# Brand voice Human Guide

## What This Is For
Build a source-derived writing style profile from real posts, essays, launch notes, docs, or site copy, then reuse that profile across content, outreach, and social workflows. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for brand and messaging: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the Brand voice agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for brand voice.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the Brand voice guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- the user wants content or outreach in a specific voice
- writing for X, LinkedIn, email, launch posts, threads, or product updates
- adapting a known author's tone across channels
- the existing content lane needs a reusable style system instead of one-off mimicry
- recent original X posts and threads
- articles, essays, memos, launch notes, or newsletters
- real outbound emails or DMs that worked
- product docs, changelogs, README framing, and site copy
- Gather 5 to 20 representative samples when available.
- Prefer recent material over old material unless the user says the older writing is more canonical.
- Separate "public launch voice" from "private working voice" if the source set clearly splits.
- If live X access is available, use `x-api` to pull recent original posts before drafting.

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: When to Activate, Source Priority, Collection Workflow, What to Extract, Output Contract, Affaan / ECC Defaults, Hard Bans, Persistence Rules, Downstream Use, Supporting file: references/voice-profile-schema.md.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- Do not use generic platform exemplars as source material.
- what the author never does
- Do not create repo-tracked files that store personal voice fingerprints unless the user explicitly asks for that.

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Brand voice human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the affaan-m/ecc skill entry for `brand-voice`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# Brand Voice

Build a durable voice profile from real source material, then use that profile everywhere instead of re-deriving style from scratch or defaulting to generic AI copy.

## When to Activate

- the user wants content or outreach in a specific voice
- writing for X, LinkedIn, email, launch posts, threads, or product updates
- adapting a known author's tone across channels
- the existing content lane needs a reusable style system instead of one-off mimicry

## Source Priority

Use the strongest real source set available, in this order:

1. recent original X posts and threads
2. articles, essays, memos, launch notes, or newsletters
3. real outbound emails or DMs that worked
4. product docs, changelogs, README framing, and site copy

Do not use generic platform exemplars as source material.

## Collection Workflow

1. Gather 5 to 20 representative samples when available.
2. Prefer recent material over old material unless the user says the older writing is more canonical.
3. Separate "public launch voice" from "private working voice" if the source set clearly splits.
4. If live X access is available, use `x-api` to pull recent original posts before drafting.
5. If site copy matters, include the current ECC landing page and repo/plugin framing.

## What to Extract

- rhythm and sentence length
- compression vs explanation
- capitalization norms
- parenthetical use
- question frequency and purpose
- how sharply claims are made
- how often numbers, mechanisms, or receipts show up
- how transitions work
- what the author never does

## Output Contract

Produce a reusable `VOICE PROFILE` block that downstream skills can consume directly. Use the schema in [references/voice-profile-schema.md](references/voice-profile-schema.md).

Keep the profile structured and short enough to reuse in session context. The point is not literary criticism. The point is operational reuse.

## Affaan / ECC Defaults

If the user wants Affaan / ECC voice and live sources are thin, start here unless newer source material overrides it:

- direct, compressed, concrete
- specifics, mechanisms, receipts, and numbers beat adjectives
- parentheticals are for qualification, narrowing, or over-clarification
- capitalization is conventional unless there is a real reason to break it
- questions are rare and should not be used as bait
- tone can be sharp, blunt, skeptical, or dry
- transitions should feel earned, not smoothed over

## Hard Bans

Delete and rewrite any of these:

- fake curiosity hooks
- "not X, just Y"
- "no fluff"
- forced lowercase
- LinkedIn thought-leader cadence
- bait questions
- "Excited to share"
- generic founder-journey filler
- corny parentheticals

## Persistence Rules

- Reuse the latest confirmed `VOICE PROFILE` across related tasks in the same session.
- If the user asks for a durable artifact, save the profile in the requested workspace location or memory surface.
- Do not create repo-tracked files that store personal voice fingerprints unless the user explicitly asks for that.