Brand Voice Guide Template (Free, With Examples)
A brand voice guide is one page that tells anyone writing for your business how it should sound. It saves time, keeps posts consistent when several people (or AI tools) write for you, and stops your feed from sounding like everyone else's.
Below is a free template you can copy, fill in within an hour and start using today. Each part comes with an example for a fictional neighbourhood bakery, so you can see what a finished answer looks like.
Key Takeaways
- A useful voice guide fits on one page: personality, tone scales, words, examples and channel notes.
- Describe tone on four scales from Nielsen Norman Group: formal or casual, serious or funny, respectful or irreverent, matter-of-fact or enthusiastic.
- Show the voice with examples: "we write this, not that" pairs make it concrete.
- Your voice stays the same; your tone shifts by situation, such as a complaint versus a launch.
- Paste the finished guide into every AI tool you use, and check drafts against it.
In this guide:
- What is the difference between brand voice and tone?
- The template
- Blank template to copy
- Real voice guides worth reading
- How to use the guide with AI tools
- Keep the guide alive
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Fill it in today
What is the difference between brand voice and tone?
Voice is your personality, and it stays the same everywhere. Tone is how that personality adjusts to the moment. A friendly bakery sounds friendly on a launch post and on an apology, but the apology is calmer and shorter.
Nielsen Norman Group, which studies how people use websites, describes tone on four dimensions: formal versus casual, serious versus funny, respectful versus irreverent, and matter-of-fact versus enthusiastic. Any piece of writing sits somewhere on each scale (Nielsen Norman Group). The template uses these four scales because they turn vague words like "friendly" into choices people can follow.
The template
Copy the sections below into a document and fill in each one. Keep it to one page if you can.
1. Who we are, in one sentence
Describe the business the way you would to a new customer.
Bakery example: "We are a small sourdough bakery that bakes everything on site, every morning, and knows most customers by name."
2. Three words we are, three words we are not
Pairs work better than lists, because they rule things out.
| We are | We are not |
|---|---|
| Warm | Gushing |
| Plain-spoken | Folksy or full of slang |
| Proud of the craft | Snobbish about it |
3. Where we sit on the four tone scales
Mark a point from 1 to 5 on each scale.
| Scale | 1 | 5 | Bakery |
|---|---|---|---|
| Formal to casual | Formal | Casual | 4 |
| Serious to funny | Serious | Funny | 3 |
| Respectful to irreverent | Respectful | Irreverent | 2 |
| Matter-of-fact to enthusiastic | Matter-of-fact | Enthusiastic | 4 |
4. Words we use and words we avoid
List terms that matter in your industry. These small choices do a lot of the work in making text feel "on brand".
- We say: loaf, bake, fresh this morning, neighbours.
- We avoid: artisanal, premium, foodies, exclamation marks after every sentence.
5. We write this, not that
Write three to five pairs. This is often the most useful part of the guide, because it shows the voice instead of describing it.
| Write this | Not this |
|---|---|
| "The rye is back. Ready from 7." | "Exciting news!!! Our amazing rye bread has returned!" |
| "Sorry, we sold out early today. Tomorrow we're baking double." | "We apologise for any inconvenience caused." |
| "Crust like this takes 36 hours. Worth it." | "Experience our premium artisanal craftsmanship." |
6. How our tone shifts by situation
| Situation | Tone shift | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Launch or offer | More enthusiastic, still short | "New: cinnamon knots. Saturdays only." |
| Complaint or mistake | Calmer, more serious, no jokes | "You're right, that was not our best loaf. Come by and we'll replace it." |
| Educational post | Matter-of-fact, clear steps | "How to keep sourdough fresh: wrap it in cloth, not plastic." |
7. Channel notes
One line per platform: length, emoji use, hashtags, calls to action.
Bakery example:
- Instagram: first line under 10 words, one or two emoji at most, three hashtags.
- Facebook: short paragraphs, opening times and address when relevant.
- Google Business Profile: facts first, no jokes.
For ideas to fill each channel, see our social media post ideas for small businesses.
8. Facts to protect and claims we never make
Add the facts that must always be right (prices, hours, ingredients) and the claims you never make, such as health claims or invented reviews.
Blank template to copy
Copy this into a document and fill in the brackets.
BRAND VOICE GUIDE: [Business name]
1. Who we are, in one sentence:
[ ]
2. We are / We are not:
[ ] / [ ]
[ ] / [ ]
[ ] / [ ]
3. Tone scales, 1 to 5:
Formal 1-5 casual: [ ]
Serious 1-5 funny: [ ]
Respectful 1-5 irreverent: [ ]
Matter-of-fact 1-5 enthusiastic: [ ]
4. Words we use: [ ]
Words we avoid: [ ]
5. We write this / Not this:
"[ ]" / "[ ]"
"[ ]" / "[ ]"
"[ ]" / "[ ]"
6. Tone by situation:
Launch or offer: [ ]
Complaint or mistake: [ ]
Educational post: [ ]
7. Channel notes:
Instagram: [ ]
Facebook: [ ]
Other: [ ]
8. Facts to protect: [ ]
Claims we never make: [ ]Real voice guides worth reading
Large organisations publish their own guides, and they are useful models for a small business:
- Mailchimp's content style guide separates a constant voice from a tone that adapts to how the reader feels (Mailchimp).
- Google's developer documentation style guide sets a conversational, friendly and respectful tone, and gives concrete do and don't rules (Google for Developers).
Borrow their structure, not their words. Your voice should come from how you and your customers actually talk.
How to use the guide with AI tools
Without a voice guide, an AI tool has nothing specific to match, so its drafts tend to sound general. A guide gives it something to aim at.
- Paste the full guide at the start of every session, or save it in the tool's brand or style settings if it has them.
- Include your "write this, not that" pairs. Anthropic's prompting guide for its Claude models calls examples one of the most reliable ways to steer output format, tone and structure (Anthropic).
- Ask for two options with different tone settings, then pick the closer one.
- Check each draft against the never list before it goes out.
Some tools build a brand profile automatically by reading your website, then let you edit it. If you use one, compare its voice section with your guide and correct it, because every post it makes inherits that profile. Our explainer on what an AI marketing agent is covers how these tools work.
Keep the guide alive
A voice guide that nobody opens does not help. Three habits keep it useful:
- Put it where people write: pinned in your team chat, saved in your AI tool.
- Add a new "write this, not that" pair whenever you fix a post that sounded wrong.
- Review it every six months, and once after any big change to the business.
Voice is one half of a recognisable brand; the visual half is covered in our guide to brand consistency on social media. For how both fit into a weekly workflow, read our guide to AI social media marketing for small business.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should a brand voice guide include?
A one-sentence description of the business, personality traits with their opposites, positions on the four tone scales, words to use and avoid, "write this, not that" examples, tone shifts by situation, notes per channel, and a list of facts and claims to protect.
How long should a brand voice guide be?
For a small business, one or two pages. A short guide is more likely to be read and used. Large companies publish longer guides because many writers and products depend on them.
How do I find my brand voice?
Start from how you already talk to customers when it goes well: emails they replied to warmly, conversations at the counter, reviews that quote you. Write down the words and phrasing that come up, then turn them into the template's sections.
Can AI write in my brand voice?
Yes, if you give it the guide and examples, and you check its drafts. Without them, the tool has only its defaults to go on, and the result rarely sounds like you.
Fill it in today
Copy the eight sections, fill them in for your business and test the guide on your next five posts. Adjust any section that did not help, and keep the guide where everyone who writes for you will see it.
About this guide: written by Ron Sanker, co-founder of Marka, with AI assistance, and checked against the linked sources. Our editorial rules: every fact links to the source we checked it against, checks are dated, pages are updated when products, prices or data change, and we say so whenever we compare our own product, Marka, with other tools. Last checked on 1 November 2026. Spotted an error? Contact us and we will correct it. More about Marka.
