Brand Voice
Voice
At PCI, our messaging should strike a balance between technical when necessary and conversational when possible. In general, this comes down to distilling our message: What actual benefit are we offering our customers? Why should they work with PCI?
It’s okay to give technical, industry-specific details. But it should always be in the greater context of a simplified benefit. The current site does a great job of this and should be matched when developing new copy for marketing, website, or content purposes.
The overall tone for PCI is fairly professional and serious. But in the copy, it’s okay to break into more casual, conversational language where appropriate. Contractions are acceptable in moderation. Jargon is discouraged. See below for specific examples.
How we might have said this before:
PCI is a comprehensive software company providing end-to-end solutions that help power companies across North America and around the globe optimize operations and energy utilization.
Things to note: This copy is lengthy, full of big words, and it doesn’t really communicate any benefit for the client.
How we say it now:
We know there is no one-size-fits-all solution to energy management and optimization. That’s why our team works side by side with the world’s top energy companies to provide reliable support and innovative solutions
Things to note: The content is broken up into shorter sentences. The tone is conversational and uses a contraction (that’s). We offer a clear benefit and empathize with the client’s problem: we know the process is hard, and we’re here to work by your side.
Website
Below are recommendations for use on the website and blog.
Headers and capitalization
Dos:
- Use Sentence case when a heading is 5 or more words
- Use Title case if a heading is 4 words or less
- The exception is if two headers immediately neighbor each other and due to length would fall under different capitalization cases. In this instance, apply sentence case to both
Donts:
- No periods after headers, even if they are a full sentence
Other Content
- Use the Oxford comma (gasp!)
- Ex. We’ll design, deploy, test, train, and go-live
- No periods after bullet points
Content flow
Follow the inverted pyramid structure for content on the website. This means starting with the most general, accessible info, and drilling down into the details as you go. People who want the details will scroll and read to find it.
Social Media
The copy on your social media should provide an inside look into who you are as a company. This is an outlet where you can take an even more casual and humanized tone, and you can use the platform to brand build through stories and create clarity around confusing industry terms or norms.
General Rules
Consider that with each post there is a one exclamation mark limit. Too many exclamation marks is like highlighting a whole book—it takes away the impact.
Feel free to utilize contractions and less formal forms of speech on social media platforms. Even on a professional network like LinkedIn, audiences expect a less formal tone from social media than they do elsewhere.
Like This:
We’re a dedicated team of industry experts—and we’re committed to finding the right solution for your business.
Not this:
We are a dedicated team of industry experts, and we are committed to finding the right solution.
Editorial Style Guide
In an effort to maintain a consistent tone in our copy, an editorial style guide has been made available for download.
Buyer Personas
A persona represents our target audience and it is important to understand their obstacle and pain points. Please download the following buyer personas and review them.
