For Corporate Communications Specialists ·
What you'll accomplish
By the end of this guide, you'll have a detailed written Voice Guide for each senior leader you write for — a document that captures their communication style so precisely that you can hand it to Claude or ChatGPT and get first drafts that sound like them. You'll cut revision cycles from 3–4 rounds to 1–2, and new team members will be able to ghostwrite for executives from day one.
What you'll need
Gather 6–10 examples of the executive's written communication. The more varied the better — formal town hall remarks, informal team email, a note to the company about a difficult moment, a LinkedIn post.
What you should see: A collection of 6–10 documents ranging from 100–2,000 words each. Troubleshooting: If you can't find archived emails, ask the executive's EA for examples of "emails they sent that landed well."
Go to claude.ai and start a new conversation. This will be your voice analysis session — don't mix it with other tasks.
What you should see: Claude acknowledges and is ready to receive content.
Paste all the source communications into Claude, clearly labeled. For example:
"Here are 7 samples of communications from [Executive Name], [Title]:
Sample 1 (All-hands email, company-wide): [paste]
Sample 2 (Team Slack message): [paste]
[continue for all samples]"
Then ask:
"Based on these samples, analyze [Executive Name]'s communication style and write a comprehensive Voice Guide. Include: sentence length and structure, vocabulary level and preferred words/phrases, tone and formality level, how they open and close messages, topics they emphasize, phrases they overuse, things they NEVER say, how they handle difficult or sensitive topics, and examples of their most characteristic phrases."
What you should see: Claude produces a detailed multi-section Voice Guide document. Troubleshooting: If Claude produces something too generic, paste more examples and add: "Go deeper — I need specific phrase examples, not general descriptions."
Read through Claude's analysis critically. Add or correct:
Edit the document in Word or Notion to your satisfaction.
What you should see: A 2–4 page Voice Guide specific to this executive.
Use it immediately on a real piece. Copy the Voice Guide into a new Claude conversation as the first message, then ask for a draft:
"[paste full Voice Guide]
Using this voice guide, please draft a 200-word email announcement from [Executive] about [topic]. Key facts: [bullet points]."
Compare the output to the executive's actual writing. Adjust the Voice Guide based on what's still off.
Initial Voice Guide creation:
"Analyze [X] samples of [Name]'s communications and produce a detailed Voice Guide covering sentence structure, vocabulary, tone, opening/closing patterns, favorite phrases, and things they never say. Samples: [paste all]"
Draft with voice guide active:
"[paste full Voice Guide] Using this voice guide exactly, draft a [length]-word [format] from [Name] about [topic]. Key facts: [bullet points]. Do not break from the established voice."
Test and calibrate:
"Here's a draft I wrote vs. [Name]'s actual response to the same brief. Compare the two and update the Voice Guide to reflect what my draft got wrong: Draft: [paste] / Actual: [paste]"
Multi-audience version:
"Using this voice guide, write 3 versions of this announcement: one for all employees, one for managers, one for the executive team. Keep the voice consistent but adjust depth and detail."