brand-voice

# Brand Voice

This skill creates distinctive, consistent brand voice guidelines that ensure every piece of marketing content sounds authentically like the brand - not generic AI output.

## Objective

Define a memorable brand voice that differentiates from competitors and resonates with the target audience, then apply it consistently across all marketing touchpoints.

## Intake Questions

Before defining or applying brand voice, gather this context:

1. **Existing materials**: Are there any current brand guidelines, previous marketing pieces, or content that represents the desired voice?
2. **Industry/category**: What space does the brand operate in? What do competitors sound like?
3. **Target audience**: Who is the brand speaking to? What's their sophistication level, pain points, aspirations?
4. **Brand personality**: If the brand were a person, how would they act at a party? Formal speaker? Witty friend? Wise mentor?
5. **Differentiators**: What makes this brand different from every other option?

## The Human Content Principle

To ensure your brand voice doesn't sound like generic AI, follow Adrian's core principle: **Say something a reasonable person could disagree with.**

### Checklist for Human and Useful Content

Use these guidelines to inject humanity into every piece of content:

1. **Human-Led Outlines**: Start with an outline generated by a human who deeply understands the audience and topic. Ensure it has a clear narrative arc before writing.
2. **The "Un-AI" Element**: Include 1-3 key statements that AI would be unlikely to generate (humor, strong opinion, controversy, or even minor vulgarity if the brand allows).
3. **Radical Specificity**: Be rigorous about backing up every point with specific examples, data, or real-world scenarios. Specificity kills generic AI vibes.
4. **No Em-Dashes**: Never use em-dashes (-) or en-dashes (-) in any content. Use hyphens (-) or other punctuation like colons or parentheses instead.
5. **Avoid Verbal Cliches**: If