A practical checklist for tone of voice

We end up explaining this on discovery calls often enough that it deserved writing down. Run through this the next time tone of voice comes up.

Content is the part of a project most likely to be underestimated and most likely to delay a launch. It is the sort of thing that looks like polish right up until it costs you an enquiry.

The checklist

• Write like a knowledgeable person talking, not a brochure
• Consistency builds recognition
• Jargon signals insecurity more often than expertise
• Someone is named as the owner
• There is a date to review it again

Why it matters

Write like a knowledgeable person talking, not a brochure. Getting it slightly wrong is survivable. Ignoring it entirely is not. It is worth deciding this deliberately rather than inheriting whatever the last person set up.

How to tell if yours is fine

Pages that answer a real question outlive pages written to fill a slot in a sitemap. Three things worth confirming about tone of voice before you move on:

• Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
• Jargon signals insecurity more often than expertise — and you know whether that is true here
• There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped

None of this needs a rewrite. Most of it is a morning's work once someone decides to do it.