brand voice checklist
you do not need a twenty-page style guide locked in a notion doc nobody opens. you need ten checks you run before every send that carries your name.
style guides fail because they describe aspiration, not execution. a checklist works because it is binary. did you run the scan or not. does the opening sound like you or not.
this list is built from patterns in voice profiles across solo founders publishing newsletters, changelogs, and founder essays. not theory. what breaks right before reply rates drop.
what are the ten checks?
- opening three sentences are yours. not ai, not a freelancer's guess at your tone.
- signature transitions appear at least twice. ctrl-f your usual phrases. if they are missing, you drifted.
- five concrete nouns in the draft. product names, customer quotes, specific dates. not category nouns.
- sentence-length std dev within baseline. flat rhythm is the earliest drift signal.
- no banned filler. leverage, delve, landscape, unlock, game-changer. keep a personal ban list.
- three trait words still describe the piece. direct, skeptical, warm. whatever you chose.
- profile score at or above your floor. use brand voice analyzer or
hyv scan. - repair flagged lines, not the whole draft. surgical edits beat rewrite spirals.
- read aloud once. your ear catches what grammar tools miss.
- compare to last week's texture. does this issue feel like the same author.
when should you run it?
every newsletter, changelog, and founder essay. skip for internal slack. never skip for anything a customer or subscriber sees. see brand voice for newsletters for send-specific detail.
the checklist takes eight minutes once your profile exists. rewriting a drifted issue because replies collapsed takes hours. hyv solo founder cohort
what tool automates the score step?
hyv welcome builds your profile from anchors. hyv scan scores each draft and returns flagged lines. you stay editor-in-chief. the tool stays the gate.
what if you fail three checks?
do not publish. rewrite the opening, rerun scan, ship tomorrow. one late issue beats twelve generic ones that train subscribers to ignore you.
get started for $1 — create your account and scan your first draft in minutes.
get started for $1 →
get started for $1 — create your account and scan your first draft in minutes.
get started for $1 →
writes about brand voice, ai writing patterns, and the craft of sounding like yourself. built hold your voice after watching his own voice flatten across six months of heavy ai drafts.
co-written with ai as sidekick. shashank drafted the observations; the ai pressure-tested the structural claims. if something reads too smooth, that's the ai's fault.