theMediaFlow Managing Director Nichola Stott gives an overview on defining and producing editorial style guide in this edition of CalvinAyre.com’s Content Marketing Tip of the Week.
Today’s content marketing tip of the week is to define and produce an editorial style guide. If you’re looking to use content to market your product it’s important to have a clear idea of what that product is and how we define it and how we communicate that out in our content. Without this starting point your content will lack an identity and your strategy will lack direction. Think of brands like Calvin Ayre or Paddy Power… if I ask you to give me three words to describe each that shouldn’t be a tough job as both have very clear voices and identities. Calvin Ayre might be “edgy” “informative” “authoritative” and Paddy Power “cheeky” “fun” and “laddish”. The point is these two brands whilst different have very clear identities and personalities for their content regardless of the form and platform on which we encounter their materials.
Things to define should include:
- What do we offer that makes us special or unique?
- What do we stand for?
- Words that describe us
- Which competitors are we most like or secretly admire?
- What is our brand personality?
- What is our tone of voice?
- Do we ever use curse words in our content?
- What about common slang or internet slang?
- Who is our content aimed at?
- Do we participate in jokes and memes?
- Do we poke fun at industry figures or sporting figures?
- How do we refer to ourselves and is this ever abbreviated?
- What is our linking policy for content on our website?
- Do we have any different rules for content we put out on social media?
Once we have a clearly defined set of guidelines this helps direct the whole strategy and underpins every piece of content we produce. This should really help you develop quality and consistency in your style plus you’ve also got a good guide for any freelance writers or agencies that might be involved in producing any content for you.
