How to use Brand DNA so every piece of content matches the client's voice, not your default writing style.
Pull Brand Voice Before You Write
Every client mind can have a full brand voice profile. Before you draft anything, pull it:
get brand voice for AcmeThis returns structured data:
| Field | What It Tells You |
|---|---|
tone | How the client talks - casual, authoritative, playful, etc. |
avoid | Words and patterns that are off-limits |
examples | Good and bad example sentences |
anti_patterns | Explicit "never do this" rules |
platform_guidance | Per-channel rules (LinkedIn vs. email vs. blog) |
approved_messaging | Value props, elevator pitch, banned phrases |
If any of these fields are empty, the client's brand voice hasn't been fully configured yet. Flag it to the CMO.
Use Brand DNA While Drafting
The brand voice profile isn't a style guide you read once and forget. Reference it actively while you write.
Tone check. If the tone is ["direct", "confident", "casual"], don't write "We are pleased to announce our new partnership." Write "We just partnered with Acme to do X. Here's what that means for you."
Banned phrases. If banned_phrases includes "synergy" and "leverage," scan your draft for those words. They sneak in more than you'd expect.
Platform-specific rules. A LinkedIn post for a client might need a hook line plus 3-5 short paragraphs with 3 hashtags, while their email style calls for a personal greeting and a single CTA. Check platform_guidance for the channel you're writing for.
Ask Armbrain to Review Against Brand Voice
After you draft something, you can ask Armbrain to check it:
Review this blog post draft against Acme's brand voice:
[paste your draft]Armbrain compares your draft against the stored brand voice guidelines and flags mismatches - wrong tone, banned phrases, style violations. This catches things you might miss after staring at your own writing for an hour.
Common Mistakes
Being too formal. Most clients with a "casual" or "direct" tone setting get drafts that are too corporate. If you're writing "leverage" and "utilize," you're probably off-brand.
Being too casual. Some clients in regulated industries (finance, healthcare) have a professional tone for a reason. Don't inject humor unless the brand voice explicitly calls for it.
Being too generic. The worst brand voice mistake isn't getting the tone wrong - it's writing content that could be from any company. Use the client's specific differentiator, their tagline, their approved claims. Make it unmistakably theirs.
Ignoring anti-patterns. Anti-patterns exist because someone made that mistake before. "No stock headset photos" means a previous designer used one and the client hated it. Respect the list.
When to Ask the CMO
Trust the brand voice config for routine content - blog posts, social media, email newsletters. These are the exact scenarios it was built for.
Escalate to the CMO when:
- The brand voice is empty or clearly outdated
- You're writing for a new channel that has no platform guidance
- The content is high-stakes (press release, investor update, crisis response)
- Two brand voice rules seem to contradict each other
- The client is going through a rebrand and guidelines may be shifting
A quick message is better than a draft that misses the mark: "Acme's brand voice says casual but the platform guidance for email says formal greeting. Which one wins for this newsletter?"
Setting Up Brand Voice When It's Missing
If a client mind has no brand voice and you need to write content now, you can pull it from their website:
Pull the brand voice from acme.comArmbrain extracts tone, positioning, and messaging from the site. It's not perfect, but it's better than guessing. The CMO can refine it later.