Yesterday

The importance of an Editorial Charter for content creation

Spuerkeess pays particular attention to its content and has produced a brand-specific Editorial Charter to meet an essential need: ensuring greater consistency across its communications to customers via all its media. We asked Irene De Muur, who is in charge of content marketing at the Brand & Product Communication division of Spuerkeess' Marketing Department about her motivations for doing this and what comes next.

Share on Linkedin

Irene, can you tell us what an Editorial Charter is?

An Editorial Charter is an essential document for the governance of a brand’s or company’s editorial line. It defines and centralises all the writing rules for a particular brand in all its communications initiatives.

It ensures the consistency and unity of the brand's messages by establishing clear rules for tone, style, vocabulary, content structure and layout. It's a kind of design system for writing!

Not only does it ensure the quality of the content written, it also helps with SEO for our website and blog.

Why is it important for a bank like Spuerkeess to have an Editorial Charter?

In the banking sector, where trust and clarity are essential, an Editorial Charter plays a crucial role in the success of marketing campaigns. It enables the Bank's Marketing department to ensure that all content produced is consistent and uniform, while reflecting the Bank's image and values.

In other words, it enables us to have a common thread throughout our communication, no matter what channel we are using. And that's why it was essential to create one.

Who is it for?

The Charter is a style guide, a sort of writing Bible that lists all the ingredients that will go into your magic potion (depending on the desired effect). It is therefore intended for all content creators across the Bank, to enable them to work in a harmonious and coherent way, while ensuring that all communications on our “Owned Media” respect the “quality” standards that we have defined, the brand image and our audience’s expectations.

What does the Charter cover?

The document includes a reminder of our “Tone of voice”, specifying which tone to adopt for each of our channels and each of our targets. Examples of Do's and Don’ts are provided to give a better idea of what is expected. This is followed by a list of the editorial rules that apply and the specific features of each channel. Finally, there is a reminder of the “workflow”, i.e. the methodology in place for creating and validating marketing content.

It's a comprehensive guide that's easy to read, even for those who only need to use it occasionally.

How is it used in the Bank's Marketing Department?

Since the beginning of the year, the editorial skills of the Marketing Department have been brought together in a team of Content Creators in the Brand & Product Communication division.

In addition to its other duties, the team produces all the marketing copy for the various communication channels managed by the Marketing Department, including the blog, website, S-Net news, digital signage, etc., and ensures the quality and consistency of the copy.

Creating a team of Content Creators is a way of pooling skills to optimise content even further, while diversifying our day-to-day work.
Irene De Muur, Content Creator in the Brand & Product Communication division at Spuerkeess

We communicate in three (or even four) languages, which is normal for a Communications Department in Luxembourg. However, we check the accuracy of the information with the product managers, the quality of the translations and we ensure that our editorial rules are correctly applied (in accordance with the Editorial Charter).

Read our Blog articles