice should stay the same, but your tone can change depending on context. At Selzy, we use a more casual and humorous tone on social media…

…while our customer support tone is concise and direct:

Style

Style is all about how your messages look. It covers two components: content and visual style. 

Content style covers grammar, punctuation, and formatting. For example, your brand might use the Oxford comma and capitalize all subheadings. 

You don’t have to create these rules from scratch. Editorial guidelines often follow established style guides. Popular options include The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) and The Associated Press Stylebook (AP). You can access these guides online by paying a subscription fee. 

Sometimes you’ll want to change one of the rules. For example, you might follow CMOS but prefer not to space your ellipses. You can simply list that and other exceptions in your own style guide.

Visual style contains guidelines for the design principles and visual identity of a brand. It covers the fonts and colors, graphics and logos, and other design choices.

How to create content guidelines step-by-step

Now that we’ve covered the basics of style guide contents, let’s walk through making one. It might seem like a lot to do at first, but don’t worry — our tips will make the whole process simple and stress-free.

Understand your audience

First and foremost, you need to understand your audience. Remember that the main goal is to connect with your customers. So, ask yourself who you want to reach and how they speak. 

Here are some approaches you can try:

• Create audience personas. To represent your audience, create 2–4 personas. These are characters that represent the people you’re trying to reach. Audience personas include demographic details (such as age and gender) and psychographic descriptions (values, goals, motivations, and frustrations). This helps you better imagine who you’re speaking to. 
• Research how your audience communicates. Avoid falling into the trap of stereotyping — your audience is more than just a list of characteristics. Spend time reviewing how your audience speaks. Look at comments on your social media pages and see how customers reach out for support.
• Look at your competitors. Your competitors are likely to target the same audience. This gives you a chance to see their communications in action. What type of messaging does the audience respond well to? Note which approaches generate engagement and which gaps you can fill. 

Get to know your brand

Next, consider what you have to offer to your audience. This will help you understand how you want to present yourself. 

• Think about your mission and core values. If your organization has a mission and core values, review them. This will help you decide what messages to share with your customers. Let’s say diversity is one of your core values. In this case, your branding should show respectful messages and include images of different kinds of people. Nike’s mission is a good example. It says, “If you have a body, you are an athlete.” Nike practices this idea in its products (like adaptive shoes), messages, and visuals.

• Review your brand promise. What is the main benefit customers get when they pick you? Reflect this promise in how you present your brand. For example, your promise can focus on excellent customer support. In this case, your language should be consistently friendly and professional. 
• Consider your brand history. If your brand has a long history, customers might expect more consistency. If you’re just starting out, you have more freedom to try new ideas. But a good approach combines a little of both. Consider Nippon Kodo as an example. Established in the 16th century, this incense company carries on its legacy but still incorporates modern trends. 

Develop your voice and tone

The next step is to create your brand’s voice and tone. Think of it as the intersection of what you stand for and what your audience expects of you. 

• Review your existing content. See what’s working well and find any parts that don’t fit or seem inconsistent. Use these observations to think about what your core voice is.
• Identify your purpose. Do you want to engage, sell, or inform? Or something else entirely? Knowing what you want to achieve helps you create a more effective brand voice. 
• Think of how you want to sound. Pick 3–5 attributes that describe how you want to sound. To do this, you can use the four dimensions of tone of voice, a tool that helps position your brand voice along four key spectrums. 

Going back to our Wendy’s example from earlier, its brand voice is described as lively, spirited, bold, cheeky, and feisty. You have to agree that their viral tweets reflect this! 

• Develop tones for different contexts. Tone is about the feeling you want to convey. As we’ve discussed, your tone should adapt for different contexts and audiences. Think about how you want to sound across various channels: social media, email marketing, website content, and even internal communications.

Identify your brand’s personality

A brand personality is a set of human traits that define a brand. Some brands, like Wendy’s, are known for their witty comebacks. Other brands, like Tiffany & Co., are famous for being elegant and luxurious. There are many other variations. 

Researchers have tried to group these personality traits into categories. This is what gave rise to the well-known Aaker model. It has five dimensions that you can use to identify your brand personality. 

Often, one or two of these qualities will really correspond with your values and audience. If you have a sports business, you might resonate with being daring and outdoorsy. Or if your brand focuses on eco-friendly products, you might choose to present yourself as honest and charming.  

Instead of being rigid, define your brand personality as a range. For instance, you can specify that your brand is intelligent but not arrogant, or daring but not reckless. 

Identify what sets you apart

Determine what makes your brand unique and sets you apart from your competitors. The way you communicate should reflect this uniqueness. 

Consider Fenty Beauty as an example. Their unique selling point is a wide range of makeup shades to match all skin tones. Their mission focuses on this idea. It says: “Fenty Beauty by Rihanna was created for everyone: for women of all shades, personalities, attitudes, cultures, and races. I wanted everyone to feel included.”

Consider your audience

The audience for your style guide isn’t the same as your brand audience. Your style guide will be used by:

• Copywriters and content marketers.
• Designers and developers.
• Customer support specialists.
• Other professionals creating customer-facing content.

When developing your guide, make sure it’s accessible and practical for these internal users.

Create voice and tone guidelines

Next, you can start documenting voice and tone guidelines: 

1. Create dos and don’ts with examples. Abstract terms like “bold” and “conversational” can be too vague. Make sure your guidelines have concrete content examples for your writers. 
2. Develop sample texts showing your voice in action. Include before-and-after examples showing your voice in action. Try to include examples from different contexts. 
3. Create tone variations for different contexts. Provide clear guidelines for how to adapt your tone across different channels (social media, email, website, etc.)
4. Specify language preferences. Document the English variation to use (American, British, etc.) and any specific spelling rules. For example, do you say “pop-up” or “popup”?  
5. List no-go words. Your style guide should list words and phrases that don’t align with your brand voice (i.e., “mail carrier” instead of “postman” or “help” instead of “assistance”). 

Create your own content style guide

Now that you have all your elements, it’s time to compile your style guide. 

• Choose an accessible format. Select a style guide place and format that’s easy for all team members to access and reference. It can be a PDF or a digital resource that can be easily updated.
• Consider using templates. Start with an existing content style guide template and customize it to your needs. 
• Organize into logical sections. Structure your guide with clear sections for voice and tone, grammar, visual elements, etc. Don’t forget an introduction explaining the purpose of the guide. 
• Create a table of contents. Create a table of contents that lists all major sections and subsections. Include page numbers and/or hyperlinks for easy navigation. 
• Plan for regular updates. Schedule periodic reviews to keep your style guide up to date.

What to include in a content style guide

To sum up, your content style guide should contain the following:

Brand voice and tone

⬜ Core voice attributes

⬜ Context-specific tone variations

⬜ Examples of voice in action

Audience persona

⬜ Detailed representations to help visualize your buyers and users

Grammar and writing style

⬜ Reference to established style guides (Chicago Manual of Style, AP Stylebook, etc.)

⬜ Exceptions to these standard guides

⬜ Specific grammar, punctuation, and formatting rules unique to your brand

⬜ Emoji use 

Approved and unapproved content

⬜ Examples of content that aligns with your brand voice

⬜ Examples of content that doesn’t meet your standards

⬜ Explanation of why certain approaches work or don’t work

Graphics and formatting

⬜ Approved fonts with specific use cases

⬜ Color palette with exact hex codes

⬜ Logo usage guidelines

⬜ Image style guidelines

Citing sources and references

⬜ Citation format preferences

⬜ Copyright and attribution requirements

⬜ Guidelines for using third-party content

Accessibility and inclusivity

⬜ Text readability standards

⬜ Requirements for alternative text on images

⬜ Color contrast guidelines

⬜ Guidelines for representative and inclusive imagery

⬜ Email accessibility guidelines

⬜ Ethical language usage

⬜ Regional accessibility law compliance

Legal and compliance considerations

⬜ Industry-specific regulatory requirements

⬜ Disclaimer requirements

⬜ Privacy considerations

What not to include

While the contents of your style guide are up to you, there are some pitfalls to avoid:

• Overly rigid rules. Your style guide should ensure consistency without making content too boring or predictable. 
• Complete vocabularies. You don’t need to list every approved word. Focus on unique terms and those to avoid.
• Common-sense information. Don’t waste space repeating basic rules from your reference style guide. Also, avoid including information most content creators already know.
• Guidelines for external entities. Your content style guide is for your brand’s content creation. Guidelines for how partners should refer to your brand belong in a separate document.

Top three content style guide examples for inspiration

Below, we have gathered three style guides that reflect best industry practices. 

Burger King

Burger King’s style guide is amazingly comprehensive. It details visual and verbal identity, brand history, mission, and much more. Like we discussed in our how-to section, it lists clear examples of dos and don’ts. 

lululemon

The lululemon content style guide is a testament to its uniqueness. Check it out — its branding guidelines even have a section on how to photograph sweat!

Monzo

Monzo, a UK online bank, has a detailed style guide that covers various aspects of language. It is an excellent example of how to use language with care and intention. 

Final thoughts

A style guide is your trusty recipe book for everything your organization says and creates. Having it handy means everyone speaks the same language, and your messages don’t leave customers scratching their heads. 

Sure, it might feel like you can just wing it. But trust us, investing in a good style guide now will save you from a lot of headaches (and costs!) down the road.