Brand Voice and Tone: sound like you, not like AI
What this does
Turns "make it sound like us" into a guide a model can actually follow: the voice pillars, the tone by context, a do and do-not word list, and sample lines to pattern-match. Without this, every skill output drifts to generic AI voice. With it, the whole repo writes in your voice.
What you'll need (reads)
A few things you have already published that sound right (a post, an email, a page) and a couple that sound wrong. Your positioning from the Positioning skill, so voice and message agree. No connectors required.
The method
- Name 3 to 5 voice pillars. Adjectives with teeth: "plain, not corporate", "receipts over adjectives", "direct, no hedging". Each gets a one-line rule.
- Set the tone by context. How you sound in a cold email vs a nurture vs a landing page vs a support reply. Same voice, different dial.
- Write the do and do-not word list. The words and phrases you use, and the ones you never do (the AI tells, the corporate filler, the cliches). This is the fastest guardrail.
- Give sample lines. Two or three real lines that are unmistakably you, each next to its generic-AI counterpart, so the model can copy yours and avoid the other.
- State the one test. The single check any draft must pass to sound like you, for example "would I actually say this out loud?".
Failure points
- Vague adjectives ("professional yet approachable") that no model can act on.
- A do list with no do-not list, so the AI tells survive.
- No sample lines, so "our voice" stays a feeling instead of a pattern.
The receipt (writes)
[your voice pillars, the do and do-not list, and 3 sample lines with their generic counterparts. This becomes the voice layer of context/positioning.md]
Next move
Hand the voice to the Context Pack so CLAUDE.md carries it into every session. Built GTM. Receipts only.