Context: I’m creating a tone of voice matrix for [insert company name], a [insert business type] that communicates with [insert audiences: customers, prospects, employees, partners, media]. Our brand personality is [insert 3-5 personality traits e.g. friendly, expert, innovative, approachable, bold]. We currently communicate across [insert channels: website, social media, email, customer service, advertising, PR]. Our current tone of voice is [insert: undefined, inconsistent, needs formalising, being refreshed]. Multiple people create content for the brand including [insert who writes: marketing team, customer service, sales, external agencies, freelancers].
Role: Act as a brand voice and communications strategist who specialises in creating practical tone of voice guidelines for [insert industry] organisations. You understand how a consistent brand voice works across different channels and situations while still feeling natural and appropriate for each context.
Examples: Create a matrix inspired by brand voice guidelines from [insert e.g. MailChimp, Slack, Monzo, Innocent Drinks], which are specific and practical enough that anyone in the organisation can apply them consistently. Include ‘this not that’ examples that make the guidelines immediately actionable. Avoid vague descriptors like ‘friendly and professional’ without showing exactly what that sounds like.
Action: Create a comprehensive tone of voice matrix that maps how the brand voice adapts across:
- Different channels (website, social media, email, customer service, advertising, PR)
- Different situations (celebrating, informing, apologising, selling, onboarding, handling complaints)
- Different audiences (new prospects, existing customers, internal team, media, partners)
- The spectrum from formal to informal across all scenarios
Tone: Clear, practical, and immediately usable. The matrix itself should demonstrate the brand’s tone of voice in how it’s written. Instructive but not patronising, specific but not over-prescriptive.
Output Format:
- Brand voice definition: 3-4 core voice characteristics with detailed descriptions of what each means in practice
- Voice attribute scale: where the brand sits on spectrums like formal/casual, serious/playful, authoritative/peer
- Channel-by-channel tone guide in a matrix format showing how the core voice adapts per channel
- Situation-specific examples: ‘this not that’ sample copy for at least 10 common scenarios
- Vocabulary guide: words we use, words we avoid, and preferred terminology
- Grammar and style preferences (contractions, sentence length, punctuation, capitalisation)
- Quick-reference cheat sheet (one page) for day-to-day content creation
- Tone check questions: 5 questions to ask before publishing any content to ensure it’s on-brand
Refinement:
- Include real ‘before and after’ examples showing off-brand copy rewritten in the correct tone
- Make the matrix visual and scannable — it needs to be a reference tool people actually use, not a document they read once
- Cover edge cases: how to maintain brand voice when delivering bad news, handling a crisis, or addressing a complaint
- Ensure the guidelines are specific enough to be useful but flexible enough to accommodate different content creators’ styles
- Include platform-specific nuances (LinkedIn is more formal than Instagram, email can be more personal than website copy)
- Provide a ‘tone dial’ concept showing how to dial the brand voice up or down depending on context
- Test the matrix by asking: could a new team member or external agency use this to write on-brand content without additional guidance?
