diff --git a/src/help.js b/src/help.js
index 2aef16e..e7e4d87 100644
--- a/src/help.js
+++ b/src/help.js
@@ -105,8 +105,8 @@ module.exports = (robot) => {
 }
 var stringFormatting = function stringFormatting (str) {
   if (!str.match(/^(begin|end)/i)) {
-    str = '*' + str
-    str = str.replace(/ - /i, ' *- ')
+    str = '**' + str
+    str = str.replace(/ - /i, '** - ')
   }
   return str
 }
diff --git a/test/help_message_visibility_test.js b/test/help_message_visibility_test.js
index 244d811..f3cd433 100644
--- a/test/help_message_visibility_test.js
+++ b/test/help_message_visibility_test.js
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ describe('help', () => describe('message visibility', () => {
               'attachments': [
                 {
                   'color': '#459d87',
-                  'text': '*hubot help *- Displays all of the help commands that this bot knows about.\n*hubot help <query> *- Displays all help commands that match <query>.',
+                  'text': '**hubot help** - Displays all of the help commands that this bot knows about.\n**hubot help <query>** - Displays all help commands that match <query>.',
                   'title': 'Other commands',
                   'collapsed': true
                 }