Use of large language models to draft marketing copy and content has grown quickly, and you may have noticed something happening across LinkedIn and other networks: people are getting tired of seeing the same formulas over and over again.
You’d probably prefer your own marketing copy to feel fresher, more personable and more useful, making it more likely to connect with the people you actually want to reach.
Different types of writing naturally have different styles. News tends to be factual. Feature articles can be more creative. Blogs can take many forms. Website copy is usually user-focused and persuasive.
Raw copy from a large language model often leans toward a polished, dramatic style commonly found on sales pages. That isn’t necessarily bad, but it may not sound much like you.
So the first question is simple: does this output suit my brand voice and the purpose of the content?
If it doesn’t, it may be time to create a brand voice guideline. Think of it as the writing equivalent of your visual brand style guide.
A Framework For Your Brand Voice Guideline
Brand voice is a kind of linguistic fingerprint. We can recognise the bold, directive tone associated with some brands, while others deliberately position themselves as the friendly expert.
But distinctive personalities are harder to reproduce consistently, particularly when AI-generated content begins with broadly similar language patterns.
A recognisable human brand voice can therefore become increasingly valuable when so much content is being produced with AI assistance.
A brand voice guideline can also save considerable editing time. Rather than completely rewriting every AI-generated draft, you can give the system clear instructions about how your business communicates.
Some AI tools now support reusable writing styles or instructions. For example, Claude allows users to create custom Skills containing instructions and examples that can help apply a particular workflow or brand approach. The important point is not which AI system you use, but that your preferred language, tone and style are documented rather than left to chance.
Before creating the guideline, work out which phrases, vocabulary and stylistic habits you want to encourage, as well as the ones you never want appearing in your copy.
Incidentally, the term for a person’s individual diction, phrasing and language patterns is idiolect. It is one of the ways we recognise someone’s personality through their words.
When you talk about your business, you probably don’t suddenly transform into a stiff corporate spokesperson. Your everyday personality remains. You have favourite expressions, recurring phrases, opinions and enthusiasm for what you do.
Those characteristics are useful raw material for marketing copy.
To uncover signature words and phrases, try capturing some of the language you naturally use when speaking about your business:
Talk into the Dictate tool in Word as though you are explaining your service to a prospective customer.
Review the full transcript of a recorded client or prospect meeting, rather than relying only on an AI-generated meeting summary.
Use a call-recording or transcription tool, where appropriate and with the necessary consent, to identify phrases you repeatedly use when explaining concepts.
The aim is to find the expressions that sound unmistakably like you and could work naturally in blog posts, website copy, emails or sales content.
As a practical starting point, I suggest collecting around five samples of your natural written or spoken voice. They might be dictated explanations, emails, articles or transcripts. The important part is that they represent how you actually communicate, rather than material that was already generated by AI.
What Else To Include In The Brand Voice Guideline
Once you have collected enough examples, use them to develop a simple framework covering:
Tone: warm or neutral, playful or serious, bold or measured.
Vocabulary: words you use, words you avoid, technical terminology versus plain English, and your preferred level of formality.
Perspective: whether you position yourself as a mentor, expert, challenger, educator or something else.
Signature Styles: common openers, storytelling approaches, favourite phrases and recurring structures.
Dos And Don’ts: things you deliberately say, avoid saying or need to qualify within your industry.
One-Line Brand Voice: a short sentence that sums up how your organisation should sound.
You don’t necessarily need to develop all of this from scratch. Once you have supplied good examples, an AI system can help analyse the patterns and turn them into a draft brand voice guideline for you to review.
The dos and don’ts section can be particularly important in regulated industries.
The important point is that regulatory, legal and brand restrictions should be included in your instructions rather than relying on the AI system to work them out for itself.
A Second Pass At Revising Robot Content
Once your brand voice guidance is saved in your AI tool’s reusable instructions, project context or style settings, you have a better starting point for future marketing copy.
Even then, it is worth doing a human editing pass before anything is published.
One pattern I regularly remove is the unnecessary comparison:
“Not only is this [the less meaningful part], it also means [the point that actually matters].”
This kind of comparison can work when there is a genuine reason for it. When it appears automatically, however, it can easily become filler.
Then look more broadly at the output.
Does the tone actually match the level of optimism, seriousness or enthusiasm you intended?
Have any taboo words or unwanted clichés slipped through?
Does the content address a real objection or challenge your audience might have? Objections are the table salt of good sales copy, so it is worth considering at least one where appropriate.
Do any examples sound suspiciously generic? If so, replace them with a relevant client example, experience or de-identified case study from your own work.
Finally, check factual claims, statistics, product details and references before publishing. A brand voice guideline can make AI-assisted writing sound more like you, but human judgement is still required to make sure the finished piece is accurate, useful and appropriate.
When you’re de-roboting your text next time, remember the mantra:
It must be all killer, no filler!
Recommended Reading
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Jennifer Lancaster is a book writing coach and editor. Working with new writers on an aligned book strategy, and seeing that become a book, is the most fun ever.
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