In-house style guides
Create a clear and consistent voice for your organisation
Do your customer communications use a polished style and professional tone of voice?
Do they always use correct English?
Talk to us about a tailored style guide that will support all your writers and content creators.
In-house style guides
Create a clear and consistent voice for your organisation
Do your customer communications use a polished style and professional tone of voice?
Do they always use correct English?
Talk to us about a tailored style guide that will support all your writers and content creators.
A practical reference for everyone who writes
An in-house style guide is like a personal dictionary for your organisation.
It can help to ensure that everyone who writes uses a consistent approach, style and tone. It sets out your communication principles as well as guidelines and rules for writers.
Your customers and service users expect clear, concise communications that are easy to understand. If they receive emails that are over-friendly or colloquial – and contain errors of grammar or punctuation – they might feel you’re unprofessional. And if they read guides or web content that are full of jargon and waffle, they can feel confused or excluded.
A tailor-made style guide can solve these problems.
A guide is particularly useful for organisations which would like all public communications to be written in plain accessible English:
- Public bodies which need to comply with the Government's plain English guidelines and universal design toolkits
- Financial services companies that are required to comply with the Consumer Protection Code
- Any company which communicates by email and digital media
Benefits of an in-house style guide
Defines your organisation's writing style and tone of voice
Good communication can reduce the number of consumer complaints and referrals to regulators
Supports your customer-facing teams to write clearly, concisely and professionally
Sets out rules to create consistency – and speeds up writing tasks
Reinforces your company's voice – and supports your brand identity
What goes into a style guide?
It depends on what you need. We take a look at your existing customer communications, talk to you about your challenges and objectives – and then make recommendations. Together, we decide what your in-house guide should include, for maximum benefit.
Review existing communications
Discuss challenges and objectives
Make recommendations
Decide what the guide should include
Who have you worked with?
As journalists and editors, we have the perfect experience to create a guide for your in-house writers.
We have created in-house style guides for many organisations, including:
We have also edited or updated the existing style guides of:
Frequently asked questions
Can you update an existing style guide?
Yes. It’s a good idea to re-evaluate your guide every five years or so, to ensure it continues to reflect your brand values and your evolving customer relationships
Can you train staff in how to use plain English and the guide?
Yes. It’s a good idea to launch the project with a short webinar to build buy-in and understanding.
How much does it cost?
It depends on what type of guide you need and how much work is involved. After you talk to us, we can give you a proposal and a quote.
Interested in an in-house style guide?
We can create a new guide or help you review and update an existing one.