Done this for probably 15 clients now. Here's the exact process: **Part 1: Gather existing material (30 mins before call)** Pull every piece of copy they've actually published. Website. Emails. Social. Doesn't matter if it's good. You're looking for patterns, not quality. **Part 2: Rejection exercise (20 mins on call)** Show them 10 competitor or adjacent examples. Ask: "Would this ever come from your company?" Have them reject 6-7 and explain why. **Part 3: Archetype identification (15 mins)** Based on their rejections, propose where they sit on a few spectrums: - Formal ↔ Casual - Authoritative ↔ Peer-level - Reserved ↔ Expressive - Features-led ↔ Benefits-led **Part 4: Vocabulary constraints (15 mins)** Ask: "What words would you never use? What words should appear in everything?" Build a banned list and a required list. **Part 5: Writeup (20 mins after call)** One-pager with: - Three adjectives that describe the voice - One sentence positioning statement - Banned and required vocabulary - Three "we would/we would never" examples Send for approval. 90% of the time it's accepted with minor tweaks. You now have a usable voice guide. Won't be as robust as a proper brand project. But it unblocks the actual copywriting work.   submitted by   /u/SimonBuildsStuff [link]   [comments]