Proofed | Editors | Emeritus | Kellogg School of Management (KLG) Marketing Content Style Guide

General Notes

The notes below refer to KLG marketing materials. This guide should not be used for KLG learning content. The general rules for Emeritus content should not be consulted for KLG marketing materials.

• Use program and never course
• Use participant and not student
• American English

IMPORTANT: For anything not listed here, please follow AP style

Proofreading approach: For proofreading jobs, we should be performing a light proofread. Emeritus do not need us to make suggestions to the content or language of the documents. They are only interested in:

1. Grammar errors
2. Spelling errors
3. Punctuation errors
4. Style guide errors

Global comments in PDFs: The marketing team would prefer if we leave global comments for repeated issues in a document. This is for any issues that Emeritus could quickly fix with a find-and-replace or are obvious in the document. We should still make full changes for less-obvious issues, such as serial commas. For example, we can leave global comments for:

1. Adding a hyphen to all instances of "decision making"
2. Replacing all instances of "course" with "program"
3. Removing full stops from all bullet lists

Global comments in Google Docs: Whenever possible, use the replace all function instead of making the same change in multiple identical instances. For example:

1. Replacing all instances of "decision making" with "decision-making"
2. Replacing all instances of "course" with "program"

Using "company"/"firm"/"organization":

1. We should only use synonyms when it's repetitive, and consider the meaning – don't use them interchangeably
2. We can use "business" as well
3. "Company" should be the last choice – "organization," "business," and "firm" are OK

SPELLING

• For general spelling, use Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th edition (US). Some exceptions are as follows:
• roadmap and not road map
• decision making as a noun and decision-making as an adjective
• data set and not dataset
• startup and not start-up
• Acronyms are acceptable on second and subsequent references if given in parentheses after a first spelled-out use. Acronyms also acceptable without first spelling out if initials are widely recognized (e.g., CEO, SAT, NCAA, AIDS, HMO, NASA, FBI).
• In-person with a hyphen for noun and adjective.
• United States (noun) / US (adjective) [deviation from AP]
• PhD, MSc, etc. [deviation from AP]
• Hyphenate compounds used as adjectives (decision-making) but not as nouns (decision maker).
• Use Wildcard (capitalize and close up) and x-ray (lowercase – except in titles and headlines – and hyphenated).

titles

• Uppercase preceding a name if it’s a title by which the person may be called (President Schapiro, Professor Smith, Dean Peterson), but lowercase a functional title (program director Jane Johnson). Plurals are lowercased (music professors Blair Minton and Almita Vamos).
• Titles of books, movies, songs, plays, articles, works of art, TV shows, and speeches should be in title case and placed in quotation marks.
• Names of journals and news outlets should be in title case only and not use quotation marks (which is an exception to AP style).
• No use of italics.

Tonality

• Kellogg is professional but not stiff, warm but not emotional, respectful, not too edgy, and not too contemporary.
• Never use casual language/tonality or colloquialisms
• No abbreviations.

Capitalization/casing

• Casing:
• Title Case for headers
• Sentence case for subheaders
• Ad headlines, program titles, module titles, and module/pillar topics should be written in title case.
• Program highlight subheaders should be written in sentence case.
• School name should be written as Kellogg Executive Education (A few exceptions: Kellogg Exec Ed can be used in instances of character limits, and Kellogg can be used when referring to faculty).
• Specifics for SEPO courses:
• On first mention of the school, use Executive Education at Kellogg School of Management.
• After the first mention, you can say, Kellogg Executive Education or Executive Education at Kellogg
  School.
• Where there are space constraints, can use Kellogg Executive Education. Where there are character constraints, it is appropriate to use Kellogg Exec Ed
• Can also use Kellogg Executive Education at Northwestern University
• Personal Titles: Use periods in titles, e.g. Prof. Frong; Sr. Marshall; however, avoid such abbreviations in running text.
• Do not use periods in PhD, BS, MBA, etc.
• Kellogg Sales Institute should always be preceded by "the", but it should not be capitalized (unless at the beginning of a sentence).
• Lowercase the in any name, no matter how the corporation, organization, or publication spells it.
• If using Northwestern, address it as Kellogg at Northwestern
• Always use Kellogg Executive Education at Northwestern University instead of Northwestern Kellogg Executive Education.
• NOTE: If the duration of a course is mentioned in an in-text sentence, then "m" for month should be lowercase (... this will last for 2 months); otherwise, "M" should be uppercase (e.g. course duration: 2 Months)

Numbers

• Numbers under 10 to be spelled out. Larger numbers (10 and above) to be in numerical form.
• Exceptions:
• Prices
• Dates
• Duration of a course (e.g. an 8-week course).
• Statistical information
• Also use numerals with percentages (7%), dollar signs ($3), temperature (8 degrees), scores (7-3), page (page 2), room (room 9), and chapter (chapter 6).
• Numbers beginning a sentence are always spelled out.
• For figures greater than 999,999, use million or billion (2.3 million, 4 billion).
• Use a comma in a figure greater than 1,000, unless it’s a date.
• %, not percent
• Amounts greater than 99 cents should be in numerals with a dollar sign ($4).
• Date, Month and Time:
• If the day of the month appears, use a comma before and after the year (by the January 15, 2013, deadline). Do not use a comma between the month and the year without a date (by the January 2013 deadline).
• Do not use st, nd, rd, th, even if dates are adjectives (March 1 event, not March 1st event).
• Use numerals, a space, lowercase letters, and periods for a.m. and p.m., e.g., 3.25 p.m. Do not use extra zeros in times
• Times come before days and dates (at 4 p.m. Friday; at 9 a.m. Monday, June 7).
• Months are not abbreviated.
• Lowercase a.m. and p.m (NOTE: It is sometimes permissible to remove the periods in a.m. and p.m. in tables and lists if space is tight, but use the periods in running text).
• Noon, not 12 p.m. or 12 noon.
• Do not use o’clock unless it’s in quoted material or formal contexts such as invitations.
• First through ninth spelled out; thereafter, 10th, 11th, etc.

Dashes

• Number ranges: Hyphens for number ranges.
• No use of the en dash.
• Parenthetical phrases: Use spaced em dashes for all marketing content (both digital and printed).
• Exception: Social media ads use unspaced em dashes.

Punctuation

• Do not use the serial comma
• For singular nouns ending in s, to make them possessive, just add an apostrophe (e.g. Emeritus')
• Quotation marks:
• Double quotation marks to be used for direct quotes
• Periods go inside quotation marks

BULLET LISTS

• Capitalize the first word after each bullet or number.
• Periods only for standalone complete sentence bullet points that do not follow on from a lead-in. No periods for any other bullet points.
• Ensure parallel structure in all bullet points (i.e. start with all verbs/all noun phrases/all full sentences etc. – do not mix and match).
• No semicolons.

The web and email

• Do not hyphenate email; lowercase, except at the start of a sentence.
• Do not hyphenate online.
• World Wide Web is not needed; web is sufficient.
• http:// is not needed at the start of a web address unless the address doesn’t start with www. or there might be some confusion about whether it is a web address.
• www is not required in contexts where it is clear that it is a web address, but be consistent in using it or not within a publication.
• < > is not needed around a web address.
• Lowercase internet and web.
• Use home page as two words but website as one word.
• Use database as one word.
• Italicize the titles of online publications (HotWired) and blogs.
• Close up webcast, webcasting, and webcam, but leave a space in web camera.

Incidentals

• No use of italics.
• Avoid using DEI terms like diverse and inclusive. Please comment if you find any.
• The school is moving away from brave leaders as a description for Kellogg's purpose statement – leave a comment about this if you see it.
• Don't use content that makes claims without backing it up with data and a source – if you see this, please leave a comment.
• If you see the phrase mid- to senior level, replace with mid-career.
• Use of the word Master or any other equivalent word to be avoided.
• Use & only when it is part of a company or an organization’s formal name. Do not use in text to replace and (however, see below for exception for character space in ad copy).
• Avoid using the word only, e.g., 4–6 hours a week only
• Avoid the phrase C-suite executives. Just use executives.
• C-suite and not C-Suite
• Never use CDO as an acronym (as it can stand for multiple things). Spell out chief digital office/chief data officer, etc.

CHARACTER LIMIT EXCEPTIONS TO NORMAL RULES:

• Kellogg Exec Ed can be used instead of Kellogg Executive Education in instances of character limits.
• & can be used when character limit is a challenge.
• Numbers under 10 (e.g. ... a 6-month program)

landing pages

• Do not edit the FAQs – just check that the correct program title is used.

Social ads

• In images (labelled "creatives"), no periods after imperative sentences unless there are two or more sentences.
• Avoid using salary figures in ads since this doesn’t flow with the brand.
• You must follow the date and time style used by Kellogg for ads on webinar. Approved format is Month XXth and time format is XX:XX p.m.
• Descriptions:
• Ensure there is period at the end of the description in social text ad copies except in the headlines across platforms.
• All descriptions in social ads – Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn – to be in sentence case. Exception: Attend the Live Webinar and not Attend the live webinar since it doesn't read well in this context. Users could read it as live and not LIVE.
• Wherever there is a proper noun, it should be in Title Case, e.g., Name of a person, month.
• Do not use the possessive with the shortened Kellogg Executive Ed's

mailers

• In subject lines: no italics, and use numerals for all numbers.

sepo notes

• Do not use an en dash for complex range hyphenation in running text
• Correct: 9- to 12-month
• Incorrect: 9–12-month
• Don't capitalize "success coach" unless preceding a person's name
• Don't make changes to module titles
• Standard usage for introducing criteria: inclusions/exclusions, not included/excluded
• No colon to introduce "call to action" (i.e., clickable) buttons