How to capture your tone of voice for AI

Authenticity is dead. Not the concept — the word. It’s used too many times, by too many brands. Now it means nothing. What you need is harder to fake and more useful. Identity.

In 7 steps and 15 minutes, you’ll have a reusable prompt to paste into Claude, Copilot, or any AI tool you use. After that, your AI stops defaulting to generic and starts sounding like you.

→ Why it matters

Your AI defaults to the average of everything. That average sounds like everyone else. Feed your AI your identity and the output changes — not slightly, but recognizably.

The time you save is the side effect. Sounding unmistakably like yourself is the point.

Step 1. Collect

Collect examples of copy that sounds like you. It can be an email, a piece you’ve written, or even your LinkedIn bio; that’s how I do this when creating a tone of voice for C-suite ghostwriting.

I’d say 3 x 200 words minimum and 500 words maximum.

You have to give AI something to work with.

Step 2. Use this prompt

Use the prompt below. It’s an oldy from the early days of AI, but it still works. Don’t fix a prompt that isn’t broken and steal from the best.

The [examples] placeholder is where you copy and paste what you collected in step 1.

’You are a tone of voice analyst. Your job is to study the writing examples below and produce a precise, detailed analysis that another writer could use to replicate this style accurately.

What to analyse: — Word choice: formal or informal, simple or complex, technical or plain — Sentence structure: length, variation, rhythm — How the author addresses the reader: direct, warm, authoritative, conversational — What the writing does not do — what it avoids is as revealing as what it uses

Examples: [examples]

After your analysis, write a clear style briefing. It should cover everything a writer needs to reproduce this voice: the patterns, the tone, the rhythm, and the boundaries. Be specific. Generic observations like ‘clear and engaging’ are not useful. Name what is actually distinctive about this voice and why it works.’

Step 3. Go to AI

Go to your AI and paste the prompt from step 2, including the examples from step 1.

Step 4. Analyse the response

Do you like what you read? Great.

If not, tweak until it sounds like you.

My tip. Don’t go overboard and be too detailed or too specific. AI has a working memory, not an infinite brain. Being meticulous is excellent, but you can push it too far, and AI gets an error and it becomes worse instead of better.

Step 5. Add details

This can be contrary to what I mentioned above, but by not overloading AI at the beginning, you leave room to add details now.

This list is yours to build, and can be details like

• ‘Write in B1 language without dumbing it down, and keep the jargon where it’s absolutely needed.’
• ‘Use the writing for busy readers philosophy to keep the content clean, crisp, and sharp.’
• ‘Vary between longer and shorter sentences. Keep the copy conversational, fluid, and natural as if you’re speaking to a business friend.’
• ‘Put yourself in the users’ shoes, reason from their perspective, ‘what’s in it for me’, ‘why should I care’
• And of course, the ‘Don’t overuse em dashes’.

→ My advice: stick to 3 to 5 details. Again, if you list too many details, it becomes too complicated, causing AI-brain freeze and the output becomes worse instead of better.

Step 6. Analyse again

Ask AI to give you the complete tone of voice analysis: ‘Can you give me the final result?’

Check it. Do you like it? Great, continue to step 7.

Don’t like it? Go back to step 5 or even to step 1, maybe you’ve selected the wrong examples.

Step 7. Ask AI to make your prompt or instructions

Last step in the process. Now you ask AI to create a prompt or an instruction you can use in the settings of your AI tool.

‘Based on this analysis, write a tone of voice instruction I can save and reuse.’ or ‘Can you turn this analysis into a tone of voice instruction I can paste into your settings?’

Then use it as a prompt or paste it in one of these places:

• Claude: Settings → Profile → Personal preferences
• Copilot: Microsoft 365 Copilot prompt box, pinned as a custom instruction
• ChatGPT: Settings → Personalisation → Custom instructions

Save a copy in your notes. You’ll want it when you switch tools or onboard someone new.

See below what my tone of voice and the prompt look like.

Explained by example, my tone of voice

This is the result when I let AI define my personality.

My result of step 4

• Direct and Candid: The author speaks directly to the audience, without sugarcoating the message. Phrases such as “fcking expensive,” “Cutting corners and wanting it cheap hurts my brand and content heart,” and “Remember, sht in is sh*t out” are clear indicators of this straightforward approach.
• Knowledgeable and Authoritative: The author displays a deep understanding of the topic and offers clear guidance. Statements such as “These are the ballpark numbers” and “The ballpark split is minimal, 40% — 60%” exemplify the confidence with which the author speaks on the subject.
• Passionate: There’s a strong sense of care about the topic of content quality and investment. This is evident in lines like “Cutting corners and wanting it cheap hurts my brand and content heart” and “Mediocre content harms your business more than no content.”
• Slightly Provocative: The author isn’t afraid to challenge common beliefs or practices, as seen in lines like “And having AI creating your content is not the solution” and “if that’s you, I recommend not to start at all.”
• Educative: The text aims to instruct the reader, providing clear breakdowns, guidelines, and advice on content budgets and the role of AI in content creation.
• Balanced: Despite the direct and occasionally provocative tone, the author does provide a nuanced view on certain topics, like AI, where they highlight the benefits and drawbacks.

My result of step 7

‘The tone of voice in this copy is direct, authoritative, and slightly informal.

It uses strong language and metaphors. The author is not afraid to be blunt and even a bit confrontational in their language to make their point clear.

However, they balance this with a friendly and approachable tone, offering practical advice based on their own experiences.

Overall, the tone is confident, knowledgeable, and passionate, with a sense of urgency to get the message across.’

That’s it. One prompt. Every AI tool you use from here on sounds a little more like you and a lot less like everyone else.