Content Style

Content Style

The Iron Laws

1. NO EM DASHES. EVER.

Not "—", not "–", not "--". Use periods, commas, or split into separate sentences.

2. GRADE-8 READABILITY OR FAIL.

Short sentences, simple words, clear structure. No academic jargon. No corporate bloat.

3. WORD COUNT BANDS ARE MANDATORY.

• Blog posts: 1000-1500 words
• Case studies: 500-800 words
• Internal docs: 600-1200 words

With --strict flag: ±10% tolerance only.

Purpose

Ensure all marketing content maintains:

• Accessible, skimmable writing (grade-8 readability)
• Clean punctuation (no em dashes)
• Appropriate length for content type
• Bold key phrases for scanability
• Logical section structure with clear subheadings

When to Use This Skill

Activate automatically when:

• Drafting blog posts, case studies, or documentation
• Verifying content before publication
• User explicitly requests style checking
• Content workflows invoke this quality gate
• --strict flag is set (enforces tighter word count tolerance)

Style Requirements

1. Readability: Grade-8 Target

Characteristics of grade-8 readability:

• Average sentence length: 15-20 words
• Simple, common vocabulary
• Active voice preferred over passive
• One idea per sentence
• Short paragraphs (2-4 sentences)

Pass examples:

✓ "Seasonal demand fluctuates. Plan your campaigns accordingly."
✓ "Customers prefer personalized emails. Use segmentation to deliver relevant content."
✓ "Most users churn before their first send. Reduce onboarding friction to improve retention."

Fail examples:

✗ "The implementation of sophisticated segmentation methodologies facilitates enhanced personalization paradigms." (Grade 16+, corporate jargon)
✗ "Leveraging cutting-edge AI-driven predictive analytics enables stakeholders to optimize engagement metrics." (Grade 18+, buzzword soup)

Validation method:

• Use readability formulas (Flesch-Kincaid, Gunning Fog)
• Target: Grade 7-9 (acceptable range)
• Flag: Grade 10+ (requires simplification)

2. Punctuation: Zero Em Dashes

Forbidden characters:

• — (em dash)
• – (en dash used as em dash)
• -- (double hyphen as em dash substitute)

Acceptable alternatives:

✗ "Email campaigns—when executed correctly—drive significant revenue."
✓ "Email campaigns drive significant revenue when executed correctly."

✗ "Three factors matter: personalization, timing—and relevance."
✓ "Three factors matter: personalization, timing, and relevance."

✗ "Users want simplicity—but most platforms overcomplicate setup."
✓ "Users want simplicity. Most platforms overcomplicate setup."
✓ "Users want simplicity, but most platforms overcomplicate setup."

Validation method:

• Scan entire draft for —, –, --
• Report exact line/location of violations
• Block completion until all removed

3. Word Count Bands

Default bands:

Validation method:

1. Count words in draft (exclude YAML frontmatter, footnotes)
2. Determine content type from intent.yaml or metadata
3. Apply appropriate band
4. If --strict flag: enforce ±10% tolerance
5. If outside band: FAIL with specific overage/underage

Reporting:

Blog post: 1847 words (target 1000-1500)
✗ FAIL: 347 words over maximum
Required action: Cut 347+ words or split into multiple pieces

4. Skimmable Structure

Required elements:

• Clear H1 (title)
• Descriptive H2s (section headings)
• Optional H3s (subsection headings)
• Bold key phrases (2-5 per section)
• Short paragraphs (2-4 sentences)
• Bulleted or numbered lists where appropriate

Pass example:

# How to Plan Seasonal Email Campaigns

## Identify High-Demand Periods

Most ecommerce brands see **predictable demand spikes** during holidays and seasonal events. Analyze your historical data to find patterns.

Key periods to consider:
- Black Friday / Cyber Monday
- Valentine's Day (for gifting brands)
- Back-to-school (August-September)

## Align Campaign Timing

Launch campaigns **2-3 weeks before peak demand**. This gives customers time to browse, compare, and purchase.

Fail example:

# Seasonal Email Strategy

The implementation of seasonal email campaign strategies requires comprehensive analysis of historical demand patterns, customer behavior analytics, and competitive landscape assessment. Organizations should leverage data-driven insights to optimize timing, messaging, and segmentation approaches across multiple touchpoints and channels to maximize engagement and conversion outcomes.

5. Soft Raleon Integration

Guideline: Single-line Raleon mention (≈1x per piece)

Pass examples:

✓ "Raleon automates this segmentation based on real-time behavior data."
✓ "Tools like Raleon learn these patterns and adjust send times automatically."

Fail examples:

✗ "Raleon is the best, most advanced, industry-leading platform for email marketing that outperforms all competitors and delivers unmatched results." (Over-selling, superlatives)
✗ [Multiple Raleon mentions throughout] (Too promotional)

Validation Process

1. Load Draft

Read draft from:

• datasets/marketing/content/{date}_{type}_{slug}/drafts/draft_v{n}.md
• In-memory draft content

2. Apply Style Checks

Run all checks in parallel:

Em Dash Scan:

grep -n '—\|–\|--' draft.md

Report line numbers and context.

Word Count:

# Exclude YAML frontmatter and footnotes
wc -w draft.md

Compare to band for content type.

Readability:

• Calculate Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level
• Calculate Gunning Fog Index
• Average the two scores
• Compare to target (7-9)

Structure Check:

• Verify H1 exists (exactly one)
• Count H2s (minimum 3 for blogs, 2 for case studies)
• Verify bold usage (at least 1 per major section)
• Check paragraph length (flag paragraphs >6 sentences)

3. Generate Report

If all pass:

# Content Style Validation: PASS

✓ No em dashes detected
✓ Word count: 1247 (target 1000-1500)
✓ Readability: Grade 8.2 (Flesch-Kincaid 8.1, Gunning Fog 8.3)
✓ Structure: Clear H1, 5 H2s, appropriate bold usage
✓ Raleon integration: 1 mention (appropriate)

**Status**: Ready for publication

If any fail:

# Content Style Validation: FAIL

✗ Em dashes detected:
  - Line 42: "Email campaigns—when executed correctly—drive revenue"
  - Line 87: "Three factors matter: personalization, timing—and relevance"

✗ Word count: 1847 (target 1000-1500)
  - 347 words over maximum
  - Requires cutting or splitting

✗ Readability: Grade 11.4 (target 7-9)
  - Average sentence length: 28 words (target 15-20)
  - Requires simplification

**Required fixes**:
1. Remove/replace 2 em dashes
2. Cut 350+ words
3. Simplify sentences (reduce avg length to <20 words)

**Status**: NEEDS_FIX

4. Block or Approve

If PASS:

• Draft can proceed to snippets or publication
• Style validation complete

If FAIL:

• Draft blocked from next step
• Workflow status set to "NEEDS_FIX"
• Must address violations before resuming

Integration with Workflows

Content Pipeline Integration

Invoked by:

• content-drafting workflow (before marking draft complete)
• content-verification workflow (explicit style check)

Blocking behavior:

• If style check fails → draft cannot proceed
• Workflow paused until fixes applied
• User must address violations

Strict Mode (--strict flag)

When enabled:

• Word count tolerance reduced to ±10%
• Readability target narrowed to Grade 7.5-8.5
• Paragraph length maximum reduced to 4 sentences
• All violations become blocking (no warnings)

Success Criteria

Style validation passes when:

• Zero em dashes in draft
• Word count within band (or strict tolerance)
• Readability grade 7-9
• Clear H1/H2 structure
• Appropriate bold usage for skimmability
• Single soft Raleon mention

Common Mistakes

Related Skills

• citation-compliance: Validates source integrity (separate concern)
• content-drafting: Invokes this quality gate before completion
• content-verification: Explicit style validation step

Anti-Rationalization Blocks

Common excuses that are explicitly rejected: