docs/marketing-voice.md

# Goodwalk Marketing Voice

A practical guide for writing site copy that sells without sounding like it's selling.

## The voice in one line

**A trusted neighbour who happens to be brilliant at this.** Calm, certain, warm, specific. Not corporate. Not chirpy. Not over-promising.

## What we're borrowing from Apple

Apple's marketing works because it does three things ruthlessly:

1. **Leads with the outcome, not the process.** "A thousand songs in your pocket" — not "5GB of solid-state storage."
2. **Makes the decision feel small.** Confident, declarative sentences. No hedging.
3. **Cuts every word the meaning doesn't need.** Short. Then one longer line for texture. Then short again.

For a service business, the equivalent is selling the **evening** (calm dog, settled house, no guilt), not the **walk** (60 minutes, pickup included, group size 4–8).

## Voice attributes

| Attribute | What it means | What it isn't |
|---|---|---|
| **Calm** | Even cadence. No exclamation marks. No "amazing!" or "incredible!" | Hyped, sales-y |
| **Certain** | "We do X." Not "We try to X" or "We may be able to X." | Arrogant, brash |
| **Warm** | Real feeling for dogs and owners. "Your dog comes home tired and happy." | Saccharine, cutesy ("fur babies", "pawsome") |
| **Specific** | Names suburbs, parks, times. Numbers when they help. | Vague ("various", "a wide range", "we offer") |
| **Honest** | If a service isn't right for a dog, we say so. | False scarcity, manipulative urgency |

## Principles

### 1. Lead with the customer's win, not your feature

Open every section with what the **owner gets** or what the **dog feels**. The mechanism comes second.

> ❌ "Tiny Gang Pack Walks are built for Auckland Central owners of small and medium dogs who want a reliable weekly routine."
>
> ✅ "Your dog comes home tired and happy. You stop worrying through the workday. That's the whole point."

### 2. Cut every hedge

Search-and-destroy these words: *can, may, might, try to, more, genuinely, properly, generally, often, typically, possibly.* Each one quietly weakens the sentence.

> ❌ "Walks tailored to your dog's pace, confidence, and routine."
>
> ✅ "Built around your dog. Their pace. Their walk."

### 3. Short. Then long. Then short.

Vary the rhythm. A wall of medium-length sentences is the most boring possible cadence.

> ❌ "Goodwalk Tiny Gang Pack Walks are built for Auckland Central owners of small and medium dogs who want a reliable weekly routine, a well-exercised dog, and more peace of mind during the workday."
>
> ✅ "A walk your dog looks forward to. A routine you don't have to manage. Pickup, walk, drop-off, photo update — every time, without you having to ask."

### 4. Active voice, present tense

Things happen. We do them. Your dog enjoys them. Avoid "are designed to" / "is intended for" / "can be tailored."

> ❌ "Our visits are intended to provide enrichment and support during the day."
>
> ✅ "We visit. We play. We feed. You get a photo when we leave."

### 5. Replace abstract nouns with concrete verbs

"Provide structure" → "settles them." "Build confidence" → "they stop pulling on the lead." "Ensure consistency" → "same walker, every time."

### 6. Specifics build trust faster than adjectives

"A well-loved local park" tells me nothing. "Western Springs at 9:15, Cornwall Park on Wednesdays" tells me you're real.

### 7. Sell the relief

Owners aren't buying a walk. They're buying: a quieter evening, a guilt-free workday, one fewer thing to manage. Name those.

### 8. One idea per sentence

If you wrote a comma, ask whether it should be a full stop.

## Patterns we use

### Headlines

Two flavours, used purposefully:

- **Outcome line:** "Come home to a calm, happy dog."
- **Definitional line:** "Pack walks for small dogs that actually suit small dogs."

Avoid: "Welcome to Goodwalk." / "About Us." / "Our Services."

### Subheads / leads

One sentence. Says what the section delivers, not what it is.

> ❌ "About our pack walks"
>
> ✅ "Four to eight dogs. Same walker every time. Home by mid-afternoon."

### Body copy

- 1–3 short paragraphs max per section
- Lead sentence is the most important; treat it like a headline
- One link or CTA per paragraph, max

### CTAs

Action + outcome, never just "Submit" or "Learn more."

| ❌ | ✅ |
|---|---|
| Submit | Book a free Meet & Greet |
| Learn more | See if Tiny Gang fits your dog |
| Contact us | Talk to Aless |
| Get started | Start with a Meet & Greet |

### FAQ answers

- First sentence answers the question completely
- Second sentence (if any) adds the texture
- No "Great question!" / "Glad you asked"

> Q: How big are the pack walks?
>
> ✅ "4–8 dogs, carefully matched on size and energy. We never run oversized packs — the small group size is the whole point."

## Words and phrases

### Use

- **You / your dog** — far more than "owners" or "clients"
- **We** — direct, owned. Not "the team" or "our walkers"
- **Walk, visit, pickup, drop-off** — the customer's words
- **Tiny Gang** — our signature, use sparingly so it stays distinct
- **Auckland Central** — anchors local intent
- Concrete park names, suburb names, times

### Avoid

- "Solutions" — never. We're not enterprise software.
- "Services" as a noun in body copy — too distant. Name the thing.
- "Pet parents" / "fur babies" / "pup parents" — twee
- "Pawsome" / "pawfect" / any pun — never
- "We are passionate about" — show, don't tell
- "Industry-leading" / "best in class" / "premium" — empty
- "Reach out" — say "email" or "text" or "call"
- Exclamation marks in headlines or body copy

## Sentence length budget

- **Headlines:** ≤ 8 words
- **Subheads:** ≤ 14 words
- **Body sentences:** average 12–16 words, max ~24
- **First sentence of any section:** ≤ 12 words

If you wrote a 30-word sentence, it's two sentences.

## Before / after, from the live site

### Hero subtitle (homepage)

> ❌ "Reliable dog walking for busy Auckland owners who want happier dogs, calmer evenings, and a team they can trust."
>
> ✅ "Reliable dog walking across Auckland Central. Happier dogs. Quieter evenings."

### Pack walks intro paragraph

> ❌ "Goodwalk Tiny Gang Pack Walks are built for Auckland Central owners of small and medium dogs who want a reliable weekly routine, a well-exercised dog, and more peace of mind during the workday."
>
> ✅ "Tiny Gang is built for small and medium dogs who like the right kind of company. Small groups. Same walker. A real walk, every time."

### Puppy visits subtitle

> ❌ "Toilet breaks, play, feeding, and calm one-on-one attention — at home, while you're out."
>
> ✅ "While you're at work, your puppy is fed, played with, and looked after. At home."

### Benefits-section intro

> ❌ "Small, compatible groups give dogs the exercise, confidence, and routine they need without the chaos of oversized pack walks."
>
> ✅ "Small groups. Compatible dogs. No chaos. That's why it works."

## A 60-second editing pass

Before any new copy ships, run it through this:

1. **Cut 20%.** If you can't, cut 10%.
2. **First sentence test.** Could it be a headline? If not, rewrite.
3. **Hedge sweep.** Delete every *can/may/might/try to/generally/typically* and re-read. Most are improvements.
4. **Active voice check.** Search for "is/are [verb-ed] by" or "is intended to" and rewrite.
5. **Specific vs vague.** Replace one vague phrase per paragraph with a real name, number, or detail.
6. **Read it aloud.** If you take a breath mid-sentence, it's too long.

## When to break these rules

- **Legal pages, contracts, privacy.** Be precise and complete, not punchy.
- **Onboarding instructions.** Clarity > rhythm.
- **Genuine warmth moments.** A short, slightly longer line about a dog or a moment is allowed — it's the texture. Just don't make it the default.