“First of all, I think y’better watch your tone son. I’m Leonard Washington.” Dave Chapelle as Leonard Washington

Now did Dave Chapelle intend to give us a marketing lesson with that line? My guess is no, but they’re wise words none-the-less.

If you want people to share your message, to pass it along, then you need to make sure it’s in the right format.

Take the latest car insurance commercial from Nationwide, which proclaims “Switch to Nationwide and you could save like 500 bucks.” Grammatically incorrect? Sure is. Little big of slang? You bet. Sound like something almost anyone you know would say? Exactly!

It’s much easier to hear yourself saying “Hey, Brain. Did you know with Nationwide and save like 500 bucks on your car insurance? than “Were you aware than the average savings for customers switching to Nationwide for their auto insurance was 489 dollars?”

I’m not saying we should eschew all grammar and sentence structure in the name of “speakability”, but if you want people to run with your message, you better make sure it’s something they can carry.