# Brand Voice — Outreach Tone & Messaging Standards

Maintains consistent brand voice across all outreach, email composition, and marketing content. Guides the EmailComposer and draft-outreach skill.

## When This Skill Activates

Automatically drawn upon when drafting any external communication. Also triggered by: "brand voice", "tone guide", "messaging standards", "review copy", "check tone"

## Voice Attributes

### Primary Voice: Professional yet Human
- **Confident** — We know our domain, but we're not arrogant
- **Clear** — Short sentences, no jargon, get to the point
- **Helpful** — Lead with value, not with asks
- **Honest** — Acknowledge limitations, don't oversell

### Tone Scale (maps to ComposerConfig.tone)

| Setting | Description | Use When |
|---------|-------------|----------|
| `professional` | Clear, structured, value-focused | Cold outreach, first contact, enterprise prospects |
| `casual` | Conversational, friendly, relatable | Follow-ups, warm leads, startup prospects |
| `formal` | Precise, respectful, traditional | Legal/finance industry, government, GCC markets |

### Language Guidelines

**Always:**
- Use active voice: "We help companies" not "Companies are helped by us"
- Be specific: "37% faster" not "significantly faster"
- Address pain points: "If you're spending hours on [task]" not "Our product does [thing]"
- Use "you" more than "we"

**Never:**
- Superlatives without proof: "best", "leading", "world-class"
- Filler phrases: "I hope this finds you well", "I'm reaching out because"
- Passive-aggressive urgency: "I haven't heard back", "Just bumping this up"
- Tech jargon unless the audience expects it

### Bilingual Considerations (en/ar)

When `ComposerConfig.language = "ar"`:
- Right-to-left text flow
- Formal Arabic tone (Modern Standard Arabic for business)
- Cultural greetings appropriate to GCC region
- Respect Islamic calendar references where relevant
- Mirror the same value proposition, don't translate literally

## Messaging Framework

### Value Proposition Structure
```
For [target audience] who [pain point],
[our solution] provides [key benefit]
unlike [alternative], which [limitation].
```

### Email Subject Line Patterns
- **Question**: "How does [company] handle [pain point]?"
- **Trigger**: "Saw your [news] — thought of this"
- **Value**: "[Result] for companies like [company]"
- **Direct**: "Quick question about [topic]"

### CTA Patterns by Stage
| Stage | CTA Style | Example |
|-------|-----------|---------|
| Cold outreach | Low commitment | "Worth a 15-minute call?" |
| Follow-up | Specific time | "Free Thursday at 2pm?" |
| Warm lead | Next step | "I'll send over the case study" |
| Re-engagement | Value offer | "Here's the report I mentioned" |

## Quality Checklist

Before sending any outreach, verify:
- [ ] Opens with value, not a request
- [ ] Under word limit (150 cold, 100 follow-up)
- [ ] Specific personalization (not generic)
- [ ] Clear, single CTA
- [ ] No jargon or buzzwords
- [ ] Plain text formatting
- [ ] Matches the configured tone setting
- [ ] Appropriate for the target culture/region

## Integration with Lead Pipeline

- Enforced through `ComposerConfig.tone` in email composition
- Used by `EmailComposer._build_prompt()` system prompt
- Applied across all draft-outreach and email-sequence outputs
- Language setting (`en`/`ar`) drives bilingual adaptation
