I saw the advertisement on the right in an email I received this morning. What caught my attention was the message at the very bottom: “Good for a limited time. That means no dilly-dallying, friend.”

Definitely a bit edgy and certainly very casual. But is it appropriate for this particular company?

You see I think that’s the key question to ask. Not “Is it funny?,” or “Is it unusual?,” or “Does it make us seem hip?” The most important question is “Does it sound like us?”

In the case of Emma, a company named after a real person and with a caricature face for a logo, it seems to fit. If, on the other hand, my doctor used a similar approach, I’d probably run the other way.

The “right” voice for your company is the authentic voice of your company. Make sure you have a handle on that before you worry about the words themselves.