The Importance of a Style Guide

How HubSpot Academy found their brand’s style, voice, and tone.

In regards to content marketing, when you hear the word “consistent”, you’re probably thinking about the frequency in which you write. After all, in order to be successful with content marketing, brands need to push out content on a consistent cadence. Consistent content means consistent traffic, which can mean consistent lead generation and consistent customer acquisition.

But what about “consistent” as it relates to how the content is being written. Have you thought about what your brand should sound like? And what the impact would be in having an inconsistent voice through your published content?

Whether or not you said “yes” to that question, let’s dig into how you can get started and why it’s important to think about.

Begin with a style guide.

Before you can actually write with a consistent voice, you must first figure out exactly what that voice is. Start by creating a style guide, which will be your set of documented standards for all of your brand’s content. Think of this as your go-to resource for all content moving forward.

The details of your style guide should range from the principals and goals of your content to punctuation and grammatical preferences of your brand. For example, HubSpot Academy’s style guide states that the goal behind their content is to “educate, inspire, guide, empower, and engage”. They state their tone should be casual but also professional and instructional. As we get further into specifics, the Academy then says it’s content should use “you” and “your” language and should “get to the point, fast”.

With a style guide, you have your one source of truth for all written words coming from your brand.

But why?

Good question. Referencing your style guide should help maintain consistency through your content, but what’s the purpose in doing so?

Having these standards in place will ensure your content remains authentic and high-quality. In the eyes of consumers, and your readers, this will keep your brand’s content as recognizable, and more importantly, trustworthy. For example, readers of the HubSpot blog have come to recognize the light-hearted nature of its contributors, but also trust the content within.

As a benefit for your company, having a style guide to reference will allow you to be more productive and agile with content creation. The less you have to think (or guess) about the “rules”, the more you can focus on actually putting your fingers to the keyboard.

Voice vs. tone: a quick clarification.

We’ve covered how and why we lean on style guides for creating consistently high-quality and on-brand style, voice and tone — but how do you tell the difference between tone and voice?

Having a strong voice for your brand is important: it’s who you are. It’s how you connect and talk to your audience. It helps you stand out from your competitors. It’s how you show off your personality. Tone is how your brand acts depending on the context of your content. Who is this piece for, what are they looking for, and how are we going to deliver that information?

For HubSpot Academy, their voice is to be helpful and knowledgeable, but also empathetic and friendly. These qualities should carry across all content they create. However, the tone of their content should change based on context. Facebook Live and video scripts require a different tone than the content found in project templates or in certification test questions.

The take-away.

To achieve consistency within your content, think about and create a style guide for your brand. Document your brand’s style, voice, and tone and have it be the top resource for all content you write. This will help you deliver consistently high-quality content that your readers trust.