Persona-Based Voice Building Tips

One of the most powerful ways to use Brand Voices in Studio is to design them around a persona — a fictional or role-based character that represents how your brand speaks.

Persona-driven voices give your content a human signature. They’re not just stylistic presets. They can act like a trusted editor, a brand spokesperson, a founder, a journalist, or a coach — and can be used across multiple content types with consistent tone, rhythm, and intention.

This section offers practical tips for building Brand Voices modeled after personas and applying them in scalable, repeatable ways.

Why Build Around a Persona?

A persona-based Brand Voice can:

• Make your content feel distinct, memorable, and alive
• Model the tone of real team members (e.g., editors, marketers, pastors, executives)
• Scale a signature style across newsletters, blogs, landing pages, and product content
• Help teams write more consistently by referring to “how [persona] would say it”
• Improve AI output quality by anchoring the voice to a clear personality

Personas are especially useful in multi-site setups or when managing content for different brands or verticals.

Common Persona Types

Each persona doesn’t just define what is said — it frames how it’s delivered.

Structuring a Persona-Based Voice

When building a persona-driven voice, focus on four core areas:

1. Character and Tone

• Choose character traits that align with how the persona “speaks”
• Match with appropriate tone values (e.g., Calm + Confident, Bold + Professional)

Example: A mentor-style persona might use:
Character: Wise, Supportive, Down-to-Earth
Tone: Warm, Encouraging, Empathetic

2. Sentence Rhythm and Style

• Use Preferred Sentence Length and Writing Style to mimic the persona’s natural cadence
• Define if they write long flowing thoughts (Narrator) or sharp, point-first sentences (Challenger)

Example: A founder voice might favor:
Sentence Length: Mixed
Style: Storytelling + Authority-Driven
Perspective: First Person (singular)

3. Word Choice

• Add Focus Words to reflect the persona’s vocabulary
• Add Blocked Words to avoid tone mismatch (e.g., too casual, too corporate)

Example:
Focus Words: mission, stewardship, impact, grounded, clarity
Blocked Words: hack, hustle, secret sauce

4. Formatting and Punctuation

• Use Structural Preferences and Punctuation Rules to complete the persona’s writing feel

Example:
Structural Preferences: Headings & Subheadings, Short Paragraphs, Bullet Points
Punctuation: Use the Oxford comma, Avoid exclamation marks, Prefer colons for emphasis

Real-World Use Case Example

Persona: The Decoder
A tech newsletter brand voice based on a product lead who explains complex systems simply.

• Character: Analytical, Friendly, Honest
• Tone: Confident + Neutral
• Style: Explainer + Journalistic
• Audience: Business readers with no technical background
• Sentence Length: Short
• Perspective: Third Person
• Focus Words: performance, scalability, workflow, bottleneck, secure
• Blocked Words: hack, revolutionary, magic

Used in: Technical blogs, product announcements, feature explainers, Q&A-style releases

Tips for Persona Development

• Name the persona — Even internally, a name like “Coach Kate” or “The Editor” creates clarity
• Keep tone consistent across formats — Especially when using the persona in articles, newsletters, and social content
• Test before scaling — Run sample outputs to refine sentence rhythm and vocabulary
• Duplicate and adapt — Use one persona as a base and tweak for different audiences or channels
• Avoid conflicting traits — Don’t pair “Humble” character with “Sarcastic” tone unless deliberate

Summary

Persona-based voices give your content a recognizable personality that readers trust and remember. By carefully combining character, tone, structure, and vocabulary, you can create Brand Voices that not only sound human — they sound like someone specific.