Seattle Urban Farm Company
I created a style guide for my landscape design business.
Below is an excerpt, the entire guide is available in the PDF link below:
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Introduction
Welcome to the Seattle Urban Farm Company Style Guide. There are many like it, but this one is ours.
This guide will help us maintain a consistent voice and brand throughout all of our content.
Our content includes website copy, blog posts, newsletters, social media posts, emails, marketing materials, lectures, and books.
The guide contains very specific things, such as how to write dates (2/14/17), and when to use the serial comma (always!). It cautions against using too many exclamation points.
Style is a choice. We choose to use Title Case whenever possible and believe in the subtle humor of the ellipse. These choices help define our voice and brand identity.
The Style Guide is a living document. This means some things will change over time. These changes will not be willy-nilly. They will be thoughtful and purposeful.
For example:
Once upon a time, our company tagline was “Food Grown Right, In Your Backyard.” Then we decided to use that as the title of our first book. We created a new tagline, “Creators of Beautifully Productive Landscapes” to avoid confusion and to reflect a change in our focus from small backyard gardens to large estate and commercial projects.
Many other changes have happened through the years. We’ve redesigned our logo and adopted new terminology in our service contracts.
If you have an idea and would like to propose changes to the guide, please do. We know there are many great things yet to come.
Writing Goals and Principles
All Content Should:
Educate: Sufco is all about sharing knowledge and lowering the barriers to entry for aspiring gardeners.
Empower: Give our audience the tools they need to take action.
Respect: Our business cannot exist without the support of our clients and our readers. Remember that all of these people care about us and we care about them.
Rules for Content Editing:
Purposeful: Make sure there is a reason for your content to exist.
Concise: After your write a draft, review it with the intention of removing any unnecessary or extra words.
Conversational: Write like people talk. Don’t use esoteric words (esoteric is esoteric, it literally means that most people will not understand. Not everybody knows what it means). Use the most common and easy to understand word you can think of.
Clear: Make the content serves its original purpose and that it helps people achieve their goals.
Voice and Tone
To communicate effectively with our audience, it is important to be aware of our voice and our tone.
Difference between voice and tone: You always have the same voice, but your tone changes depending on the situation. For example, you may use a different tone when talking with your best friend than you do when talking with a police officer.
When creating content, it is important to adjust the tone to match the situation. A tone that works for a light-hearted blog post, may not be appropriate for a client email.
Voice
At Seattle Urban Farm Company (SUFCo), we have fun growing fruits and vegetables. However, we also take our work seriously. We are always courteous and respectful. We educate people without patronizing them.
Our books and blog posts carry a very conversational voice. We crack occasional jokes which may or may not actually be funny. We present information in a clear and concise manner with authority. We do not disparage other ways of doing things. We display humility while still making a clear point.
-We are always honest and sincere.
-We do not upsell.
-We admit when we have made a mistake and take corrective action on our own initiative.
-We inspire confidence with clear and concise content.
Tone
Our tone is typically semi-formal, conversational yet professional. When writing, consider the reader’s state of mind. Are they concerned about the health of their garden? Worried about an invoice? Excited for the start of the season? Adjust the tone of your writing to accommodate the reader’s emotional state.
Best Practices
-Use active voice. Avoid passive voice.
-Avoid slang and jargon. Write as clearly as possible.
-Use positive language rather than negative language.