Why it matters
The words we use create an impression in people’s minds. And they do this whether we consider them or not. Think about the difference between ‘Hello, it’s a pleasure to meet you’ and ‘Hi, how’s it going?’. You’d most likely think differently about the person speaking, depending on which of these they said. Just as you’d see an organisation that writes ‘Register your interest in becoming a member’ differently from one that says ‘Join us’.
Whenever we communicate for Girlguiding, we want to sound true to ourselves, our purpose and our brand.
It’s just as important to do this when we communicate with each other internally, as it is when we speak to volunteers, girls, parents, carers and the outside world.
This means thinking about the tone and style of everything we write – from internal project plans and PowerPoints to our fundraising emails and social media posts. Our words everywhere should consistently reflect who we are today, and let others know that Girlguiding is a place where everyone is welcome and free to be themselves. These guidelines will help us to write consistently in our tone of voice and house style. And this in turn will help our messages hit home and our unique personality shine through.
Our tone of voice and accessibility
Our tone of voice helps us make sure that every piece of Girlguiding communication is easy to read and accessible to our wide range of audiences. And this helps us be more inclusive.
We’re a place where everyone’s welcome. So, we use simple language and a clear structure to make our communications accessible for everyone. Everything from our guidance on capitals, use of italics, suggestions on sentence structure, and so much more, is rooted in making sure everyone can understand what we write.
Our tone of voice techniques and stylistic choices are based on readability research and you’ll find evidence for our decisions sprinkled throughout these guidelines.
When we showed volunteers before and after examples of writing that used our tone of voice they said things like:
• ‘Much better and importantly, accessible to a much bigger audience.’
• ‘Feels much less intimidating - the implications are much clearer.’
• ‘The first muddled my head, but this one was clear and easy to read.’
• ‘Made me feel much calmer about it - I’m much more likely to do the training.’
• ‘Much better - the overall feeling is more human and engaging.'
• ‘Much clearer and easy to understand.’
And MPs have told us:
• ‘I need Girlguiding to give me coherent information laid out in a way that I can easily access.’
• ‘It’s useful to have stuff that’s brief - not waffly.’
• ‘What I need is something that’s quick, easy to read, got the topline figures so I can remember them. No point in me sitting in a meeting thinking “oh yeah - Girlguiding did something but I can’t remember what it was”’.