TOV guidelines

Find out how a company actually writes, then write that down as rules specific enough that a new writer, or an AI, sounds like them on the first draft. Two phases with a review in between: first the evidence, then the guidelines.

When to use it

• Building the context folder, before any copy or content work.
• Starting a content program, or onboarding writers or AI tools.
• When content has drifted, or the existing guide is more than six months old.

Don't use it for colours and fonts (/brand-kit), for what to say (/messaging), or when the user only wants a one-line description of the voice.

Inputs

Required: the company website URL. It needs a homepage and at least 5 to 10 pages of real content. If it's thin, say so and flag the sample size in the output.

Optional: founder notes or transcripts, an existing style guide to update, context/icp/ for the reader, context/expert-pov/ for the founder's own voice.

Paths. Write context/brand/MMYY-tov-analysis.md (Phase 1) and context/brand/MMYY-tov-guidelines.md (Phase 2). Agency or consultant? Swap context/ for clients/<client>/context/ throughout.

Tools. Page fetching for the site. Web search with a site filter helps collect founder posts. Exa or Firecrawl are fine if you have them.

Phase 1: analysis

1. Pick the pages. Homepage, about or values, 3 to 5 blog posts, 2 to 3 case studies, pricing, FAQ, a landing page. Aim for 15 to 20.

2. Sentence patterns: average length, first or third person, questions, imperatives.

3. Paragraph patterns: length, how they open, where evidence sits.

4. Word patterns: the company's own terms, the customer's terms, words they avoid, how often they use modifiers.

5. Structure patterns: sentence or title case headers, CTA wording and placement, how they stack proof.

6. Score frequency.

   • High: 80% of pages or more.
   • Medium: 40 to 79%.
   • Low: under 40%.
   • Conflict: pages contradict each other.

   Show the count ("5 of 6 pages").

7. Map voice by content type. Person, formality and CTA style for homepage, blog, case study and pricing.

8. Collect real examples for each pattern. Use real sentences only, never invented ones.

9. Flag inconsistencies and gaps, with the questions you'd ask the founder.

10. Review gate. The user confirms the patterns, corrects anything wrong and answers the gap questions. Don't start Phase 2 without this.

Phase 2: guidelines

1. Apply the feedback and resolve each inconsistency.
2. Write the core guide:
   • who reads it
   • 3 to 5 tone attributes, each with a before and after rewrite
   • vocabulary to use and avoid
   • structure templates for the main content types
3. We are / We are not table. 5 to 8 rows, each backed by Phase 1 evidence.
4. Tone by context. How the voice shifts for these contexts:
   • cold outreach
   • nurture email
   • objection handling
   • sales follow-up
   • support reply
   • case study
   • social post
5. Tone by reader emotion. How to write to someone frustrated, sceptical, excited or rushed.
6. AI writing tells to avoid. At least five patterns that would make this brand sound machine-written, shown with the brand's own fix. Examples: generic praise openers, three short parallel sentences, "it's not X, it's Y" contrasts, filler transitions, closing on "what do you think?".
7. Optional sections, only when they apply:
   • hard questions answered: security, pricing, a big competitor. Mark these draft until the founder approves.
   • product microcopy, for companies with a product UI.
   • AI assistant voice, for companies with a chatbot.
8. Open questions. At least three, each saying what it unblocks.
9. Source every rule to a page, or mark it "TBD, needs founder input".

What good looks like

• At least 15 pages read, with findings in every pattern category.
• Frequencies are counts, never "usually" or "often".
• No adjective-only rules. "Friendly" isn't a guideline; "use 'you' in the first sentence of every page" is.
• Every example is real text from the site.
• A writer could pick the right tone for a support reply without asking anyone.

Mistakes to avoid

• Writing the voice you wish they had instead of the one they have. Note the gap; don't paper over it.
• Skipping the review gate.
• Copying another company's style guide structure and filling it with adjectives.
• Rules so vague any brand could use them.

Chain

Step 6 of the suggested chain: /company-context → /icp-research → /competitor-research → /win-loss → /expert-pov → tov-guidelines → /brand-kit → /positioning → /messaging → /funnel-strategy → /goals.