Brand Voice
Establish a consistent tone that resonates with your ICP — and create a voice guide that makes AI-generated content sound like you every time.
Why It Matters
Brand voice is the difference between content that feels generic and content that builds an audience. "This feels robotic" is a voice problem. "This feels like a real person who gets it" is voice working.
Voice matters especially when using AI to generate content at scale. Without a voice guide, every piece of AI-generated content defaults to bland marketing speak. With a voice guide fed into FastWrite or your AI tool, output sounds like you.
Your brand voice should be designed for your ICP — not what sounds "professional" or "industry standard." The voice that makes your specific buyer think: this was written for me.
The Four Voice Dimensions
Every brand voice lives somewhere on four spectrums:
| Dimension | Spectrum |
|---|---|
| Formality | Formal ←→ Casual |
| Authority | Authoritative ←→ Collaborative |
| Energy | Energetic ←→ Calm |
| Complexity | Precise ←→ Accessible |
There's no right answer — but there are wrong answers for your specific ICP. A security tool for CISOs should sound different from a recipe app for home cooks.
Building Your Voice Guide
Step 1: Define Voice Personality
Choose 3-5 adjectives that describe your brand voice. Not "professional" or "innovative" — every brand claims those. Choose adjectives that actually differentiate your tone.
Examples by brand type:
- Developer tool: Direct. Specific. No fluff. Builder-minded.
- Consumer app: Warm. Encouraging. Celebratory. Approachable.
- B2B SaaS: Confident. Practical. Evidence-based. Peer-to-peer.
Step 2: Create the Voice Guide
For each voice dimension, document:
- A 2-sentence definition of what it means for your brand
- "We say" examples (3 specific phrases or sentences)
- "We don't say" anti-examples (what to avoid)
- One example paragraph (75-100 words) demonstrating this voice
Step 3: Build Your Vocabulary
Words to use: Specific to your positioning and ICP. For a developer tool: performance metrics, precise technical terms. For a marketing tool: outcomes, revenue, pipeline, CAC, ROI.
Words to avoid: Generic marketing language. Most brands should avoid: "revolutionary," "world-class," "seamless," "robust," "leverage," "utilize," "synergy."
Step 4: Create Before/After Examples
The most useful part of a voice guide is side-by-side comparisons. For 5 real scenarios (tweet, email subject, landing headline, LinkedIn post, error message), write:
- Before: Off-brand version (too formal, too generic, too salesy, or AI-sounding)
- After: On-brand version using your voice
- Note: What specifically makes the After version better
Step 5: Configure AI Tools
Feed your voice guide directly into AI content tools. In FastWrite:
- Navigate to Brand Voice settings
- Paste your voice guide, vocabulary lists, and examples
- Test generation and compare to expected output
Prompt template for any AI tool:
You are writing content for [Product]. Use this brand voice guide:
Voice: [adjectives]
We sound like: [one sentence]
We use words like: [vocabulary list]
We never say: [avoid list]
Example: [paste example paragraph]
Now write: [content request]
The Voice Guide as a Living Document
Update when:
- You find a piece of content that's clearly on-brand (add as example)
- Content generates unusually strong engagement (note what made it work)
- You find yourself editing AI output the same way repeatedly (codify that edit as a rule)
Review and update quarterly.
Deliverable
One markdown file: brand-voice.md containing:
- Voice personality (3-5 adjectives + definitions)
- Voice guide per dimension (do/don't examples)
- Vocabulary guide (use / avoid / explain)
- Before/after examples (5 scenarios)
- AI prompt template for content generation
Resources
- FastWrite — AI content generation with brand voice configuration
- StoryBrand Framework — Narrative structure that complements voice development