Stop letting writers get your voice wrong

Warning: Brand Ventriloquist® Voice Guides may cause writers to mirror your style in minutes without you having to edit their work for hours. Please raise your expectations accordingly.

Imagine receiving perfect copy on the first shot.

The words don’t need editing, the files are formatted properly, and the work is ready to go live the minute you get it.

Most importantly, the copy sounds like you.

All the little nuances are there — and you know it’ll resonate with your best customers who read everything you send.

And the language is 100% on brand.

It’s beautiful, isn’t it? Makes your job easy.

But that doesn’t always happen.

Sometimes it’s a mess.

The writer misses the mark on how you want it to sound. It’s miles away from being publishable. And you’re wondering if you’ve even hired the right person.

Now you’ve either got to send it back for revisions (which could take weeks) or…

Fix it yourself.

Either way, you’re in for a long haul. You may even have to delay your launch.

So how do you avoid this?

How can a writer emulate your style and nail your content every time?

Simple.

You give them your voice guide.

As your need for content grows, it becomes essential that any writer you bring on your team can mirror the voice of your brand.

This way, as your customers move along your content trail, every piece will remain consistent. There’ll be no confusion over unexpected messages that make your readers scrunch their nose, crinkle their eyebrows, and wonder where the hell those words came from.

You need your personality on every page.

All your content needs to sound like it came from you — no matter who wrote it.

“But my voice is unique! Nobody can sound like me.”

Just because your voice is different doesn’t mean it can’t be replicated

Justin’s Voice Guide is spectacular.
 

“We are all over the moon excited about it and I love everything about what he did for us. This makes on-boarding new writers a snap, and it was so interesting to learn how my voice comes across. All these little nuances make such a big difference and this guide is absolutely golden!

THANK YOU for an incredible tool for our biz.

Amy Porterfield

Online Marketing Expert & Podcast Host

It doesn’t matter if you’re a brand, product, service, or entrepreneur — your voice can be researched and repeated.
 
Because your voice is measurable.
 
With proper training and the right system, a good writer can sound like anyone. Even you.
 
(Think of it like copying a signature.)
 
But before we begin, we’ve got to figure out WTF your voice is.

Brands I’ve worked with:

Todd Herman
Copyhackers

WTF is your voice?

WTF is your voice

 WTF is the foundation of the Brand Ventriloquist® framework. 

This is how you scale your content. 

Sounding like you is no accident. And it’s certainly not luck. It’s a practiced skill learned by breaking down and analyzing these three pillars:

(W)ords

Your language & lexicon

What vocabulary do you use? Even more importantly, what words do you avoid? This includes local slang, industry terms, your products, and signature dialogue you drop into conversation.

(T)one

The way you say things

Are you happy, witty, confident, snarky, arrogant, blissful, techy, or funny? Maybe you’re a combination of each. (Tone is how people used to convey emotion before emojis were born.)

(F)requency

The rhythm of your writing

Short and choppy? Or long, flowy, wordy-bird sentences that paint wonderful pictures, draw you in with their splendor, and engage your eyeballs with their ever-flowing length. This is your cadence.

Words, Tone, and Frequency

These 3 elements are the foundation of your voice.

Nail them, and everything else is just gravy.

 
The process works for any style because it’s based on data. The scale is infinite. And even if your style might not fit the usual chart, that doesn’t mean it can’t be measured. It just sits at a different plot point.
 

Then we document it all in a pretty little guide.

“Justin absolutely nailed the voice guide.”
 
I’ve got a pretty unique style with lots of quirky words and “Stu-isms” (as my team calls them).  So it’s hard to replicate and maintain a consistent feel across all our communications if I’m not the one doing it.
 
And that right there was the problem. 
 
I was a bottleneck and our communication was getting a little skewiffy.  Not anymore thanks to Justin’s voice guide.
 
I was amazed at how Justin pulled out all the little nuances that I wasn’t even aware were part of my voice. This guide has now become an incredible resource for our entire team, and makes it a lot easier for me and my team to maintain a consistent voice across everything we send out. Heck yeh!”
Stu McLaren

Membership Expert & Podcast Host

A voice guide lays out how your copy should look, sound, and read in every format

So everything your team creates will remain consistent

(and even your best customers won’t know it’s not written by you)

Voice guides are essential to keeping your brand personality alive across all platforms. It’s what makes your visitors love you, recognize you, and identify your content — even if your logo is hidden. It’s what separates you from the pack.
 
But the problem is, creating your guide is tough. Most agencies use generic templates filled with fluff and branding vaguery like “we write in a casual vibe because that’s how our audience speaks.” (Barf.) That garbage doesn’t help anyone.
 
I’m talking about real, measurable, honest-to-goodness guidance that instructs you and your team to create any and all content — and have every piece sound like it came from only one person (even though it didn’t.)
 
Social, web copy, email, videos, blogs, ads…
 
Your voice guide will be a step-by-step manual for how to write like you on every platform — formatting and all — complete with examples and reference links.
 
Every element will sound exactly how it should. And every writer will know precisely how to replicate it.

“Smarter companies treat brand voice guidelines as a living, breathing, evolving asset that helps writers and content creators communicate with similar (but not identical) styles.”

– Ann Handley

Digital Marketing Pioneer

“When we were working on one of our biggest client projects and needed a true brand voice expert, we brought in Justin and it was one of the best things ever! Our situation was unique — the client was launching an all-new brand and product and needed a voice to define that brand. 

The collaborative “voice clinic” that Justin organized for our client was interactive, engaging and immensely insightful. Each exercise built upon the other and then, Justin whipped it all up into a voice guide that brought their brand to life. 

Seeing Justin at work is an exceptional experience and the results are just as mind-blowing. The brand voice guide he created for our client’s brand-new business was spot on and so helpful for us. It was a guide we referred to all the time as worked on the launch and it helped immensely with the entire launch and copywriting process.

Prerna Malik & Mayank Malik

Content Bistro

I’m Justin Blackman.

I keep your writers on brand without you having to train them yourself.

So, what does a Voice Guide actually look like?

The final document will be a living, breathing, easy-to-update Google Doc. Why? Because your voice isn’t static!
 
It evolves over time. With a Google Doc, you can update the material (without having to pay me to do it), add new elements, change your links, and easily tweak the terminology. Plus, it’s super easy to share or save as PDF.

“Justin’s voice guide and process is world-class.”

I have a very difficult voice to write for, and our last three writers we’ve hired have all nailed their first drafts of content, copy, and ads. What was a typically frustrating, costly, and time-wasting experience is no more. Projects now come in on time and under budget.

The voice guide is the ultimate leverage point when you no longer want to touch all content.”

Todd Herman

Author "The Alter Ego Effect | Entrepreneur

“Good copywriters will try and emulate your Tone Of Voice with key words and phrases. Justin will go about 67 steps further, and break your voice down into details you didn’t even know existed.”
 
“When Justin first popped onto my radar, it was his TOV that hooked me: funny, clever, and the right amount of silly. I thought his ability to write like that was his superpower…
 
But, after hanging around him for a year and a half, I realized I’d got it wrong.
 
His superpower isn’t his ability to capture his own personality so well. It’s his ability to completely embody whoever it is he’s writing for.”
Kirsty Fanton

Launch Copywriter & Super Genius

What do I know about voice?

(AKA: How I became THE BRAND VENTRILOQUIST®)

 
I’ve written for more than 429 different people.
 
That’s more than most writers will ever run away screaming from dream of. And damn near enough to cause schizophrenia. Luckily, I’ve been carefully trained by voice experts.
 
But what separates me most is that I’m willing to dive in further than anyone else.
 
Between The Headline Project (100 brands) an agency retainer (307+ long-form Facebook ads & emails) and other client work, I’ve developed a superpower of mimicry.
 
I’ve created content, email, ads, and websites for brands across multiple industries and I’ve even written for other copywriters. Nearly all of them said my copy sounded like them.
 
(There were misses early on. But it’s been a while since I didn’t get it right.)
 
I have unparalleled experience in analyzing voice.
 
Why?
 
Because I investigate every inch of your content. Not just your words — but your style. The way you write, the way you sound, the formatting and grammar you use. Your angle, your tone, your punctuation. All your nuances. Even your emojis.
 
I find the little things that make the difference.

“Justin adapted our voice for 12 different brands so we could produce more work in-house without paying extra agency fees.”

Every time we run a major campaign for our hotels, the language changes for each brand. Different audiences, different tones, different styles. Justin understood the nuances between them and modified every voice to fit. Being able to keep the work in-house saved us thousands of dollars per project.

Steve Jones

Senior Manager, Content & Social Marketing, InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG)

The Brand Ventriloquist Voice Guide:

Your writers will have all the information they need to nail your voice, slash your editing time, and hammer home your copy on the first try

Voice guides will save you hours of unprofitable editing time and cut weeks off individual writer training. Big companies happily pay $25,000+ for this service because it’s worth it. They have lots of people to bring up to speed. But that price isn’t realistic for everyone. And maybe it doesn’t work for you.
 
Here are three options that provide enough detail for small, mid-size, and large brands to thrive.

Choose the guide that’s write right for you

$2,650

Voice Guide Lite

The “fun-sized” version. Best for solo-entrepreneurs and small businesses with occasional freelance writers

Your brand overview: Biographies, values, visions, and history 

Your voice: A report of your words, tone, and frequency

Your audience: An overview of who you’re writing to

Biography: Historical facts to keep your story straight

Content examples: Samples of work to emulate

Products & courses: A guide to your work

Lexicon: The unique language of your brand

Style choices: The subtle nuances that make you you

Light voice analysis: A general proprietary breakdown of your exact writing style

$5,997

Voice Guide (Standard)

Best for mid-sized businesses, brands upgrading their websites, and established entrepreneurs with teams 

Your brand overview: Biographies, values, visions, and history 

Your voice: A report of your words, tone, and frequency

Your audience: An overview of who you’re writing to

Biography: Historical facts to keep your story straight

Content examples: Samples of work to emulate

Products & courses: A guide to your work

Lexicon: The unique language of your brand

Style choices: The subtle nuances that make you you

In-depth voice analysis: A deep proprietary breakdown of your exact writing style

Templates: Custom frames for your email, landing pages, social posts, etc.

Brand Comparisons: Sample content from competitors rewritten in your voice

Custom video walk-through: Personalized demonstration of how to measure and analyze copy using your new tools

Copy submission & review process: Step-by-step instructions of how you want your assets delivered

Style tips & resources: Tools to make your writers’ submissions perfect

*In-person training option available

$12,000+

Voice Guide + Training Program

The nitty-gritty full-shebang & training course for large companies, content teams, and industry gurus with multiple writers

Your brand overview: Biographies, values, visions, and history 

Your voice: A report of your words, tone, and frequency

Your audience: An overview of who you’re writing to

Biography: Historical facts to keep your story straight

Content examples: Samples of work to emulate

Products & courses: A guide to your work

Lexicon: The unique language of your brand

Style choices: The subtle nuances that make you you

In-depth voice analysis: A deep proprietary breakdown of your exact writing style

Templates: Custom frames for your email, landing pages, social posts, etc.

Brand Comparisons: Sample content from competitors rewritten in your voice

Custom video walk-through: Personalized demonstration of how to measure and analyze copy using your new tools

Copy submission & review process: Step-by-step instructions of how you want your assets delivered

Style tips & resources: Tools to make your writers’ submissions perfect

Scoring rubrics: A checklist to measure each piece of new content against your brand & voice standards

New writer training & on-boarding program: A custom 30-day training program built specifically for your team

*In-person training option available

This guide has paid for itself so many times over, it isn’t even funny.”

“Justin’s voice & style guide has been the go-to for our entire team. And when you have so many bits and pieces moving around like we do, it’s incredibly valuable to have something you can turn to time and time again.

The level of detail he puts into his guides is actually mind blowing. It’s become such a huge part of our writing process and I find myself referencing it so many time a day that I now just keep the tab open all the time.”

 

Eman Zabi

Founder, The Scribesmith

I’ve never seen anyone put as much thought into the process of voice and tone guides as Justin.”

“Audience avatars, lexicons, examples, practical tips, customer considerations…

I TRIED to find a hole in his documentation, and I absolutely couldn’t.

Whether you’re a company scaling up your content efforts with multiple writers, an international team struggling to keep voice and tone consistent, or even a small company trying to define what makes your voice your own, I have every confidence Justin’s voice guide will help you meet those goals.

Joel Klettke

Founder, Case Study Buddy

Use this shiny red button to schedule a live analysis of your voice and demo a sample guide

We’ll discuss the type of content you’re looking to create, review your portfolio, and figure out what level of detail your writers require. Depending on your needs, we’ll decide which guide is right for your team.

Just like a style guide helps designers, a voice guide helps your writers

Because you can’t google your voice. But you can document it.

“It’s so clear to me how useful this is for clients to on-board new writers much, much faster.”

“I’ve honestly never seen anything like this. No other voice guide even comes close being to as robust and practical. It’s so clear to me how useful this is for clients to on-board new writers much, much faster. I’m happy to recommend this to anyone I’ve dropped off work for and who’s now struggling to replicate it. I think you’ve really landed on something stellar here and it makes me happy that my clients will have this consistent level of support moving forward.

 I’m so impressed by this.”

Ry Schwartz

Email Copywriter, Ethospreneur & Expression Engineer, Ry Schwartz

Look, the fact is, every writer has their own style. But that’s not why you hire them.
 
You hire writers because they can bring your words to life without making it obvious you didn’t do it yourself.
 
And you hire them because they take work off your plate.
 
A voice guide helps writers achieve that goal faster. Even if you switch from one creator to another.
 
Benefits of voice guide include:
  • Consistency between all your messaging — to create a balanced experience for readers every at every step
  • Less editing time (often none at all) — to save you from all those unprofitable hours when you’re pulling your hair out
  • Measurable and specific feedback — so if changes need to be made, they’ll be done right and ready to go
  • Faster on-boarding for new writers — stock them with everything they need from day one (without constantly repeating yourself)
  • Accuracy of file naming — all your docs will be easy to find, easy to tag, and easy to upload
  • Streamlined submission process — outline how you want every piece delivered so it’s easiest for you
  • Quick reference for relevant content — no more diving into the messy black hole of your C: Drive to look for examples
  • A glossary of brand terminology & idiosyncrasies — which keeps your content looking, sounding, and reading right across all platforms
 
Plus, receiving a voice guide will probably make your writers do cartwheels.

I didn’t think anyone else could capture my voice. Justin proved me wrong.”

“Until recently writing copy has been MY thing. I didn’t think anyone else could capture my voice. Justin proved me wrong. He put my writing under a microscope and created a guide that any good copywriter can use to sound like me. I thought I wasn’t duplicatable. Wrong again. That makes me really happy.  Justin sees what nobody else can. This is going to make onboarding new team members MUCH, much easier.

Duplicating myself means I can duplicate my revenue, which makes Tarzan very happy.”

Tarzan Kay

Launch Strategist & Copy Coach, Tarzan Kay

Pretty much everyone has said my voice is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, which used to make it impossible for someone to write for me.

Enter Justin… who managed to untangle it all and distill it into an amazeballs voice guide.

My team now has a blueprint for how to write like I talk. Not sure if that’s a good thing for humanity… but it’s damn good for my brand!

Bobby Klinck

Harvard Law Grad Turned Online Entrepreneur, BobbyKlinck.com

FAQs

Do I really need a voice guide?
Voice guides are gift from the heavens for anyone who outsources writers. They allow you to scale at a faster pace and move you from the slow phase of “I’ll just do it myself,” to “I love this, it’s perfect!”
 
Large teams use voice guides to train new writers and ensure consistency among their staff.
Small and mid-size brands create them when they update their website copy and evolve their language.
Course creators use them with writers who develop their content to help them scale.
New brands use them to hit the ground running and onboard agencies and staff
Will a voice guide help me create my brand voice?
A voice guide helps you analyze and measure your existing content so it can be duplicated and scaled. It’s not about “finding your voice” or telling you how you should write. It’s about telling a team how you do write (or how you’d like to write). But…
 
A voice guide will give you clarity. You’ll discover little quirks and habits (good and bad) that define your style. Then you can choose to keep or cut them. (For instance, I learned I can sometimes get a bit wishy-washy. Now I’ve learned to speak in a mostly more direct tone for a little stronger impact.)
 
Even if you only have a small amount of content (a website and a few emails) a voice guide can help you identify and amplify your style to the next level.
If you’re looking to create a brand voice, let’s talk. I do offer that service… it’s just a little different than this one. 
Is this the same as a brand guide?
Proudly no. A brand guide documents your story, your promise, and your logo use. While I can add those elements into the guide if you have them, a voice guide is a codex used specifically to train writers. It contains elemental details that make your content unique.
 
A brand guide provides loose direction; a voice guide goes deep.
Can I incorporate my existing brand guide into this?

Yes. I’m happy to add your existing information into your guide.

Can you create my brand guidelines?

Maybe. Many copywriters underestimate the true depth of a great brand guide. While I understand the elements of branding, I am not a branding expert. I’m a voice expert. But…

I know several branding geniuses who may be able to help. We can dive into this during our initial call. It’s possible they can create this section of the guide for you.

How do I train my writers to use this?

Your guide comes with crazy-simple instructions. The first section will outline exactly how it (and you) work, so all you need to do is pass it along.

For the Training Package, we’ll develop a custom program based on your team’s needs. It could be a video series, emails, or in-person sessions.

How long does it take to create my voice guide?

Depending on the amount of content you have, most voice guides take 3-5 weeks to create. I’ll be able to give you a more accurate timeline when we speak. Please note that I often have a brief wait list before starting any project.

Can you create a writing rubric for me? (Also, what's a rubric?)

Yes. A rubric is a scoring guide used to review and critique submitted copy. It allows you to measure a writer’s accuracy and provide actionable feedback. Rubrics come standard in the Training Package and are available as an add-on to any service. We can talk about this when you book your demo.

What if I don't have a lot of content yet?

Analyzing your voice only takes a few pages, posts, emails, or videos to process. The more you have, the more detailed I can get, but we can build a very solid foundation with even just a little bit of copy. And if you’re looking to develop a certain style, I can incorporate elements to steer your writers in that direction. (You want your tone to be lighter? I’ll lay out specific steps to make that happen.)

What makes your guide better than anyone else's?
I’ve written in more voices than most writers will ever dream of. Between The Headline Project (100 brands) and an agency retainer (329+ long-form Facebook ads & emails) I’ve developed a superpower of mimicry. I’ve been Jedi trained by brand voice experts and schooled on Voice Codex. But more importantly, I’m willing to dive in further than anyone else.
 
I have unparalleled experience in analyzing voice.
Can't I just do this myself?

Yes—much in the same way you can take the engine out of a car yourself. You can do it if you follow a specialized process (like the one I’ve developed over the past three years), take expensive training courses, and thrust yourself into eight months of analyzing as many voices as possible. Oh, and good luck creating an actually usable template. And even then, it probably still wouldn’t be as good as mine. So why do all that when I can just knock it out for you in 28 days?

Interested in seeing one?
Book a call using the button below and I’ll walk you through it. We’ll even do a quick live analysis of your style on the call. No obligation, obvs. Just a sneaky-peek at all the proprietary good stuff.
Please note: Due to IP protections, NDAs, and specific processes, I cannot email sample guides.
(Lots of people want to copy it, but very few understand this process like I do.)

I’ll measure your voice, research your content, and document everything for you.

So, whenever you need to create something new, bring in a writer, or update your pages, they just open their guide and start.

Justin literally said all of the things about myself and my brand that I hoped were true but never really believed I was communicating.

Just seeing him describe my voice, my values, and my message immediately made me feel like less of a fraud. The voice guide made me cry, it was like someone putting all of the best things about you down on paper so the whole world can see it. Aside from all the mushy, watery eyed shit, this has made my life so much easier!

Need someone to write me an email? Boom, send them the link. New social media content writer? Boom, link. Podcast Manager? Link. Writing a podcast pitch? Link.

Basically, I get content and copy that sounds exaaaactly the way I want it to with zero micromanaging or editing. Don’t tell him this, but I would have paid 3x as much.

Brittany McBean

Copywriter & Marketing Strategist, BrittanyMcBean.com

The last few hours of editing are the longest — and those are the hours you’ll save 

Click below now to book a live analysis of your style & a walk-thru of a Brand Ventriloquist Voice Guide

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