Brand Voice Guide
Purpose: This is the master reference for how Summit Home Services sounds in everything written under our name: ads, Google Business Profile posts, emails, texts, review replies, and the website. Jenna owns it. The outside agency writes ad copy against it, and Jenna checks their drafts against this doc before anything goes live. If a sentence would embarrass Dave if a neighbor read it out loud at a barbecue, it fails.
Who we sound like
We sound like a competent local contractor explaining something clearly to a homeowner at their kitchen table. Not a national brand. Not a salesman. Not a warning label.
Summit has crews in Riverton, Fairview, and Lakeside and has been at this since 2012. We write like people who know the work and know the area, because the people doing the work actually do.
The five tone traits
Each trait comes with a rewrite so there is no guessing about what it means in practice.
1. Plain-spoken
Say the thing directly. Cut jargon, cut throat-clearing.
- Before: "Our comprehensive exterior solutions leverage industry-leading methodologies to maximize your home's envelope performance."
- After: "We fix roofs, siding, and gutters, and we tell you what it will roughly cost before we start."
2. Local
Name real places we serve. Sound like we live here, because we do.
- Before: "Serving homeowners nationwide with trusted quality."
- After: "We work in Riverton, Fairview, Lakeside, Cedar Falls, and the towns around them, roughly a 45-minute drive from our crews."
3. Competent, not boastful
Show competence through specifics. Never announce it.
- Before: "The #1 most trusted roofing experts in the region!"
- After: "Free estimates, delivered within 3 business days of the site visit. If a repair makes more sense than a replacement, that's what we'll recommend."
4. Calm, no fear-mongering
We never scare people into buying. Storm damage is stressful enough without us adding to it.
- Before: "That small leak could DESTROY your home's value. Act NOW before it's too late!"
- After: "A small leak is usually a small fix if you catch it early. Send us a photo and we'll tell you what you're looking at."
5. Honest about money
Ranges, not firm numbers. No hiding the ball.
- Before: "Roofs from $99/month!*" (asterisk doing all the work)
- After: "A typical residential roof replacement runs $12,000 to $38,000 depending on size, pitch, and material. We give you a real number after a site visit."
Voice quick-check
Before publishing anything, run it through these four questions:
- Would a Riverton homeowner understand every sentence on first read?
- Does it make a claim we can't back up? (See Messaging Rules for the hard list.)
- Does it pressure or scare? Rewrite it.
- Does it quote a firm price? Convert to a range or remove it. Firm numbers only come after a site visit or photo review, per Pricing and Estimating Rules.
Formatting habits
- Short paragraphs. One idea each.
- Sentence case for headlines. No ALL CAPS except in nothing.
- Exclamation points: almost never, and never two.
- First person plural ("we"), second person for the reader ("you," "your home").
- Sign things from a person when it fits: "Jenna at Summit" reads warmer than a logo.
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