The rise of video in marketing seems unstoppable. Worldwide, video streaming grew by 10% in the first quarter of 2022 alone.¹ People are watching and sharing videos on almost every social media platform. Cisco reports that 82% of global internet traffic will come from either video streaming or downloads this year.² While you’ve been told that video is powerful, effective and necessary for taking your marketing to the next level, several myths might be keeping you from getting on board. Let’s separate fact from fiction.

Myth #1: Video is costly to produce

Even if video is the way to go, one of the biggest misconceptions is that video production is expensive. But, in recent years, new technology has made the cost of producing simple videos more affordable than ever before. A simple yet impactful video suitable for sharing online doesn’t have to break the bank. However, costs will go up or down depending on the format and the potential need for direction, scripting, voice or acting talent and music.

Myth #2: Video only appeals to younger audiences

Gen Xers and their predecessors may not be digital natives, but that doesn’t make them old-school in their media consumption habits. From 2019 to 2021, the share of Americans ages 50 to 64 who said they ever used YouTube increased from 70% to 83%. Among those 65 and older, YouTube use increased from 38% to 49%.⁴ Bottom line: people of all ages are significantly more likely to watch a video than read a block of text.

Myth #3: Video ROI is hard to measure

Measuring the return on investment for video marketing goes beyond simply counting views and conversions. You need to factor in audience behaviour, such as social sharing, that can help increase brand awareness. For the best read on what’s working, consider not just quantitative but qualitative factors, including surveys and polls, anecdotal feedback and viewer comments.

Myth #4: Video content creation is daunting

Don’t know where to start? Skilled video writers can work seamlessly with creative directors and production teams to storyboard your concept and develop a video script that will bring it to life. Developing a partnership with a content agency like Ext. can be a faster, smarter and more cost-effective way to manage your video production.

Myth #5: Video doesn’t work for my industry

Once immensely popular in niche creative industries, video is now at the forefront of marketing campaigns across all industries, including financial services and B2B and B2C channels. When striving to cut through a “sea of sameness,” video can be invaluable in telling your brand story and connecting with your target market.

Videos that are on-brand and on budget are within reach. Get the cameras rolling by calling us today for a quote at 1.844.243.1830 or info@ext-marketing.com.

¹ www.forbes.com/sites/dbloom/2022/05/18/online-video-viewing  
² www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/service-provider/index.html
³ https://dmakproductions.com/blog/how-much-does-video-production-cost
⁴www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/04/07/social-media-use-in-2021

Your company’s tone of voice is an essential component of your brand strategy, so how do you communicate it? Achieving brand recognition isn’t simply about visual representations, logos or even targeted messaging. It’s also about the way you speak and deliver your message. Have you developed a recognizable tone of voice?

If you’re talking to your customers in digital spaces, you have likely already embraced the power of your website. It’s your conversation tool. But how well does it convey your brand? Don’t underestimate the emotive appeal your tone can deliver. Many of us might think tone of voice is intuitively addressed in our messaging. But more often, it’s an approach not fully explored.

Why tone is important

Tone of voice is essentially the way you express your feelings or mood to your readers. It is not just about the words you use; it’s how you weave in your personality. It reveals the way you think about a subject, and the better you are at exuding your personality, the more you can influence readers and help them deepen their relationship with your brand. Ultimately, the goal is to connect with your reader based on a shared and receptive understanding of who you are and the value you represent.

Breaking it down

On a superficial level, discussions about tone tend to recommend the obvious. Try to avoid obligatory terms, use power words, convey vulnerability and demonstrate warmth. But to do those things, you need to dig deeper. First, you have to decide what impression you want the leave with the reader. That is your tone strategy. Here’s a list of four main approaches that can help frame your tone of voice:

• Funny or serious – do you want to add humour, or must you speak deliberately?
• Formal or casual – can you communicate casually, or is it necessary to use precise language?
• Respectful or boldly sarcastic – should you speak courteously, or is it okay to be cheeky at times?
• Enthusiastic or plainspoken – do you want to elicit excitement, or must you be more stoic?

Differences in tone

Financial institutions or financial technology companies are in a unique position. If you are a financial services marketer, you typically communicate complex concepts, technical data and sensitive investment details that demand clear messaging and formal language. That doesn’t mean your tone always has to follow a rigid approach. In fact, it can adapt according to the medium or content.

Tone of voice can be intricate and meaningful. Often your brand might embody multiple tones in different contexts. Here are a few examples to show how you can vary tone – even in the same communication.

Inflationary pressures and market volatility are hot topics that can worry readers. The central message is usually about current conditions and how to navigate them. Whether you want to inform, reassure, or explain, there are various ways to communicate the details people need. Consider this news statement:

“Attention homeowners: the value of what is probably the biggest single investment you will ever make is falling.”¹

The comment is not trying to make people feel good. It plays on valuation concerns to communicate the gravity of declining home prices. It is a serious, formal, bold, and matter-of-fact warning. But the title of the article in which the statement appears is a little more casual and reassuring:

“Market corrections are just part of life — embrace the correction.” ¹

That statement is direct, serious, and respectful. If it were edited slightly to read “let’s embrace the correction,” the shift to a plural first-person pronoun would convey “we” are in it together, and the message becomes even more casual and conversational. Now take a look at how the author changes the tone with a more enthusiastic, positive mood further on in the article:

“The good news is owning a home probably remains the best investment you will ever make over the long term.” ¹

Again, consider how a few minor changes, more reassuring words or even a metaphorical statement could change the way a reader aligns with the message and how they view its personality:

“Don’t sweat cooling housing prices. Owning a home is still the best long-term investment you can make.”

It’s all about the brand

Deciding what tone works best for your company’s brand strategy always comes back to the personality you want to convey. In financial contexts, it is probably not a good idea to be overly exuberant or cheeky because it could diminish your credibility or seem disingenuous. Consider what you want your audience to feel when they read your message. How do you want them to perceive you? If you’re not sure which tone strategy you should pursue, try A/B testing a few in a controlled setting.  

Don’t forget the contractions!

Yes, contractions play a vital role. It used to be that writers frowned on the use of contractions as overtly casual and not appropriate for formal contexts. The fact is contractions (e.g., merging “it is” to “it’s” or “we are” to “we’re”) are conversational and their use can add the relatable tone you need to convey your personality. You will want to determine if they work for you.

Remember, your personality should be consistent but flexible enough to adapt to the subject and align with your reader’s needs. For example, you might adopt a conversational tone across your website but avoid adding colloquial or humorous references except where you want to showcase your culture, people or social settings. Since design and graphics are a big part of any brand strategy, you should consider how they can best support your chosen tone. Imagery needs to complement, not compete with, your brand personality. If your tone is clear and direct, you’ll want to match it with a design system and elements that aren’t in stark contrast. If you’re focused on conveying trust, warmth and reassurance, consider design attributes that support that aim. Above all, be consistent and authentic. Readers will notice contradictions.   

Need help defining your brand voice? Ext. Marketing can help you create effective brand appeal by identifying the tone strategy that works best for you. Contact us today at 1.844.243.1830 or info@ext-marketing.com.

¹www.bnnbloomberg.ca/market-corrections-are-just-part-of-life

Chances are you put a lot of time and effort into creating your website’s text and design. But even if you’ve developed an amazing-looking website, there’s only one way to know how it is performing. You need to track the following key metrics:

Tracking web metrics is an essential first step in determining the performance of your website. It can help guide you on the most effective ways to improve your content and conversion rates.

Looking to improve your web metrics? Ext. can help you develop targeted web content to help boost your conversion rates. Contact us today at 1.844.243.1830 or info@ext-marketing.com.

¹ https://backlinko.com/hub/seo/bounce-rate
² https://www.business2community.com/infographics/14-important-metrics
³ https://webolutions.com/10-key-metrics-effective-website/

Your website’s hero banner is the area between the navigation and the start of your content. It does a lot of heavy lifting by setting the tone for your site, encouraging visitors to engage with your brand and helping to establish trust. The hero banner’s effectiveness could mean the difference between high bounce rates and high conversion rates.

If your hero banner is doing its job, you’ll be well on your way to conversion – whether that’s getting a prospective client to reach out to your sales team or sending them to discover your product and service pages.

Remember, website visitors tend to form judgements quickly: it takes approximately 50 milliseconds for users to cement an opinion about your brand.¹

It’s no wonder that marketers are always looking to optimize their hero banners and above-the-fold content.

Here are some tips to help give your hero banner super strength:

1. Streamline

Keep your hero banner’s message simple. You want to inspire your visitors, not overwhelm them. Squeezing too many messages into the hero will inevitably dilute its superpowers. It’s been proven that less cluttered homepages are more likely to convert.²

2. Tell a story

The story in your hero banner needs to be told in your brand voice – reinforced by strong visuals and copy. Your website is your storefront, and you’ll want to “greet” users with an on-brand experience that showcases how you solve your clients’ problems and your unique selling proposition (or “USP”).

3. Use video and motion graphics

Video converts. About 84% of people have been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video.² It’s no wonder that video and motion graphics are popular choices for hero images. There are caveats: loop your content and keep it crisp, so you don’t bog down your website’s load speed. The ideal length is one or two seconds – content that is over five seconds in length is going to need optimizing.

4. Include calls to action

A call to action is usually placed in your hero banner for good reason – it’s a great way to lead visitors down the funnel. Try to be creative but concise with your calls to action. Remember, there’s more to life than “Learn more.” Use powerful imperative verbs that create a sense of urgency. “Watch,” “discover,” “read,” “subscribe,” “schedule.” Choose specific verbs that tee up a promise and give strong, direct instructions on what to do next.

5. Make it responsive

With mobile often being a user’s first interaction with your brand these days, it’s important to make sure your website is responsive (meaning it will “respond” to the screen size it’s appearing in). For hero banner content, you’ll want to ensure you engage visitors immediately and keep your objectives limited to a single goal or desired action.

To carousel or not to carousel?

There is much debate about whether you should use a carousel in the hero banner position. While many prefer the simplicity of a single message, others need to balance multiple messages. If you decide to adopt a carousel, put the visitor in the driver’s seat: avoid the auto-play feature as it may not give users time to digest the content before it advances. You will also want to make sure your carousel is optimized for mobile, including facilitating optional behaviours such as pinching, tapping and swiping to ensure a mobile user’s journey is seamless.

A/B testing can help

If you are deciding between multiple messages and creative executions, A/B testing can help shed light on what resonates best with real users. You can use this strategy to make sure your hero banner content is a true hero: saving the day and delivering new leads.

Is your conversion rate not where it should be? Ext. and our team of digital, content and UX experts can help optimize your hero banner and all your web content. Contact us today at 1.844.243.1830 or info@ext-marketing.com.

¹https://www.academia.edu/534960/Attention_web_designers_You_have_50_milliseconds_to_make_a_good_first_impression
²135 Video Marketing Stats You Can’t Ignore in 2022

Scroll through any website on your mobile device and it’s easy to see how a small screen size can be challenging for a visitor to navigate and absorb your content. With nearly 55% of all web traffic in the fourth quarter of 2021 coming from a mobile device,¹ you should keep your mobile visitors front and centre when you create web content.

A mobile-friendly site can be especially helpful for those who use screen readers. A screen reader crawls through a web page to help someone with a visibility impairment understand what is on their screen. Optimizing your content for mobile can also help screen readers translate the structure and content on your page.

Here are five tips on how to create better content for mobile users:

1. Use an inverted triangle to organize your page

Use an inverted triangle to place your most important content at the top of the page, including the key message(s) you want your visitor to know. If there is a specific action you want a reader to take after they visit your page, place that near the top. This structure helps the reader to quickly understand why they should keep reading. If there’s interest, they’ll keep scrolling. If not, they’ll exit the page – but not before they see your key message.

2. Write short headlines and meaningful subheads

Your headline should be six words or less to make it easier to read on a mobile device. Use meaningful subheads that allow a visitor to scan the page and understand if they should keep scrolling. These headlines and subheads also allow a screen reader to convey the page structure.

3. Write concisely

Reading large blocks of text in any format is daunting, but it’s even harder on a small screen. Use short sentences and paragraphs to help mobile visitors digest your content quickly. If you’re listing items in a series, use short bullets.

A few numbers to aim for:
• 20 words or less for sentences
• Two to three sentences for each paragraph
• One idea for each paragraph

4. Use plain language

Avoid unnecessary filler words and modifiers, interjections and clauses and technical jargon. These create unnecessary noise and muddy your content. To help simplify your writing, use a readability program, such as Grammarly or Flesch-Kincaid, and aim for a grade 8 or 9 score.

5. Add images and videos

Give your visitor’s eyes a break and use images and videos to make your content more digestible. People absorb visuals 600 times faster than text;² while 68% would rather watch a video than read text.³ TIP: remember to add subtitles for those using a screen reader and for those watching in silent mode.

Looking to improve the user experience for your mobile audiences? Ext. can help you optimize your web content for mobile. Contact us today at 1.844.243.1830 or info@ext-marketing.com.

¹ Mobile internet usage worldwide – statistics & facts, statista, L. Ceci, February 22, 2022
² Research: Is A Picture Worth 1,000 Words or 60,000 Words in Marketing, Matthew Dunn, Email Audience, November 12, 2021
³ Video Marketing Statistics, Wyzowl, December 2021

Many individuals have long predicted the fall of email as a marketing channel, but email marketing continues to be an important component of any marketing strategy.

A well-executed email campaign can be very effective at helping you achieve your business and marketing objectives. Here are three ways to optimize this important channel and achieve the measurable performance you’re looking for.   

Strategy first

Email marketing drives customer acquisition and retention, delivering an impressive return on investment (ROI) of US$36 for every $1 spent. To achieve that level of ROI, however, companies need to have a strategy in place to maximize any investment they make in this channel. Organizations need to consider relevance, experience, messaging, benefits and customer needs.

The bottom line is that having a tool is not enough. The most sophisticated strategies will fall flat without a well-planned content marketing plan to feed them. If you have answers to the 5 questions below, you are well on your way to building your strategy:

• How well do you know your customers?
• Do you have a good understanding of their needs and pain points?
• How well do you know your organization’s brand promise?
• Do you know what you want to say and how you want to say it?
• Have you determined what success means to your organization?

The next step is to focus your content strategy in a credible and meaningful way. Only at this point, are you equipped to partner with your email platform and data colleagues. They will thank you for the guidance and insight and be more motivated and engaged to help you execute strategic and effective email communications.

Relevance is king

“Relevance is king” can be a useful adaptation of the traditional mantra “content is king” to level up your use of the email channel. One of the most common quandaries organizations face is how many emails to send. Often, companies are surprised when research suggests customers want to hear more from them, not less.

The secret to answering this question is relevance. Customers’ perception of an email as spam is highly correlated with relevance, meaning a hard-and-fast number will not suffice. Customers who receive few emails with very little relevance will have low engagement compared to those who receive frequent and relevant communications.

Find your target

Relevancy is achieved by segmenting your audience based on their client profile. Whether you are at the crawl, walk, or run stage of your use of the email channel, you should always aim for maximum personalization. An email recipient is 50 percent more likely to click on a link in a segmented email.

For many, this means targeting your email distribution using, at a minimum, basic segmentation based on a foundational data strategy. No more mass messaging with information relevant to only a small section of the distribution list. This old batch-and-blast approach is well past its expiration date.

For others, this means more advanced behavioral-based and customized segments. This requires a true understanding of the customer experience and profile to provide the right content at the right time under the right circumstance.

Email marketing should always start with developing your strategy to set your goals and find the best way to achieve them. Once you have your strategy in place, support it with relevant messages that target audiences that want to receive them. Do that and you can watch your customers’ engagement grow!

Looking for help developing an effective email marketing strategy? Ext. has the expertise you need. Contact us today at 1.844.243.1830 or info@ext-marketing.com

As the landscape and regulatory environment around environmental, social and governance (ESG) continues to evolve, the question marketers of financial investments must answer is not if they need to factor ESG into their products and messaging, but how to do it. Whatever approach you take, it needs to be accurate and credible if you want to deliver a convincing story to your stakeholders to assure them you understand ESG and are taking it seriously. That was a key takeaway from the Gramercy Institute’s 2022 ESG Marketing & Communications Awards in New York this past June.

New risks and new opportunities

The shift to ESG has created fresh opportunities for investment marketers, but it has also introduced new risks. The lack of common ground between how different regulatory bodies measure ESG and set benchmarks are some of the biggest challenges marketers need to overcome. Despite the ambiguities around some of these core elements, misleading stakeholders by making an investment sound more environmentally friendly than it actually is could be construed as “greenwashing,” which will quickly attract the ire of regulators and erode the trust of key stakeholders.  

At the Gramercy event, there was broad consensus that financial marketers need to take more time to understand what story they are trying to tell around ESG and why it matters, rather than using ESG as a marketing tactic.

Even amid the market uncertainty sparked by high inflation and rising geopolitical tensions, ESG isn’t about to fade from the conversation. Investors are concerned about returns, but, as many event panelists pointed out, ESG has become an important part of risk analysis and the due diligence process, even if it isn’t core to a strategy.

ESG is HTS (here to stay)

Institutional investors and other sophisticated allocators are increasingly asking ESG-related questions about non-ESG-labeled strategies. Measurement will be critical. Firms will be held accountable for measuring their progress to back up their messaging.

The best advice we can offer is to be authentic. Unlike the famous story of a large home improvement retailer that stocked its shelves with empty boxes in its early days to create the illusion they had lots of merchandise, fake-it-till-you-make-it won’t fly when it comes to marketing ESG.

Having supported a number of multinational financial firms with their ESG messaging, we can attest to this. How you message ESG can reveal a lot about how much an organization understands this issue. And never underestimate your audiences and stakeholders.

If you don’t have any ESG metrics you’re striving to achieve, don’t claim you do. It’s better to say you are developing your ESG strategy to set clear goals and benchmarks to track your progress than to get caught exaggerating your progress on the ESG front.

Don’t go it alone

As we noted in Five ESG trends every marketer should know, strong ESG reporting can offer an important competitive advantage in addition to being a powerful tool to mitigate reputational risk.

Just remember the golden rule of ESG marketing: If you want your messaging to be successful, it has to be authentic.

Looking for support in refining your ESG messaging? Ext. has the expertise you need. Contact us today at 1.844.243.1830 or info@ext-marketing.com.

We’ve all heard the social media advice: Post often. Post regularly. Be engaging. These can be tough practices to follow, especially if you’re a marketer managing multiple priorities and platforms or lack the resources to create original posts on a regular basis.

There are many methods by which you can curate your social media feeds. One formula is known as the rule of thirds, and it provides an important formula that allows you to balance your time between creating content about your business and engaging with your community. The rule generally states that one-third of your content should focus on promoting business, one-third on sharing other posts and one-third on interacting with others.

So, to commemorate Social Media Day (June 30), here’s our take on the rule and some helpful tips to consider when pulling together your editorial calendar.

1/3: Promote business, but keep it real 

Talking about your products, market opportunities or strategy often comes easiest. It can also become the part that fails to inspire and engage, particularly if it consists of repetitive, one-way conversations.

TIP: Boast about business, personally: When sharing company successes, don’t forget to profile the human side of your business by telling stories about staff achievements and milestones, new personnel or your involvement in the community. Promote culture while inviting dialogue. Showcase your thought leadership and financial expertise thoughtfully and creatively, including through short quotes and videos. Remember to keep content focused on client needs.

1/3: Share other posts, with a broad lens

Curating third-party content is essential because it helps you to build community and engagement. It also shows you’re in touch with your industry and issues beyond your brand.

TIP: Use sources you support:  When sharing industry-related posts, news or events, make sure you’re using content from brands you feel align well with your own. Sharing surveys or reports on financial trends or developments relevant to your clients is a great way to engage in meaningful conversations. When reposting, it’s good practice to tag the owner or provide attribution in a caption. And when sharing original content (photos/videos) created by someone else, be sure to obtain permission and to provide the creator with credit.

1/3: Reach out and interact

The final rule of thirds is about being as social as possible. In fact, it intersects all parts of your curation plan because every post is a chance to interact and foster further peer-to-peer engagement.

TIP: Work the room often: One of the simplest ways to connect with your followers on social media is to like and share their posts and respond when they reach out to you. Talking directly to followers, answering their questions and saying thank you allows you to expand your reach in new and exciting ways.

While we believe the rule of thirds is a great guide, these tips aren’t written in stone. Every business is different. You’ll benefit from a little tinkering and looking back at your analytics to see what worked best – ultimately helping you develop a content calendar that consistently engages and inspires.

Looking to boost your social media profile? Ext. can help you develop a targeted social media strategy and content plan to enhance your presence. Contact us today at 1.844.243.1830 or info@ext-marketing.com.

A strong set of key messages is essential to any effective communications strategy. Robust messaging frameworks consist of memorable key messages that are illustrated by proof points, facts and figures. These are more than just another set of talking points; they encapsulate the most important ideas you want your stakeholders to know about your organization.

Strong messages have lasting benefits, like building client trust and long-lasting relationships, as well as heightening your brand loyalty, which, in turn, can lower client acquisition costs and increase sales.

Since organizations and the clients they serve evolve over time, key messages tend to have a modest lifespan and should be reviewed consistently and revised as necessary. When your key messaging starts to sound like elevator music – still recognizable but not quite true to the original – it is probably time for a refresh.

How can you tell when your messaging goes from mighty to meandering? Here are some signs:

1. Your organization has grown or transformed
Large business transformations, acquisitions, strategic pivots – any of these are likely to render your current messages stale and in need of a touch-up or complete overhaul. As you work on your change-management communications, make sure to carve out time to bring your broader corporate key messages up to date.

2. The market has changed
New opportunities, competitive pressures, regulatory forces and technological advances can all have profound impacts on your businesses and customers. Your messaging needs to keep pace with changes in your industry, the economy and/or across our broader society.

3. Lack of resonance
You can’t put your finger on it, but your messages aren’t landing with the same force that they used to. Whether a by-product of innovation, inertia or inactivity, your messages just aren’t working for you or your brand ambassadors, such as your salesforce or employees. This is a sure sign they need re-energizing.

4. Recall notice
The best messaging frameworks are built around key messages and proof points that are strategic, succinct and sticky. If consumers can’t quite remember or summarize your key points after reading or hearing them, consider exchanging them for something punchier and more memorable.

5. Here, there, everywhere
Good messages translate well from the written page to the spoken word and into your other communications collateral. This is even more important in the age of social media. If your messages don’t work across different media and audiences, it may be time to explore different approaches that allow you to leverage your messages more effectively.  

Maintaining your messages  
Like any good relationship, a bit of upkeep will go a long way toward keeping your messages evergreen.

Audit each touchpoint along your customer journey to make sure that your branding and messaging are on point. Speak regularly to your employees, customers, suppliers and other key stakeholders to help ensure that you are addressing their needs and concerns while conveying your messages of choice. Once you’ve settled on the core concepts you wish to include, experiment with sentence structure, word choices and proof points for maximum effectiveness. 

Many businesses find it difficult to translate their ideas, activities and proprietary jargon into powerful, accessible messages that resonate with stakeholders. This is where it pays to partner with a company whose communications and marketing experts can help you develop and maintain messaging with true staying power.

Looking for support in refining your key messaging? Ext. has the expertise you need. Contact us today at 1.844.243.1830 or info@ext-marketing.com.

A style guide helps to bring clarity to a company’s brand voice. It ensures all your writing has quality and consistency and can reinforce your brand. This is particularly essential when you are scaling your content and marketing efforts beyond just one author or content team. And it doesn’t stop at printed materials. If you plan to publish copy across digital media formats, it’s important to include some of the unique considerations for those platforms.

A brand is a living entity with a personality and values. As a company, you want to exude those values, not only through the exceptional products and services you offer but also through a distinctly creative and consistent depiction of the same. While it’s important to craft your logos and graphics carefully, you shouldn’t neglect your copy.

Implementing a defined writing style shows who you are and what you stand for by the way you express yourself. Setting your tone and style helps nurture and enlighten your audience so that readers can clearly and confidently align their needs with your solutions.

A style guide is useful not only for writers in the marketing department, but also for the web team, client relations, media relations, the sales team and more – basically anyone who creates marketing materials, web copy, letters, emails, and other types of content. They are all ambassadors of your brand.

How to get started

Start by determining which style conventions need to be included. What mistakes or style missteps do you often see? What style questions do others frequently ask? Seek input from colleagues across the company. Review marketing materials, email messages, advertising and web copy for inspiration. Consider how you want to be perceived. Do you want to communicate conversationally, or should you take a more formal approach? What do you want the reader to remember about you? Come up with keywords that characterize your brand values. Use them to help structure your brand voice.

A few tips

Editorial style guides can be simple or comprehensive. Often, they don’t just delve into style conventions, but provide guidance on how to represent your brand to the world. Some are a single-page style sheet (for example, a quick reference on web conventions), others run 30 pages or more (if you are putting together a comprehensive style guide for a large corporation).

Consider including some or all of the following in your style guide:

• Common grammar rules
• Capitalization
• Punctuation
• Contractions
• Preferred spelling of words and terms
• Frequently misused words and terms
• Spelling of fund/product names, index names, etc.
• Glossary of common terms, defined
• Explanation of industry-related acronyms and abbreviations
• Best practices of style –address formats, font preferences, how to express numbers, bulleted list styles, Canadian vs. U.S. spelling, active vs. passive voice, serial comma
• How to write a letter or email (e.g., salutation, body copy construction, call to action, signature line)
• Guidance on the use of inclusive, non-biased language
• Style standards that are unique to your company
• A link to a general reference guide such as the Associated Press (AP) Stylebook, the Canadian Press (CP) Stylebook or another based on your industry, such as the American Medical Association (AMA) Manual of Style

A thoughtful and comprehensive style guide helps ensure brand consistency. It is a living document that should be updated when rules, preferences, and other circumstances change. Refresh it every year and store a digital version that’s easy to access and edit.

Looking to strengthen your brand with a style guide? Ext. can help you create a style guide that adds clarity and structure to your voice. Contact us today at 1.844.243.1830 or info@ext-marketing.com.