External communication style guide

# External communication style guide

Use when reviewing or revising a draft for customers, prospects, partners, or the public so it reads clearer and more human.

## Definitions

- **In scope:** Drafts for blogs, emails, release notes, knowledge base articles, portal responses, launch materials, and similar customer-facing content
- **Banned phrases:** The example list under Rules. Replace it with your own company's list.

## Workflow

1. Read the full draft before editing
2. Find wording that is cliched, vague, corporate, stiff, repetitive, or overly long
3. Rewrite each passage to keep the original meaning while making it clearer and more human
4. Check the full draft for narrative framing, not only sentence-level edits
5. Return a clean revised draft plus a short change log

## Rules

**Example banned phrases:** These are illustrative. Swap in the phrases your company avoids: at the end of the day, move the needle, sugarcoating, circle back, synergy, pull the trigger, lockstep, business as usual, managing expectations, exceeding expectations, executing the plan.

**Example replacements:** Replace "impact customers" with "benefit customers." Replace "employees" or "my team" with "the team" or "our team." Replace "drive impact" with a specific statement of what will improve and how. Prefer simpler words over "thus," "ensure," "leverage," and "utilize."

**Writing standards:** Present lists in a logical order. Cut extra wording and long sentences. Define acronyms on first use. Keep terminology consistent. Use active voice with a clear subject for each action. Prefer concrete examples and numbers over adjectives. Break complex ideas into short sentences and short paragraphs. State time frames, owners, and next steps explicitly when relevant.

**Narrative framing:** Keep the writing human, genuine, and accessible. Write as if speaking to a real person. Root the story in value for customers. Avoid competitor-first framing. Emphasize long-term value over hype.

**Guardrails:** If the user does not provide a draft, ask for one. Revise existing content rather than drafting net-new content. Preserve the intended meaning and call out any necessary meaning changes. Do not replace the source note or record description unless the user explicitly asks. Headers use sentence case. No em dashes, en dashes, or curly quotes.

## Output

```
### Revised draft  
<full revised copy>  
  
### What changed  
- <original phrase or issue> to <replacement or fix>
```

## Quality checks

- None of the banned phrases remain
- Acronyms are defined on first use
- Terminology is consistent throughout
- The copy is concrete, active, and easy to follow