What is a style guide?

A style guide is a tone-of-voice document specific to your brand. It sets out who your target audience is in each market, and how you would like to address your audience.

Is your brand voice corporate and serious? Or rather playful and informal? Style guides explain how you want to come across as a brand, while also taking into account the cultural nuances of each country.

This includes whether to address your audience with formal or informal you (e.g. vous or tu in French, Sie or du in German), as well as other linguistic aspects such as the use of gender-inclusive language.

What is a glossary?

A glossary is a list of key words and phrases that should always be translated the same way. From product and feature names to industry-specific terminology, creating a glossary of terms before you start translating ensures consistent messaging across all of your marketing and communication materials.

Often, there is more than one way to translate a word from one language to another. The English term customer service, for example, could be translated into German as Kundendienst, Kunden-Service or Kundenservice. The verb log in could be translated as anmelden or einloggen.

Using terminology consistently across your website is incredibly important to provide a smooth user experience and make your website easy to navigate.

A consistent brand voice, adapted for each market

Style guides and glossaries are guiding documents that help shape your communication in international markets. Once created, you can share them with everyone who’s involved with your global communication and marketing. This becomes even more important as your business grows worldwide and you start working with external partners, such as agents, distributers, marketers and ad agencies.

Find out more about how to create a style guide and glossary for your brand.