#010: The Three Foundational Docs Your Expert Brand Needs

Written by Lynn Swayze

Brand Voice Playbook, Market Research, and Avatar Research … What’s the Difference?

Over the last 5 years, I’ve become ACUTELY aware that almost no one is as obsessed about brand voice for Expert Brands as I am… and it shows in ROAS, ROI, and conversions. If you want to have the level of positive impact on the world you dream of … then you deserve to have marketing support which actually spends the time and energy to turn YOUR vision and YOUR voice into something that’s actionable and replicable.

If you’re running an Expert Brand, you need three foundational documents to be present and ready for your team to rely on. Without these documents, you’re likely to face issues with getting people to write in your voice consistently, or with having to reproduce the same F$!@ “info” every time you onboard a new agency.

Friends, colleagues, Experts — there’s a better way to do this, and it comes in the form of some Brand Voice documents I rely on when I join projects in a full capacity.

Here’s a brief snapshot of what each of them are:

Brand Voice Playbook

The Playbook is designed, at least when I do them, to set the standard for the tone, cadence, verbiage, and accepted practices involved in writing compelling messaging to your Expert Brand’s audience. It’s a reference which should be detailed enough to be acted on. (I’m talking a spreadsheet of core research plus a 30-50 page document with specific details for your entire team to reference.)

And I can hear you now, freaking out at that length. But hear me out as someone who’s worked in this space for a while now and coached other copywriters…

A one or two page brand voice doc won’t cut it.

A doc that concise will leave room for guessing…

And many writers get it wrong.

(If they can’t be bothered to research or come up with ideas without AI thining for them, they DEFINITELY won’t spend the time to really understand your voice.)

Done well, this Playbook can be your reference for your more fluid Editing Guide, your shorter brand voice checklists, and any graphic design work.

Avatar Research + Sophistication Stages

Your Avatar Documents take what you know about your ideal client and expand it into the Sophistication Stages at, before, and after your ideal client. At MOST, you might be reaching up to 5 avatars if you’re at the Expert Business or Expert Enterprise level and have created products across the Sophistication Stages.

If you’re still at the Expert Consultantcy stage, you might only have two Avatars — the one before the ideal state for your core offer, and the one who’d take your core offer.

The Avatar documents should be DETAILED (I have a template on this I’m going to include in my Avatar training at TheExpertsCopywriter.com) and include everything you need to create hooks, webinars, emails, etc. Unlike the Playbook which should get updated perhaps once a year, these are living and breathing documents which should be revisited at LEAST every quarter as new client language, sales calls, and learnings come in.

Market Research

Finally, there’s market research. This kind of research should be done by SOMEONE at your Expert Brand, and should be done on a regular basis. I’m talking a place to keep an eye out for:

    • What your peers are publishing, talking about, + who they’re getting interviewed by

    • New ad creatives, hooks, ideas

    • New software or trends in the market (esp. on social) which you can piggyback off of

    • New competitors in the space (including those who might be stealing your IP)

The necessity of doing this level of work is why I specialize in Experts… and don’t recommend hiring ecom writers for your Expert brand. They won’t be prepared to do the level of in-depth thinking and strategy your Expert brand requires.

Interested in learning how it’s done (so you can do this level of work for Expert brands), or getting this level of work for your Expert Brand? Let’s talk.

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