Voice
Our voice is confident and straightforward without being pushy. It’s important that the voice is also approachable and level. The Center for Practice Transformation’s values include: recovery-oriented, collaborative, empirically grounded, and innovative. The brand voice should embody these values.
Tone
Our tone is calm, direct, and professional. The tone has slight variations depending on the context and audience. Humor is not used in any communications from the Center. The tone is never light or tongue-in-cheek, nor should you find any exclamatory, overly excited statements in any of their marketing materials. The Center also never uses any kind of competitive language
Informal vs. Formal Language
The Center’s external communications are always more formal than informal but the level of formality depends on the context of the situation. One-on-one conversations at conferences or with clients may take a slightly more informal tone. But any written communications should be professional, authoritative, and overall to-the-point without being blunt or rude. Avoid using colloquialisms and slang in written copy.
Industry-Specific aka Technical Language
Because of the nature of the Center’s work and its audience groups there is a high level of industry-specific language that should not be oversimplified. Regardless, acronyms should be defined when they are first introduced.
Active Voice
An active voice is used more often than a passive voice. In active voice, the subject of the sentence does the action. In passive voice, the subject of the sentence has the action done to it.
Pronouns
The choice of pronouns can set up the nature of the relationship between the Center and its audiences. Using the pronouns “you and your” suggests the Center’s primary concern is the needs of their audiences/clients. The order of pronouns is important. Placing you or your at the beginning of the sentence suggests that Center reacts to the client. Consider these examples. “You may want this, which is why we do that.” vs. “We do this, in case you want that.” The organization featured in the second sentence positions its own agency ahead of that of its client. Because the Center is a Center of Excellence and teaching their clients they should be held in a position of authority. Therefore, the pronoun we and/or the Center’s name should appear first in the sentence.