Brand voice guide or a social media team?
A one-time brand voice guide promises posts that sound like you. The promise holds only if someone then sits down and writes those posts. If that person exists on your side, a guide may be all you need. If nobody has the time, you are really choosing between a document and a team that will write in your voice every day and post from your own accounts, under your name.
This page sets out both options plainly, including what each one costs you and what you still have to do. GuruVox is one example of the team option. We post on your own accounts, under your name, and never on our own sites. You will see how we work, but the first half of the page is about when you should skip us.
What a brand voice guide gives you
A brand voice guide is a document. It describes how your brand sounds: the tone, the words you favor, the words you avoid, how formal you are, and a few sample sentences. Some guides come out of an interview with a human writer who listens to how you talk and then writes it down.
You pay once. You get a shared reference that anyone on your side can open before they write a post, a newsletter or a reply. A good one settles arguments quickly, because "that doesn't sound like us" now has something to point to.
The quality depends on who wrote it and how closely they listened. A guide built from one long conversation will describe you well. A guide built from a form and a template will describe a generic version of you.
When a one-time voice guide is enough
Buy the guide, and skip the team, in these cases:
- You have in-house writers who will use it. If a communications person or a marketing hire already writes your posts, the guide gives them a standard to hit. The writing capacity is already on your payroll.
- Your budget is small. A one-time purchase is easier to carry than a monthly fee, and a guide you apply yourself still improves everything you write.
- You post rarely and write it yourself. If you put up a few posts a month and don't mind writing them, you don't need anyone posting for you. A guide keeps those posts sounding consistent.
In all three cases, someone on your side writes and posts. The guide helps that person. If that describes you, a team would be money spent on work you already do.
What a guide can't do by itself
A guide is a document, so it has limits you should know about before you pay for one.
It writes nothing. Every post still needs an author, and that author needs an idea, a free hour and the patience to match the guide's rules on a Thursday evening when the post is already late.
It doesn't post. It doesn't reply to the person who commented under your last LinkedIn post, and it doesn't adapt your message for TikTok, Reddit and a Substack newsletter, which each need a different shape. It doesn't turn your videos into Shorts.
It also sits still while your organization moves. When a staff member leaves and a new one starts, the guide only helps if the new person reads it and keeps reading it. Voice drifts when the people writing change, and a PDF in a shared folder rarely stops that.
When you need a team that writes in your voice every day
You need a team when the writing itself is the problem. Four situations point that way:
- 1. Nobody on your side has time to write. You run the business or the nonprofit. Posts happen when you remember, which means they mostly don't.
- 2. You want posts every day on many platforms. Daily posting on several platforms is a full-time writing job, and it is a different job on each platform.
- 3. You want replies under your posts. Comments are where customers and donors decide whether a real person is behind the page.
- 4. The voice drifts when people change. A team that keeps learning your voice from your own words holds it steady while your staff turns over.
A team costs money every month, and you still take part. Both facts are covered below.
Guide or team: the trade-offs
| One-time brand voice guide | Social media team | |
|---|---|---|
| How you pay | Once | Every month |
| Cost of finding your voice | Often a separate project that can cost thousands of dollars | Included in the monthly plan, no extra fee |
| Who writes the posts | You or your staff | The team's writers |
| Who replies to comments | You or your staff | The team |
| What you do | Write, post, reply, check the voice | Approve posts if you like, or let them run on your own profiles, under your name |
| When your staff changes | The document stays, and someone has to teach it to the new person | The team keeps learning from your archive and your feedback |
| Daily posting on many platforms | Depends on your time | Included in the plan |
| Knowing your audience and where they are | Left to you and your team | A customer profile you approve, plus groups worth joining, each with a reason |
The guide costs less up front and asks more of your calendar. The team asks for a monthly fee and gives you the hours back.
On GuruVox, Starter is $300 a month for up to six months, then you move to Pro at $1,500 a month. Pro Nonprofit is $800 a month. Enterprise starts at $4,500 a month. Our pricing page has the current details, and the guide to social media management cost walks through what different kinds of help run and what is in each.
A team's costs recur for as long as you keep it. You decide that with a 30-day refund in hand, but you should plan for the monthly line before you sign up.
What a team adds to a voice guide
A guide describes your voice. A team uses it every day. GuruVox posts on your own profiles on 13 platforms, under your name, and nothing goes out from a GuruVox account. You keep your followers, your accounts and everything published under your name.
Our writers study your archive and your own words, and your dedicated editor learns your red lines. When you turn a draft down, your reason becomes a standing rule for every draft after. People write the posts and the replies, and a human editor checks every piece. We also edit your videos into Shorts, and the same voice carries into faceless and avatar videos posted on your own profiles.
What you do. You don't have to send anything. Our writers find the topics. You can approve posts at my.guruvox.com before they go out on your own profiles, under your name, or tell us once to post automatically. If an idea hits you, dictate it in Field notes.
The full process, from kickoff to the customer profile, is on our done for you social media page. We stand behind the service with a 30-day one-button refund, so some applications are declined.
Questions to ask before you pay for a voice guide
Whichever way you lean, these questions sort out the decision:
- Who will write the next ten posts, and when? If you can name the person and the hour, a guide is probably enough.
- How many platforms do you want to be active on? One platform is manageable alone. Thirteen is not.
- Who will answer the comments? If the answer is "me, eventually," count the hours.
- What happens to your voice when someone leaves? If the answer is "we'd start over," a guide alone won't cover that.
- Can you carry a monthly fee? If not, a guide plus your own writing is a legitimate plan.
- Do you want to approve every post, or let them run? Either works. A team doesn't need ideas from you.
If you decide on a team, apply at GuruVox get started.
FAQ
Is a brand voice guide enough on its own?
Yes, if someone on your side writes and posts with it. A guide helps that person sound like you. If nobody has time to write, a guide won't fill the gap, because it does not write or post anything.
How does a team learn to write in my voice?
At GuruVox, you start by telling us how you want to come across, what we must never post, and which writers or speakers sound close to you and which don't. Our writers then study your archive: posts on your own profiles, your website, and recordings of your talks or classes. If you want, Field notes lets you dictate an idea in your own words, and we keep your phrases. Your editor learns your red lines, and when you turn a draft down, your reason becomes a standing rule for the next one.
Will your team help me figure out my audience and where to find them?
A voice guide is about how you sound, and it rarely names who to reach. With GuruVox you answer seven questions about one real customer in about five minutes, then edit the written profile you get back, which includes recommended content angles and channels. We draft topics from it and suggest Facebook, WhatsApp and LinkedIn groups and Reddit communities, each with a reason. You choose which ones to join.
Who writes the posts?
People do. Software helps our writers with first drafts, and a human editor finishes and checks every single piece before it reaches you.
Do I still approve what goes out?
Yes. You approve posts at my.guruvox.com before they are published, or you tell us once to let them run. Either way, they go out on your own profiles under your name.
What does a team cost compared with a one-time guide?
A guide is a one-time purchase. Brand voice workshops and guides from agencies and consultants range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand, and full workshops or guides often run into the thousands. A team is a monthly fee. At GuruVox, voice discovery is included in your monthly plan: Starter is $300 a month for up to six months, then Pro at $1,500 a month.