How to brief AI so it sounds like your brand
Your team is already using AI to write, design and plan. The question is whether the output sounds like you. Without guidance, it sounds like everyone: friendly, vague and slightly breathless.
Why the output drifts
AI tools fill gaps with the average of the internet. If your brand lives in a PDF, or worse, in someone's head, the tool has nothing specific to follow. Every person on your team then prompts it differently, and the drift multiplies.
What goes in a voice file
A voice file is a short, plain document your team can paste into any AI tool, or load into a shared one. It does not need to be long. It needs to be specific.
- Who you talk to. Role, seniority and what they care about.
- How you sound. Three or four traits, each with an example of what it means in practice.
- Words you use and avoid. Including the phrases that make you wince.
- Rules for claims. Every number needs a source, and you do not promise what you cannot prove.
- The review step. Who signs off before anything goes public.
Test it before you trust it
Give the file to a tool and ask for the same piece of copy three times. Compare the results with something you have already approved. If you can tell them apart, tighten the file and run it again.
AI makes more content. A good brief makes it yours.
Keep a person in the loop. The file narrows the gap between what the tool produces and what you would sign off, but judgement stays human.