Why you need a style guide for your business, and how to create one

From writing proposals, reports, website copy and even emails, an editorial style guide will ensure consistency and help your business look professional both on paper and in person.

Do several people within your organisation write proposals? Or is one person tasked with updating the web content and blog articles, and another with writing client emails? Print some samples and compare the differences in written style and presentation – we’re willing to bet there’s quite a few.

A style guide is integral to keeping communication and branding consistent across your media channels – from websites to emails, sales letters, social media, blogs, newsletters and other publications.

How to create your own style guide

Your style guide document ensures the same credible voice is conveyed each time a different person writes any communication material – no matter how many are in the team.

If you don’t have one yet, here’s how to develop your own editorial style guide.

Getting started

A style guide can be a simple Word document or PDF to share among staff or anyone who writes for your business.

It outlines common terms used by your business (a brand glossary, if you will) and the preferred ways to use, spell and format them. Your style guide can also be used to outline preferred stylings for grammar, punctuation, titles, headlines and sub-headings, as well as to inform writers of your brand’s written ‘tone’ – this may lean towards a colloquial and modern use of language, or you may prefer your tone to be more academic and authoritative.

Once you’ve established your business’ writing style, you could also develop a system of templates to ensure every piece of communication maintains similar structure and presentation. Consider creating templates for any regular written communications, such as newsletters, website content and business reports.

Language

Your style of language – or level of formality – comes back to knowing your audience.

Each set of readers has a different set of needs, and they communicate differently. Often this comes down to the age and demographics of your customers or clients, which is why understanding your audience is so important.

Does your audience like to use social media, or do they prefer something more formal, such as an email or printed newsletter mailout? Will your readers understand your terminology? And which words should you avoid, or use more of? Try a keyword search to learn more about the types of language and key search terms your audience are using.

Spelling

Many words are spelled differently in Australian English to US or UK English. Ensure ‘English (AUS)‘ is selected as the language in your Word document to avoid discrepancies in the spelling of words – such as organise (Australian) and organize (US) – between documents.

Other word spellings to clarify might include:

• Email (more common) and e-mail (or enewsletter and e-newsletter)
• eCommerce, e-commerce, or Ecommerce
• Program (AUS) and programme (UK)
• Focused (more common) and focussed
• Internet (with a capital ‘I’ – less common) or internet
• Per cent or percent, or the % symbol

Words and phrases to avoid

Often one word sounds better – and more professional – than the alternative. Many official style guides encourage writers to choose the option that sounds best, while others are quite rigid. Once you’ve made your style rules, chances are, you’ll cringe each time you see one used ‘incorrectly’.

For example:

• Among, not amongst
• Choose, not pick
• Entire, not whole
• More than, not over
• Such as, not like
• And, not the ampersand (&) symbol

Punctuation

The frequency of commas, semi-colons, ellipses, quotation marks and other punctuation can be a matter of preference – we’re looking at you, Oxford comma!

As you determine your punctuation preferences, include this information in your style guide.

Numbers and dates

Commonly, written style is to write ‘one’ to ‘nine’ in words, and ’10’ and beyond in numerals. Other publications go up to the word ‘ten’ before switching to numerals from 11. Others again don’t mind using all numerals. Are your writers aware of your style when using numbers in their copy?

And which date format does your business use? Using multiple date formats can be confusing for your readers; decide on your preference and use the same one each time.

Some examples:

• 16 March 2022
• March 16, 2022
• 16.03.2022
• 16/03/2022

Presentation

The presentation of your communications should be consistent and a true representation of your brand (visual and written).

Do you prefer bulletpoints to break up text on a page and to make it easier to read? If so, which bulletpoint style looks best?

Sub-headings are also useful to present information in a more reader-friendly manner. Which font do you prefer, and what size? Using the same ones each time creates a sense of brand consistency and authority.

Formatting

In common style guide rules, underline is rarely used, italics are normally used for titles of works such as books and movies, and bold is reserved for emphasis. What formatting preferences suit your business’ communications the best?

Will you use UPPERCASE or Title Case (also known as Camel Caps) for your headings? And what about your sub-headings? Simply bold, or will you use your website’s sub-heading settings?

And what about fonts? Whether it’s digital or printed content, your choice of font can mean the difference between your reader staying engaged enough to read the entire piece of content, or turning away because it’s too hard to read. So, choose your fonts (and their sizes and colours) wisely.

Extras

If writing succinctly isn’t a strength, you may like to include some tips and reference articles to help reduce wordiness, or on how to write in a more compelling way.

Proofreading is essential before sending out any piece of communication, no matter its size, so include some tips on making this process effective, too.

A style guide is a living document

A style guide can be a constantly-changing feast, with new discoveries and additions to make regularly as they come up. If this is the case for your business, using an editable document in an online cloud system like Google Docs can be a handy solution – this means that when writers access the document, they’ll be seeing the latest version of your style guide.

If this is not the case for your business, consider setting some time aside at least once per year to check and update your style guide documents. Modern language changes constantly, with new words introduced to dictionaries every year. A style guide that hasn’t been updated for a few years may be more out of date than you think.

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This article was published in 2012 and has been updated for 2022. 

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