How a Style Guide Can Improve Your Company Writing Culture
At Scottie Public Affairs, we recognize the importance of cohesion for successful branding. A corporate style guide can be a resource for your company to bring consistency across communication and make your words as much a brand as your logo. With a specific, uniform style, your company can have a consistent voice no matter how many people (writers) are on staff.
Successful branding has steady messaging with a standard font and colors that create one story that sells. In literature, this is what we call style. Like what font and color do for branding, a style guide shows how words and their usage can embody your company values and be noticeable.
Read any writer enough times, and you will notice recycled vocabulary, syntax, and themes. Why? A writer uses what he knows works, and his style becomes characteristic the more he writes. The more you read, the more you won’t miss it. It is now as apparent as the logo of your favorite store.
Your company can have a style that gets noticed. With a set of guidelines, your staff can follow preferences for word choice, punctuation, and usage and deliver cohesive work each time, saving time spent on editing.
Creating a corporate style guide starts with choosing a foundation. Use an existing style guide as your primary resource. Common ones are “The Chicago Manual of Style” and “The Associated Press Stylebook,” both approved by a board that studied English usage. If there are exceptions to guidelines in your chosen primary style guide, include those. And incorporate industry terminology and usage, so your corporate style guide is unique to your company.
See below for tips on creating your corporate style guide and improving your company writing culture.
List your company values and how you’d like to embody them in your writing.
Knowing your values can help you determine your company tone and voice and the industry terminology you’d like to include in your style guide.
Embrace a collaborative approach.
The style guide is all about your company. Seek help and feedback from your team so the style guide is beneficial to all.
Read and recommend the writer’s bible, “The Elements of Style” by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White.
The pocket-sized book is a must-read for any writer. All the principles of English and style are in it. And it has wit.
Find that creating the style guide is a journey of company discovery.
The style guide is an evolving document that develops as your company grows or changes. As your company creates new work or policies, the style guide may require updates to match. Embrace the process as an opportunity for insight into and improving your company’s performance.
If you’d like help with creating a style guide, we’d be glad to work with you. Please contact us to discuss your style needs further!