Use of GuideOne name
Use the name “GuideOne” for internal communications or communications with agents or customers who are already familiar with our brand. Use the more formal “GuideOne Insurance” on first reference only for agent recruitment pieces or on pieces intended for new customers. After the first reference, “GuideOne” may be used instead.
Copy
Please use AP Style Guide. For words and instances not dictated by the AP Style Guide, we default to Merriam Webster.
Capitalization:
When writing for buttons or sentence fragments, please use headline style for capitalization. This means that the first and last word will always begin with a capital letter. Prepositions should not be capitalized, unless stressed or used adverbially or adjectivally. Conjunctions (and, at, by, but, for, in, of, or, nor, to, with) should never be capitalized.
We Practice What You Preach
You Focus on Faith. We’ll Focus on You.
Punctuation:
Only use a period at the end of a complete sentence. The exception is headlines — headlines do not require periods even if they are full sentences. Buttons, labels and sentence fragments should not include punctuation. Ultimately, consistency is paramount. If one type of object requires a period, all subsequent types of that object must use a period.
For example, bullet points styled this way do not require a period:
FaithGuard coverage includes the following:
- Arson, theft or vandalism information reward
- Earthquake sprinkler leakage
- Newly acquired or constructed property – our limits exceed industry standards
- Stained glass windows
Bullet points styled this way do require a period:
FaithGuard coverage includes the following:
- FaithGuard covers rewards offered for information about arson, theft or vandalism.
- In the event that your sprinklers break during an earthquake and cause property damage, FaithGuard will apply to that damage.
- Our limits on newly acquired or constructed property exceed industry standards.
- Your stained glass windows are priceless works of art that are covered under your FaithGuard policy.
Healthcare
Write healthcare as one compound word, not two separate words (“health care”). This includes when it is used as an adjective: healthcare providers, healthcare workers.
Senior Living Communities
We prefer the warmer phrase “Senior Living Communities” over “Senior Living Facilities” or “Senior Living Centers."
Hyphenation
Hyphens glue words together. They notify the reader that two or more elements in a sentence are linked. They should also be used to avoid duplicated vowels or tripled consonants. Hyphenated terms include:
- Long-term
- Fire-resistant
- Multi-city
- Pre-empt
- Shell-like
- 10- to 20-years
Adverbs that end in “ly” and the adverb “very” do not require hyphens. Examples include:
- Easily replaced
- Very good value
Currency
Use figures and the $ sign in all except casual references or amounts without a figure: The actual dollar amount may vary.
For amounts of more than $1 million, use up to two decimal places. Do not link the numerals and the word by a hyphen: He is worth $4.35 million. He proposed a $300 billion budget.
The form for amounts less than $1 million: $4, $25, $500, $1,000, $650,000.
Date & Time
Time
Time abbreviations should be done with a space and no periods. Utilize three to four numerals with a colon between hours and minutes. Time is stylized as:
- 12 p.m.
- 3:33 a.m.
- 10:24 p.m.
- 12 AM
- 3:33 AM
- 10:24 PM
Date
When listing the date in a proper sentence, spell out the entire date, including day, without any abbreviations: Friday, July 21, 2017.
Capitalize the names of months in all uses. When a phrase lists only a month and a year, do not separate the year with commas. (Example: July 2017.) When a phrase refers to a month, day and year, set off the year with commas. (Example: July 21, 2017.) Spell months out when using them alone, or with only the year. (September 2017, not Sept. 2017.) Not all months are abbreviated – please follow this example:
- Jan.
- Feb.
- March
- April
- May
- June
- July
- Aug.
- Sept.
- Oct.
- Nov.
- Dec.