Brand voice teaches WinstonAI how your brand sounds. Once set up, every piece of AI-generated copy, from subject lines to the campaign assistant, matches your tone and style from the first draft. This means less time rewriting generic suggestions and more consistency across your messaging.
Before you start
Things you need to know:
There are two ways to set up your brand voice: manually, or with AI assistance. Choose the method that works best for you.
If you use AI-assisted setup, you need brand voice guidelines, such as style guides or writing rules, or examples of your written content ready to upload or link to.
Once saved, your brand voice is automatically applied whenever WinstonAI generates content.
1. Start your brand voice setup
In Dotdigital, expand the User menu, then go to Content > Brand voice.
If this is your first time on this page, you may see the Teach WinstonAI to sound like you banner. Select Get started to begin.
2. Choose your setup method
Choose how you'd like to set up your brand voice.
Manual setup
To define your tone, style preferences, and writing rules yourself:
Select CREATE VOICE.
You can switch methods at any time
If you start with manual setup and want to try AI-assisted setup instead, select CREATE WITH AI in the top right.
AI-assisted setup
Upload your guidelines and content, and let WinstonAI analyse it to generate your brand voice profile. This is a good option ito get going quickly.
Select TRY NOW.
Upload your brand voice guidelines, such as style guides or writing rules. There are two ways to do this:
In the Upload files box, drop or add your brand voice guideline files.
In the URL field, enter URLs to your brand voice guidelines.
Select NEXT. Your content is scanned to check there's enough to work with.
If the scan is successful, choose one of the following:
Select GENERATE BRAND VOICE to generate your brand voice profile from your guidelines. After this, you can move on to Define your writing guidelines.
Select UPLOAD BRAND CONTENT to provide examples of your written content before generating. This gives WinstonAI more context to work with.
If there isn't enough content in your guidelines, you're prompted to upload example content or choose email campaigns from your account before you can generate your brand voice.
If you chose to upload example content in your brand voice, or if you‘re prompted to upload more examples, add your content examples. There are three ways to do this:
For Campaigns, select ADD CAMPAIGNS to choose some example campaigns from your account.
In the Upload files box, drop or add your content example files.
In the URL field, enter URLs that provide examples of your content.
Select NEXT.
3. Define your writing guidelines
Whether you chose manual or AI-assisted setup, you're taken to the brand voice editor. Complete or review each section to build your profile.
In the writing guidelines fields, define each section of your brand voice.
Learn about each field in the writing guidelines fields table.Once you’ve defined your brand voice, select SAVE.
For help defining your brand voice, check out Brand voice best practices (with examples).
Writing guidelines fields
Field | Description |
Brand identity | Describe your brand's personality and values. This helps align content with who you are and how you want to be perceived. |
Audience | Describe who your content is written for. Include details such as demographics, knowledge level, expectations, and what matters most to them. |
Voice and tone | Describe how your brand sounds in writing. Consider whether your tone is formal or casual, confident or friendly, and how it should adapt to different contexts. |
Language accessibility | Set your clarity standards. Specify reading level, jargon usage, and whether the content should work for non-native speakers. |
Dos | List what your brand should consistently do in communications. Include preferred approaches, attitudes, or writing habits. |
Don'ts | List what your brand should avoid. Include tones, phrases, or styles that don't align with your values. |
Language and style | Define your grammar and formatting preferences. Include rules for punctuation, sentence length, and consistency. |
Terminology to use | Add words and phrases that reflect your brand voice and should be used where appropriate. |
Terminology to avoid | Add words and phrases that conflict with your brand tone, values, or clarity standards. |
AI-assisted setup options
If you used AI-assisted setup, each field is pre-populated based on your uploaded content. Fine-tune the results using the following options:
To regenerate a single field, select the regenerate button next to that field.
To regenerate all fields at once, select regenerate in the top right.
To discard all AI results and start again, select START OVER in the top right. This opens a confirmation modal.
Starting over can't be undone
Selecting START OVER clears all your current settings and uploaded materials. You return to the beginning of setup and lose any customisations you've made.
Preview your brand voice
Before you start
You must save your writing guidelines before previewing your brand voice.
Use the Preview your brand voice panel on the right side of the editor to test how WinstonAI applies your brand voice settings.
In the Preview your brand voice panel, enter a prompt in the text field, for example: "Write a welcome email for new subscribers."
Select GENERATE.
Your generated preview appears below the button.
The preview is for testing only. Use it to check that WinstonAI's output matches your expectations before saving your brand voice.
Next steps
Once saved, your brand voice is automatically applied whenever WinstonAI generates content. Return to Content > Brand voice at any time to update your profile.
Learn more about WinstonAI: