You're facing a multitude of high-level business goals, user profiles, calls to action, and page requirements. Moreover, you're struggling with the substantial task of keeping consistency in spelling, grammar, and style across pages, especially with input from 10 different authors. Striving for a unified tone and coherence is an ongoing challenge. Does this sound familiar? 

If so, take a deep breath and relax. This probably means that either you don't have a guideline or that it might need some readjustment. The good news is that this is relatively easy to change. Even better, we can help you! So, find a comfortable seat, and let's explore what could be added to your style guide.

A style guide, also known as a linguistic or brand guideline, serves as a foundational reference point, regardless of the industry. It provides essential guidelines and standards for consistent communication and presentation, guaranteeing coherence and professionalism across various materials and contexts. Put simply, it's crucial to maintain the uniform communication of your brand's voice across different languages.

At its core, this is a virtual handbook for anyone looking to communicate collectively in a given brand language. It serves as a cornerstone for message uniformity, ensuring that whether your team consists of two individuals, a department of 90 specialists, or a group of freelancers, they remain consistent irrespective of their motivation, creativity, or caffeine intake for the day.

Consider the content style guide as your communication bible. While it's a must-have for businesses operating in a single language, it's pure gold for those with a multilingual presence. This guide equips your team with the tools to maintain top-notch quality and seamless consistency across languages. Plus, it's a game-changer for efficiency.

To put it briefly, implementing a content style guide will:

• Shape a distinctive brand identity.

• Streamline content creation processes to save time and resources.

• Empower your editorial team to produce quality content.

• Maintain brand integrity across various platforms and channels.

• Boost brand profitability.

• Provide a framework for writers, editors, marketing teams, and freelancers.

• Enhance brand competitiveness.

• Ensure clear and consistent content for trustworthiness.

• Shield against business litigation.

• Facilitate alignment across different departments and teams.

What to include in your style guide?

Now that you've grasped the essential role of a style guide, let's transition to the next step. What key components should your guidelines include to keep your team on course?

1. Company and product details

At the very outset of your style guide, make sure to spotlight detailed insights into your company: its identity, offerings, mission, and core values. While you might think a brief overview of your company and products isn't crucial if you're not engaging external contractors, it's actually vital for onboarding new employees and aligning your in-house team. Plus, leading with your company's overview in the style guide ensures your values and mission statement are always front and center.

Next, address the specifics of how your company name and product names should be presented. For instance:

• Do they always need accompanying designations like 'Inc.' or 'Ltd.'?

• And where should they appear for consistent formatting?

This part guarantees that all content adheres to pertinent laws, regulations, and industry standards, encompassing aspects like copyright, privacy, and data protection.

3. Tone and voice

Have you ever come across brands that excel on Instagram with their trendy vibe, only to shift gears and become overly formal on their website (or LinkedIn page)? If so, you're not alone! And this is rather disconcerting. How would you trust a brand that presents itself as two completely different entities on each platform? It just doesn't feel genuine.

In this case (like in many others), consistency is key! Your social media, content, and copywriting teams should all be singing from the same hymn sheet, aligned perfectly with your brand's personality. So, take a beat to define the impression you want to make on your audience. Think of your company or brand as a person. For instance, ask yourself these questions:

• What vibe would it give off?

• What tone and voice would it adopt?

• Would it be refined and elegant, or playful and witty?
  

In short, there's no one-size-fits-all when it comes to defining your tone and voice. Choose yours thoughtfully.

4. Audience information

This section is commonly referred to as the buyer persona. It furnishes your team or contractors with a comprehensive understanding of whom they're serving. Start by addressing fundamental questions like their job profiles and demographic characteristics. But let's go beyond that!

• Who is purchasing your products or services?

• What are your customers' pain points and the challenges they encounter in their roles?

• What are their preferences and interests?

• Most importantly, what is the primary problem that you're aiming to solve for them?

This insight is vital for your company's workforce to effectively address the precise needs of your customers.

These aspects are particularly crucial for companies with diverse linguistic needs and a global presence. This is where you can establish specific guidelines for individual languages or compile lists of particular terms.

Here's an example: We collaborated with a brand that specialized in surf products and targeted various countries, including France.

What we've done: When tasked with localizing their content, we required linguists who were well-versed in accurately translating surf terminology. For instance, the term 'turn' in English is translated as 'virage' in French, but not within the surf context. Therefore, we ensured that their guidelines consistently retained the word 'turn' in both English and French.

What we avoided: Their audience being left puzzled about the source of the poorly translated content they encountered, potentially leading to a loss of customers as their trust in the brand deteriorates.

The Links and citations section dives into the nitty-gritty of incorporating external links and citing references in your content. It's all about choosing trustworthy sources, making sure they're relevant, and linking them seamlessly. Plus, it outlines citation formats, such as APA or MLA, of in-text citations and bibliographic entries, and emphasizes the importance of maintaining consistency and accuracy in citation style throughout our content. Consistency and accuracy are key here, keeping your content top-notch in terms of credibility and academic integrity.

This section compiles a comprehensive list of industry terms and jargon frequently utilized in our content, with each term accompanied by a clear definition or explanation. Your goal? To ensure clarity and alignment for all, whether you're part of our internal team or an external reader.

In this segment, you'll uncover expert insights on maximizing content visibility and ranking in search engine results. It explores essential techniques such as strategic keyword incorporation, crafting compelling meta tags, and refining URL structures to elevate your online presence.

Imagine the grammar section of your guideline as a sprawling mountain with interconnected ski slopes, all leading to the same endpoint! This section covers everything, from the correct use of apostrophes to formatting question marks in headings. Additionally, if you want to go the extra mile, you can give examples of what not to do. Let's explore it further.

Today, being mindful of gender inclusivity is crucial, especially in languages like French, German, Spanish, and even Croatian, where gender plays a significant role. This concern extends beyond English—it's about making sure everyone feels valued in your communication. Thankfully, there are many solutions to choose from. Think about which one fits your needs best, or don't hesitate to seek advice from a language specialist.

Here's an example: In a marketing campaign targeting a diverse audience, instead of using gender-specific language like "he" or "she," opt for gender-neutral terms such as "they" or "them" to ensure inclusivity.

Punctuation might seem like a breeze at first glance, but it's far from simple! While punctuation rules offer clarity, they also demand attention to detail, especially when it comes to language-specific conventions. For instance:

The use of the apostrophe by language.

• English uses straight apostrophes.

• Italian uses curly apostrophes.

Moreover, there are nuances in terminal punctuation. Product descriptions in headings often end differently depending on the language they're written in.

• In English, it often ends with a "full stop".

• In French, it usually doesn't end with a "full stop".

Just like punctuation, handling numbers and percentages might seem straightforward. However, it requires clarification. Here are some examples:

• Use a symbol when expressing a percentage.

            ✅ Correct: Sales are up 32%.

            ❌ Incorrect: Sales are up thirty-two percent.

• For all numbers under 10, spell out the number; for all numbers 10 and over, use the numeral.

            ✅ Correct: Respect is one of our values. There are 12 values.

            ❌ Incorrect: Respect is 1 of our values. There are twelve values.

Clarify preferred spellings for common words and terms, as well as rules for capitalizing headings, titles, and other elements.

Provide guidelines for when and how to use abbreviations and acronyms, and ensure consistency in their usage throughout the content.

This section crafts a blueprint for how different content types should show up. From bold headings to subheadings, lists, paragraphs, and the occasional blockquote, it lays out the specifics. By providing clear guidance, it aims to minimize debates over formatting choices like bold and italic. The goal is to ensure content shines without getting lost in endless discussions.

In terms of spelling lists and bullet points, there's room for flexibility. Nonetheless, maintaining consistency across languages is crucial. For instance:

• To introduce a bulleted list, start with a complete sentence and follow it with a colon. This format suits items that are related but don't rely on a particular sequence or priority.

• If at least one of the bullet points requires a period due to having two sentences, then include punctuation on all the bullets. Avoid lists that have both single words and sentences as bullet points.

Ever wonder how can a style guide work for your company? Let's dive deep!

Imagine this scenario: Your marketing team is all set to reveal a new product, armed with crafted documentation ready for launch in English. Your project manager swings into action, reaching out to the right people to kickstart the localization process. Soon, your message will resonate across the globe, from sunny southern Spain to the chilly expanses of Norway, and even as far as bustling Japan. With such linguistic diversity at play, your trusty style guide steps in to ensure consistency in your brand's tone and even the structure of your product pages.

The payoff? Thanks to your style guide, there's no need for endless email exchanges debating the nuances of punctuation. Each linguist knows precisely which words to utilize and how to adhere to a well-defined structure.

Looking ahead: Just imagine the time saved from dodging those 20 (or more) email threads for every linguist and proofreader, multiplied by the number of languages involved. It's a logistical nightmare waiting to happen. But fear not! This invaluable virtual document not only grants you peace of mind but also frees up your team—especially your hardworking project managers—to tackle a multitude of tasks, knowing the linguistic side of things is in capable hands.

Creating a comprehensive guideline that covers every aspect of your texts, content, and communications is quite challenging. If you have someone on your team who is highly detail-oriented, they might be able to handle the task. However, if you prefer to concentrate on your sales and marketing efforts, we've got you covered! At The Words Lab, we specialize in crafting professional and highly detailed style guides that can save you time on your tasks.

Still feeling uncertain? Don't worry! Simply reach out to us, and we'll explore how we can assist you further!