Content
Our brand’s voice is formed by the tone, verbiage, and the style in all forms of our collateral. This is part of our identity. Because of that, we have guidelines to ensure clarity about our identity and focus. This guideline also covers directions when discussing compatibility, our relationship with Micron, and product names.
Tone of Voice | Brand Pillars
Like the brand identity, the tone of voice in content, video, or conversation should be based on our brand pillars.
Empower Your Audience
Give consumers and businesses an opportunity to expand their knowledge by providing relevant and actionable information.
Ex: Save money– install your own memory.
Make it Easy
Know who you are talking to and translate technical information into more understandable terms as needed. Simplify processes whenever possible and ensure more technical readers can easily find the detailed information they desire.
Ex: Installing an SSD is Easy.
Be Knowledgeable
Since we are the memory and storage experts, knowledge should be at the heart of any content. Always present the facts in a truthful and straightforward manner, often with user-benefit statements.
Reliable Data and Service
Never embellish the facts. Providing truthful and relative information builds trust in our brand. Respond to customer inquiries in a timely manner and always deliver on promises.
Tone of Voice | Personality Scales
As a broad guideline, all written communication should adhere to these personality scales.
Communication Vehicles
Use judgment to adjust tone of voice within a few points of these guidelines as needed. For example: on social media, a slightly more casual tone is probably appropriate, where legal or support documents should be a bit more formal.
Audience Segment
Specific tone of voice scales have been identified and are available in the audience segment guide.
How to Say It | Endorsement and Tagline
Micron Brand Endorsement
Crucial is a brand of Micron, one of the largest memory manufacturers in the world, and this is a distinction we want to convey to our customers in every piece of collateral. Whenever a customer reads about Crucial, it should be clear that we are a brand of Micron.
Here’s an example of how we’ve conveyed this:
“Crucial memory is compatible with thousands of old and new systems. As a brand of Micron, one of the largest memory manufacturers in the world, Crucial memory is backed by a higher level of quality and expertise than is often available through third-party upgrades.”
How To Use Our Tagline in Messaging
The Crucial tagline can be used as part of a sentence. In this case, it shouldn’t be capitalized or have a trademark at the end.
How to Say It | Crucial Compatibility
In order to say a Crucial product is guaranteed compatible, both of the following conditions must be mentioned in copy:
Micron Brand Endorsement
- The customer must use one of our compatibility tools (Crucial System Scanner or Crucial Advisor™ tool) to identify and select a compatible upgrade.
- The upgrade must be purchased on crucial.com or an official region-specific Crucial website (ex. crucial.fr).
When conditions (1) and (2) are met, the upgrade becomes guaranteed compatible and is backed by our 45-day money-back guarantee.
Here’s an example of how we’ve talked about compatibility outside of crucial.com:
“One of the hardest parts about selling memory and SSDs is ensuring compatibility, and that’s where the Crucial Selector comes into play. Built to streamline the sales process, increase your margins, and simplify inventory management and forecasting, the Crucial Selector identifies compatible upgrades for over 100,000 systems and allows you to sell with ease in 60 seconds or less.”
Here’s an example of how we’ve talked about guaranteed compatibility on crucial.com:
“In just a few clicks, our innovative Crucial System Scanner or Crucial Memory Advisor™ tool will identify compatible upgrades for your system and we’ll give you our expert recommendation that’s based on 35-plus years of experience in the memory industry. If you order on crucial.com, we guarantee compatibility—or your money back. Did we mention free shipping?”
How to Say It | Preferred Style and Wording
Some phrases or words in our industry can be referenced in multiple ways. However, we like to have consistency in our content, so please refer to this guide to ensure you are using the same terminology in our documents.
Say:
- dual channel
- three channel
- four channel
- DDR4
- PC3-8500
- DDR3-1066
- website
- high performance
- SSD, solid state drive
- guaranteed compatible
- and (in complete sentences)
- Crucial website
- esports (always lower case)
Don't Say:
- two channel, 2-channel
- triple channel, 3-channel
- quad channel, 4-channel
- DDR-4, DDR 4
- PC38500
- DDR31066
- e-mail, E-mail
- web site, Website
- high-performance
- solid-state drive
- guaranteed-compatible
- &
- crucial.com (unless giving the url)
- eSports, esports, e-sports, Esports
Names | Product Lines
Product line names help identify a group of products. They should not be confused or treated like a brand name.
Visual wordmarks are not available for download because of their restricted use. You should not attempt to recreate these. Contact the brand team if you feel you have a legitimate use.
Usage
In the first use of a product line name, the brand names should always precede it. Subsequent uses can be mentioned without the brand name included.
Crucial Ballistix memory is engineered specifically for gamers who want low latencies, high speeds, and product designed to complement the look of their system. Ballistix products are tested for reliability and quality.
Visual Wordmark
Some product line names have a visual wordmark used on the product to help give that product an identity. Product line wordmarks should only be used on the product or packaging itself.
The brand logo must also appear on the product and packaging and should never be used instead of the brand logo.
In copy, the first instance of the product name should always include the brand.
Crucial Ballistix gaming memory...
Names | DRAM Products
In general, we prefer to use shorter, less technical names in copy and headlines, but technically-oriented documentation requires the exact specs to be included. It’s helpful to list them in a consistent way.
Order of Elements
Only two elements (brand and product type) are required, but any additional elements to designate a specific DRAM product should be listed in this order.
Legal Markings
Always ensure that the correct legal marks (®, ™) are included after brand names.
Names | Storage Products
In general, we prefer to use shorter, less technical names in copy and headlines, but technically-oriented documentation requires the exact specs to be included. It’s helpful to list them in a consistent way.
Order of Elements
Three elements (brand, series, and product type) are required for SSDs, but any additional elements to designate a specific SSD product should be listed in this order.
Legal Markings
Always ensure that the correct legal marks (®, ™) are included after brand names.
Names | Tool Names
Crucial has several tools that have been developed to make finding and purchasing compatible hardware easier. It’s important to reference the names of these tools consistently.
Crucial Memory Advisor™ tool
The original memory advisor only matched DRAM to systems and is trademarked. The word “tool” is required after the trademark. This tool is proprietary to the Crucial website.
Crucial® Advisor
When SSDs were added to the Advisor tool, the word ‘Memory’ and the trademark were dropped. It’s not possible to trademark this name because it’s too general. This tool is proprietary to the Crucial website.
Crucial® System Scanner
A downloadable tool that runs on your system and “scans” your hardware. It provides information about your system and lists compatible upgrades.
Crucial® Selector
This tool is similar to the Advisor, but there is no recommendation out of the list of compatible parts. This tool is also provided to partners to help them sell Crucial products.
Crucial® Configurator
An internal database that stores data about thousands of systems and maps them to compatible memory and storage types.