diff --git a/lib/get-macro-options/index.js b/lib/get-macro-options/index.js
index d5ac85507d..5814eacb92 100644
--- a/lib/get-macro-options/index.js
+++ b/lib/get-macro-options/index.js
@@ -1,14 +1,18 @@
 const { dirname, join } = require('path')
 
-const { marked } = require('marked')
+const { Marked, Renderer } = require('marked')
+const { markedSmartypants } = require('marked-smartypants')
 
 const { kebabCase, slugify } = require('../nunjucks/filters')
 
 // Get reference to marked.js
-const renderer = new marked.Renderer()
+const renderer = new Renderer()
 // Override marking up paragraphs
 renderer.paragraph = (text) => text
 
+// Custom Marked instance with "smart" typographic punctuation
+const marked = new Marked().setOptions({ renderer }).use(markedSmartypants())
+
 function getMacroOptionsJson(componentName) {
   const optionsFilePath = join(
     dirname(require.resolve('govuk-frontend')),
@@ -45,7 +49,7 @@ function renderNameWithBreaks(option) {
 
 function renderDescriptionsAsMarkdown(option) {
   if (option.description) {
-    option.description = marked(option.description, { renderer })
+    option.description = marked.parse(option.description)
   }
   if (option.params) {
     option.params = option.params.map(renderDescriptionsAsMarkdown)