# Channel Adaptation Guide — Reference

## Core Principle

Brand voice is the personality — it stays constant. Brand tone is the mood — it adapts to context. A person's personality doesn't change when they move from a dinner party to a job interview, but their tone, vocabulary, and formality do. The same applies to brand channels.

## Channel Adaptation Matrix

For each channel, adjust these four dials:

| Dial | Range | What It Controls |
|---|---|---|
| Formality | Casual ← → Formal | Contractions, sentence structure, vocabulary complexity |
| Energy | Low-key ← → High-energy | Exclamation points, enthusiasm level, urgency |
| Detail | Brief ← → Comprehensive | Sentence count, explanation depth, supporting evidence |
| Personality | Subtle ← → Overt | Humor frequency, cultural references, emoji/slang |

## Channel-Specific Guidance

### Website

**Homepage:** Peak personality + moderate detail. This is the brand's first impression. Lead with voice, not features. Every headline should pass the "would our competitors say this?" test — if yes, rewrite.

**Product pages:** Confidence dial up, personality dial moderate. Benefits lead, features support. Use the vocabulary list strictly — product pages get the most eyes and set expectations.

**Blog/content:** Smart + accessible. Longer form allows more personality. Open with a hook that sounds like the brand, not a generic SEO opener. Section headers should have voice, not just keywords.

**About page:** Maximum warmth and humanity. This is where contractions, first-person plural, and brand story live. Avoid corporate boilerplate.

### Email

**Marketing emails:** Personality-forward in subject lines and opening lines. The inbox is competitive — bland subject lines get deleted. Body should match the tone promise of the subject.

**Transactional emails:** Direct + warm. Order confirmations, shipping updates, and receipts should still sound like the brand, not a database. "Your order's on its way" vs. "Order #12345 has been shipped."

**CX emails:** Empathetic + solution-focused. Acknowledge the problem in the customer's language before presenting the fix. Avoid canned responses that feel robotic.

### Social Media

**Instagram:** Highest personality dial. Captions should feel like a friend talking, not a brand broadcasting. Define emoji policy (which ones, how many, where). Hashtag strategy: branded vs. discovery vs. community.

**Twitter/X:** Direct + witty. Brevity forces voice clarity. Reply tone should be quick and human. Thread structure for longer content: hook tweet + numbered points + CTA.

**LinkedIn:** Smart + professional with human warmth. No buzzword bingo. Thought leadership should teach, not preach. First-person posts from leaders outperform brand-page content.

**TikTok:** Personality maxed out. Scripts should sound natural when spoken aloud. Hooks in first 2 seconds. Brand education disguised as entertainment.

### Customer Support

**Live chat:** Casual + efficient. Use the customer's name. Match their energy level (if they're upset, don't be chipper). First response should acknowledge, not just redirect.

**Knowledge base:** Clear + helpful. Scannable format. Avoid jargon the customer wouldn't use. Article titles should match how customers describe the problem, not internal feature names.

**Escalation language:** Calm + accountable. "I understand this is frustrating" (not "We apologize for any inconvenience"). Own the problem specifically.

### Product UI / Microcopy

**Button labels:** Action verb + outcome. "Start free trial" not "Submit." "Save changes" not "OK." The button should tell the user what happens next.

**Error messages:** Human + helpful. Tell the user what went wrong, why, and what to do next. "That email doesn't look right — check for typos?" vs. "Error: Invalid email format."

**Empty states:** Encouraging + instructional. Empty states are onboarding opportunities. "No projects yet — create your first one to get started" vs. "[No data available]."

**Success states:** Brief celebration. Match the magnitude of the achievement. Completing onboarding deserves more than saving a setting.

**Tooltips:** Concise + useful. One sentence max. Answer "what does this do?" or "why would I use this?"

## Adaptation Checklist

When adapting voice to a new channel, verify:

- [ ] Core personality attributes are recognizable
- [ ] Tone is appropriate for channel norms and audience expectations
- [ ] Vocabulary matches the channel's formality level
- [ ] Formatting follows channel-specific conventions
- [ ] Do/don't examples exist for this channel
- [ ] Real brand copy has been reviewed and scored against the adaptation guidelines
- [ ] The brand would still be recognizable with the logo hidden