A style guide is never truly finished. It's a living document that grows and evolves with your organization. Start small, stay focused on what matters most to your team, and let it develop naturally based on real needs and experiences.
Your content style guide should evolve according to your organisation's needs and maturity in the content creation, distribution and management.
1: The Essentials
What should be in your first style guide? Should it contain all the terms peculiar to your organisation? How about grammar rules?
We recommend starting with the
brand voice and tone fundamentals
some basic writing rules or conventions
guidelines on brand elements (e.g. spelling of company name)
Voice and Tone Fundamentals
Brand Voice: We are [confident/friendly/professional] but never [stuffy/aggressive/casual]
Core Values: List 3-4 guiding principles (e.g., clarity, empathy, precision)
Basic Writing Rules
Numbers: Spell out one through nine, use numerals for 10+
Dates: Consistent format (e.g., September 15, 2024)
Times: 2:00 PM or 14:00 (pick one)
Brand Elements
Company Name: Correct spelling and usage
Product Names: Official spellings and capitalizations
Trademark Requirements: ™, ®, etc.
While this might sound straight forward, it never really is! Just putting together the brand voice and tone can take time, especially if your organisation is new to the entire concept. The key thing is not to aim for perfection. Our approach is the timebox activities, do what's possible in those timeboxes and let it go!
2: Growing Up
After using your style guide for a while, you'll notice it's not quite enough. For example, there might be many different interpretations of what constitutes a 'friendly' tone. Some departments might think contractions are friendly and can be used, others think a friendly tone should be expressed professionally and frown on contractions altogther.
When these issues start to crop up, you know you're ready to evolve your style guide. Here are some ways:
Extended Voice Guidelines
Detailed do's and don'ts
Example sentences showing voice in action
Tone variations for different channels
Formatting Standards
Headings and subheadings
List formatting (bullets vs. numbers)
Spacing and paragraph breaks
Link text guidelines
Channel-Specific Guidelines
Email communications
Social media posts
Blog articles
Website copy (and SEO)
Deepen your style guide in areas your organisation needs. If you only have one target audience, then forget about tone variations. If your website is not a big touchpoint compared to your social media, focus on guidelines for your socials first. Avoid making rules when you don't need them - they can hinder you later.
3: Setting Standards
When more people in your organisation are creating content, you'll find your style guide evolving from a friendly reference used mostly by the comms or marketing team to a standard document for everyone in your organisation.
Typically, you'll want to add templates to your style guide so that even those that do not primarily create content can easily do so. Templates are also great for pulling out the best posts, articles, etc. you and your team have created over the years and making them the north star for those new to the craft.
Content Types
Blog post templates
Email templates
Social media frameworks
Case study structures
White paper guidelines
Visual Content Standards
Image selection criteria
Alt text requirements
Caption formatting
Infographic standards
If your organisation is also headed towards professionalism, then you might also need to include some advanced grammar guidelines
Advanced Grammar Guidelines
Oxford comma policy
Hyphenation rules
Capitalization standards
Industry-specific terminology
By now, your style guide might be in its 5th of even 10th edition! And often, you will stay in this stage till its 20th or later editions as minor updates either yearly or biannually would be more than sufficient.
Growing Your Guide: Best Practices
1. Start Small But Strong
Begin with must-have elements
Focus on frequently used items
Address common pain points first
2. Maintain Living Documentation
Use a digital platform for easy updates
Track change requests from team
Date all updates
Archive obsolete guidelines
3. Gather Continuous Input
Create feedback channels
Hold regular review sessions
Monitor content performance
Document frequently asked questions
4. Plan for Growth
Assign ownership of sections
Build in review cycles
A style guide is never truly finished. It's a living document that grows and evolves with your organization. Start small, stay focused on what matters most to your team, and let it develop naturally based on real needs and experiences. Having a style guide should result in:
Higher content consistency scores
Time saved in reviews
Reduction in common errors