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I'm all for individualism in most contexts but having been the person responsible for the bulk of an organization's message to its customers (email, social medi

by RNCTX 6y ago

I'm all for individualism in most contexts but having been the person responsible for the bulk of an organization's message to its customers (email, social media, and phone call etiquette), it's not a malicious intent here. The only way you can accomplish a consistent message is by rules like these, and the people outside of the organization who are dealing with it want a consistent message. When you're speaking on behalf of an organization, be it a business or non-profit or government or whatever, you're obligated to use their words. When I pick up a novel I know I'm reading the novelist's ideas, but when I call tech support I'm not looking to talk to Joe or Jane, I'm looking to talk to AT&T about why their DSL equipment in my neighborhood is broken. They aren't personally responsible for it, they're speaking for the company. This even extends to political press. If you go read the submission guidelines for virtually any news or political publication that accepts freelance inquiries, you'll find that they all suggest reading a lot of their prior articles "to get a feel for our tone and style," if they don't just outright hand you a style guide to read such as the one linked. You can be you standing in plain clothes on a street corner by yourself. You can't be you when you're answering the company's phone. It's not nefarious mind control, it's just business.

venantius 6y ago
That's exactly right. We don't want /products page to noticeably have been written by Jessica while /pricing is noticeably by Andrew. We want a consistent corporate voice - partly because otherwise we don't have an actual brand identity, but also because if Jessica or Andrew leave then that voice leaves with them, which also just services to confuse.
- soneca 6y ago
  None of all these examples seem to be what the guide is talking about. I agree official communication and the website should be the company identity. But the guide seems to talk about regular day-to-day communication on a startup. Jessica emails to a customer should have Jessica writing style in them, in my opinion. Just like any salesperson carries their own personality to a sales meeting. Or internal emails between employees. You don’t write to Andrew to clarify some doubts about a report in the same tone of the company website. Or any standard tone. You write in your own style. At least I think you should.

by RNCTX 6y ago

venantius 6y ago

That's exactly right. We don't want /products page to noticeably have been written by Jessica while /pricing is noticeably by Andrew. We want a consistent corporate voice - partly because otherwise we don't have an actual brand identity, but also because if Jessica or Andrew leave then that voice leaves with them, which also just services to confuse.

soneca 6y ago
None of all these examples seem to be what the guide is talking about. I agree official communication and the website should be the company identity. But the guide seems to talk about regular day-to-day communication on a startup. Jessica emails to a customer should have Jessica writing style in them, in my opinion. Just like any salesperson carries their own personality to a sales meeting. Or internal emails between employees. You don’t write to Andrew to clarify some doubts about a report in the same tone of the company website. Or any standard tone. You write in your own style. At least I think you should.