Create a copywriting style guide

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LB
Lousine Boyakhandjyan
Admin

Feb 18

ProdOps @ Synthesia

In this guide, you’ll find:

• A simple process to create your own copywriting style guidelines

• Examples of guidelines from other companies (and ours!)

If your team creates content, you need a copywriting style guide

Not because you’re doing something “wrong,” but because the alternative is…vibes.

And vibes are fine until:

• a new person joins the team and suddenly every doc sounds like it was published by a different company
• you struggle to maintain a consistent brand or image for your domain
• you spend more time debating commas, capitalization, or “is this too spicy?” than actually shipping anything

A style guide is your team’s way of saying: “Here’s how we write when we’re being us.”

It helps you:

• Sound consistent across channels (help center content, emails, community posts, video scripts, learning modules)
• Move faster (less back-and-forth, fewer rewrites, fewer “wait, do we hate em dashes?” conversations)
• Onboard new creators without pain (including freelancers, agencies, and cross-functional teammates)
• Protect the brand (because brand compliance should not live exclusively in one person’s brain)

From there, you can also use your style guide as source material for tools like Synthesia Assistant, ChatGPT, Claude, etc. Upload it alongside your other files, and you’ll get outputs that are way closer to your tone of voice from the jump.

How to create your own copywriting style guide

A good style guide is not a novel. It is a set of decisions that remove ambiguity.

Before you create anything:

1. Check whether your organization already has guidelines from brand, marketing, comms, or legal teams. If they do, don’t reinvent the wheel. Use them as a starting point.
2. Pick your scope. What content is this for? Marketing, documentation, video scripts? Choose 1–3.
3. Collect examples. Grab 3 pieces of writing you love.

1) Purpose and audience (2–5 bullets)

Write down:

• What you are trying to help your audience do.
• Who the audience is (and what they already know).
• Where this writing will appear (help center, in-app, emails, community posts, video scripts, and so on).

Example:

• Audience: Busy operations teams, non-native English speakers, beginner-to-intermediate video creators
• Goal: Help readers complete a task quickly and feel confident they did it right
• Channel: Help articles and product education video scripts

2) Brand voice

Pick 3 voice traits and define what they mean in practice.

Example:

• Clear and direct: Use short sentences. Prefer plain words over jargon.
• Warm and helpful: Avoid sounding sarcastic or scolding.
• Confident, not salesy: Explain value without hype.

If you can, add 1–2 “north star” examples of writing that already feels on-brand.

3) Tone rules

Tone changes depending on context. Define a few common situations and the tone you want.

You can do this as a simple table:

• Good news (feature launch): upbeat, concise, no exaggeration
• Instructions (how-to): calm, step-by-step, minimal fluff
• Errors/limitations: empathetic, specific, action-oriented
• Sensitive topics (privacy, security): formal, precise, cautious

4) “Say this, not that”

This is the most useful section for both humans and AI.

Create a short list of:

• Preferred phrases
• Words to avoid
• Common rewrites

Example:

✅ Do: “Here’s how to…”
❌ Don’t: “Simply…” (can feel dismissive)
✅ Do: “Select”
❌ Don’t: Mix “click,” “tap,” and “hit” inconsistently

5) Terminology (the single source of truth)

List:

• Product names (exact capitalization)
• Feature names
• Common nouns you want standardized

6) Writing mechanics (only the rules you actually enforce)

Common high-value items:

• Headings: title case or sentence case
• Oxford comma: yes or no
• Exclamation points: allowed or limited
• Contractions: allowed or not
• Numbers: “10” vs “ten” rules
• Accessibility: avoid idioms, define acronyms, prefer inclusive language

7) Examples (before/after)

Add 2–3 short examples that demonstrate the voice and rules.

Example:

• Before: “Simply click the button to easily generate amazing videos!”
• After: “Select Generate to create a draft video. You can edit the script and visuals in the next step.”

How to use this with AI tools

If you use Synthesia Assistant (or any AI tool), upload this style guide alongside your source material so the AI has clear direction on how to write, not just what to write.

Keep the final doc:

• Short: 1–3 pages is plenty to start
• Skimmable: headings, bullets, clear examples
• Explicit: write rules as direct instructions (“Do X. Avoid Y.”)

Always iterate:

• If your output feels off, add a “Say this, not that” example.
• If your output keeps misnaming things, update your terminology section.
• If your output is the right words but the wrong vibe, tighten your voice traits and add another example or two!

Resources & examples

Reference examples

• Mailchimp Content Style Guide (it’s like, really good)
• HubSpot: How to create a content style guide
• Write the Docs style guides overview

Synthesia’s Knowledge & Enablement team’s style guide

K&E Content Manifesto.pdf70.13 KB