<!-- Voice-profile template, given away by The Rabble Group (rabblegroup.com) as part of "How to build a content engine." This is the scaffold, not our filled-in voice. The fastest way to fill it in is with your AI assistant, not by hand: give it a handful of samples of how you actually write, have it draft each section from them, then read what it produced and correct anything that does not sound like you. You are the judge, not the typist. This one file does more to keep an AI-assisted engine sounding human than anything else in the system. -->

<!-- How to fill this in: paste 3-5 samples of your real writing (emails, posts, pages you are proud of), ask your assistant to draft each section from them, then push back on anything that is off until it sounds like you. -->

---
version: 1
last_updated: YYYY-MM-DD
---

# Voice profile: [YOUR BRAND]

A structured description of how your brand sounds and how it must never sound. Every draft the engine writes passes through this file, so it is worth getting right. You do not have to write it from a blank page: paste in samples of your real writing and let your assistant draft each section from them, then correct what is off. You bring the writing and the judgment; it brings the first draft. Vague answers produce vague content; specific answers are what make the writing sound like a person who knows the subject.

## 1. One-line identity
Who is speaking, in a sentence. Not a tagline - a description a stranger could use to recognize your voice. Example shape: "A senior operator talking plainly to a busy owner making a high-stakes decision."

## 2. Who you are talking to
The actual reader. Their job, their stress, what they already know, what they are skeptical of, the moment they are in when they read you. Write for one person, not a segment.

## 3. The core tension
The thing your voice is FOR and the thing it is AGAINST. This is the spine. Example: "For honest, compounding work. Against the hype an entire industry runs on."

## 4. Register and tone
Where you sit on the dial: formal or casual, warm or dry, punchy or measured. Name it, then name where NOT to go ("never brash, never salesy"). When in doubt, which way do you lean?

## 5. Sentence rhythm and mechanics
Short or long sentences? Verbs or nouns? Paragraph length? Read a paragraph of your best writing aloud and describe what you hear. 

## 6. Person
First person singular ("I"), plural ("we"), or a mix, and when. How do you address the reader ("you")?

## 7. Signature moves
The two or three rhetorical moves that are distinctly yours. Example: "Name the hype, then offer the honest alternative." "Show, do not claim." "Translate every piece of jargon into plain language."

## 8. How you open
Your rule for first lines. What you lead with (a specific claim, the reader's frustration) and what you never open with (mission statements, "in today's landscape," company history).

## 9. How you build an argument
The shape of a section. Example: name the problem -> the honest contrast -> the proof -> the next step. What has to be present for a section to earn its place?

## 10. How you use data and proof
Named sources or vague authority? How many numbers, and how do you introduce them? The hard rule most brands need: never claim a figure you do not have.

## 11. How you deliver hard truths
When you have to tell the reader something they will not like, how do you do it? Bluntly, gently, with a caveat? Your voice is defined as much by this as by anything.

## 12. Vocabulary you use
Words and phrases that are characteristically yours. The house terms. The way you refer to your own work.

## 13. Banned words and phrases
The hard list. Every buzzword, hype word, and cliche the engine must never produce. Be specific and long - this is the most-used part of the file. (Start from the anti-patterns document and add your own.)

## 14. The irreverence dial
What you are unimpressed by and plainspoken about (usually your industry, jargon, hype) versus what you are always serious and respectful about (usually the people your customers serve). Getting this line wrong is the fastest way to sound off-brand.

## 15. Formatting rules
The mechanical house style. Example: no em dashes (use spaced hyphens), no curly quotes, no emoji, sentence case headings. The things a reviewer should be able to grep for.

## 16. Channel overlays
How the voice shifts by channel. The blog, the newsletter, and social are the same brand in different registers (a newsletter is shorter and more direct than a pillar page; social is more personal). Note the deltas here, or keep a separate short overlay file per channel that inherits this one.