Driving consistency and quality with a writing style guide update

I overhauled a digital marketing agency's writing style guide to create a comprehensive, centralized, up-to-date resource.

At a glance

Problem

Writers and editors didn’t have one central place to find voice, tone, and writing style guidance. Info was scattered across different docs, and some guidelines hadn't been formally documented at all.

Solution

Create a "single source of truth" to bring together information from various resources and add common industry-specific guidance that wasn't included before.

Results

Writers and editors have a comprehensive resource. Content is more consistent, and editing takes less time.

Getting into the details

The problem

As the content team at a healthcare-focused digital agency evolved, so did its need for clearer, more specific writing guidance. An existing style guide covered mechanics and voice and tone, but additional key recommendations on readability, inclusive language, and industry-specific terminology that had been developed over time were spread across multiple surfaces.

The result? A scattered, hard-to-govern system that confused new contributors and slowed down the content development process.

What I did

I led a project to create a comprehensive, centralized writing style guide. My process included:

Audit existing content standards and documentation
Identify common style errors and questions through reviews of past work and discussions with team members
Research style guide best practices from industry leaders
Lead conversations to align on updates and additions

What changed

The new, updated style guide became a single source of truth. It included guidance on:

Accessibility and inclusive language
Readability and plain language
Commonly used healthcare terms
Expanded voice and tone direction
Grammar and mechanics rules
Organizing and structuring web content

Impact

The updated guide made content development more efficient and consistent. It also improved onboarding, empowered contributors, and supported higher-quality, user-friendly content across client projects.