Why communicators need style guides

I'm moving back to my editing roots in a new job and a bit away from the field of communications. The two professions have so much to learn from each other.

Communicators need to learn the value of things like style guides. As an industry, communications needs best practices and guidelines on what ought to happen. Editing is a process with very specific goals and terms, something that is missing for many communications projects.

Editors need to learn how to link into the bigger picture. Editors need to remember to get out of their publication or project and make sure they are going in the same direction as their audience and client.

Both industries have some people who would argue that they have best practices or see the bigger picture. But there needs to be more than just a few shining examples. I hope I can, in some way, lead the two professions to a closer understanding.

I love editing. I love making things better for my clients. I think that editing is a high and invisible art form. I love taking a bunch of words and ideas scattered on a page and combing them into place until they make a masterpiece.

It's been over a year since I've done straight editing and it's great. I feel a bit like a USB stick, I've been plugged in and I know what to do. Part of my confidence has to do with the style guide.

When I interviewed for this job they showed me their new style guide. For an editor, a style guide is like a bible. But better than a bible, any publication or organization can and should write their own. They make working at an organization, particularly as an editor, wonderful.

So many communications shops don't bother making any sort of style guide and rely on CP Style. This is a mistake. Style guides help record answers to commonly debated questions.

Here's an example. In one story we write "Sally Jones, Executive Vice President" and in another we write "Sally Jones, executive vp." It seems like a small thing but it begins to create inconsistency. Humans naturally pick up on inconsistencies and are uncomfortable with it. That's why we don't trust people with hairpieces. Why make your staff uncomfortable or unsure of how to write something?

If we create a style guide we have the answer to the question. We know that we spell out a full title with capitals and we almost don't have to think. You don't need to remember or go back and check what you did last time or ask other people. The organization has made a decision and you just need to follow it.

The best part is that unlike a bible, you can change the style guide. You can decide that serial commas (editing, writing, and public speaking) are redundant and out of fashion. So you can change your style guide and from that point on, no one uses serial commas. Voila, consistency!

Style guides offer more than just grammatical answers. They can record key messages for an organization. For example, "We are a titanium widget company that specializes in titanium widget design and manufacture. We don't work with gadgets, trigots, or widbets. We always refer to titanium widgets in first mention of our product."

So a new person coming into the company doesn't have to guess if they write a press release. They know that you make titanium widgets, there's no questions.

Even if CP answers many style questions, some of their solutions feel funny and out of date. They don't fit every industry or corporate culture. Using CP as a start and then creating your own tweaks gives you an invaluable resource that lets everyone in your organization write better and more consistently.