I is for Instructions
V.O.I.C.E. Guide Breakdown: How to teach your voice, even if you're not a great teacher
Are you a born teacher?
Some people are. They’ve got that rare ability to break down a concept and explain it in a way that actually makes sense to the student. (If you’re lucky, you’ve had one or two of them in your own life!)
But as we all know…
Being good at something and knowing how to teach someone else to do it are two completely different things.
Maybe you’ve run into this conundrum in your own business.
You know how to solve a problem and sell it. In fact, you’re doing it so well, your business has taken off!
And suddenly, you don’t have time to write every Facebook ad, every email, every sales page.
As your business grows, so does your team. You bring in much-needed help, like a copywriter.
But now you’ve got to explain to them how to sound like you. And that’s where things get messy.
There are plenty of skilled copywriters out there.
But no matter how good they are, they’re not mind readers. They’re going to need time – and instructions – to sound like you and “get” your voice.
And guess who’s expected to teach them? That’s right, it’s you! Because inside your head is where all the necessary info lives.
So I’ll ask again: are you a good teacher?
Or do you play a frustrating game of “you're getting warm… warmer… nope, still not it.” You know what you want but have no clue how to explain it?
Writers lose confidence when they keep missing the mark and don’t know why. You feel like you’re wasting time and money.
Eventually the writer moves on… and you’re back to square one, racing the deadline, doing yet another round of revisions, wondering why no one can “just get it.”
That’s why the “I” stands for instructions in my V.O.I.C.E. Guide.
A V.O.I.C.E. Guide is a user-friendly, writer-approved instruction manual that helps your team understand and execute your voice…clearly, consistently, and confidently.
I call it a writer’s best friend. Because it’s built for them, with you in mind.
Most “brand voice” docs out there are fluff city:
“Be bold.”
“Be human.”
“We use our voice to illuminate the world’s hidden dimensions and transform it for the better.”
(Yes, those are real. No, I don’t know what they mean either.)
If you handed that to a writer and asked them to draft a launch email, what would you get back?
Exactly.
This is how writers feel when there’s nothing specific to grab onto.
So let’s fix that. For them and for you.
The instructions in your custom V.O.I.C.E Guide include:
Examples of your best content as the standard bearer
Specific words, phrases, and transitions that are YOU (and ones to avoid at all costs)
Punctuation and style preferences (to em dash or not to em dash…)
Stories that are an integral part of your brand, including how you prefer to structure a story (get right to the point? A slow reveal?)
Sentence length and readability: is it hitting the right notes to reflect your style?
You’ll even get a scoring rubric so you can give feedback that’s clear, constructive, and actually helpful.
Now, instead of trying to explain your voice from scratch every time you bring someone new on board, you’ve got a plug-and-play guide that helps them hit the ground running.
Less guesswork. Fewer rewrites. More content that’s just right.
Want to see what this could look like for you?
Reply to this email, or head over here: Work With Jill
Ciao,
Jill
P.S. Here's a refresher on what the other letters stand for in V.O.I.C.E....
What Do You Get In A V.O.I.C.E. Guide?
Viewpoint – Define your brand’s overall perspective, how you see the world, and how you relate to your customers.
Organization – Clear and practical SOPs, style guides, and internal conventions so your content can be created, stored, and published efficiently.
Instructions – A writer’s best friend: it’s a user manual & training tool so they “get” how to write and execute exactly as expected.
Consistency – Ensure every piece of content aligns with your brand’s tone, style, and personality, no matter who writes it.
Evergreen – A living document that evolves with the brand and can be used by any writer you hire.
It’s both a strategic and practical tool. Use it to catalogue, train & evaluate your brand voice so your team can execute it with ease.
Whenever you’re ready, here are some ways I can help:
I offer Voice Finder Sessions for personality-driven entrepreneurs who want to define their Voice (and put some boundaries in place.)
I also create Brand V.O.I.C.E. Guides for you & your team – an evergreen asset to help writers “get” your voice, without endless re-writes and revisions.
Plus, I work with a select number of clients each quarter as a ghostwriter.
If you're interested in learning more, reply to this email or complete this form: Work With Jill
P.S. Love learning about Brand Voice? Share this email with a friend who'd love it, too! They can use this link to join my list: https://jilljensen.berserkermail.com/brandvoice