Use Humor to Avoid Marketing Banana Skins
Most people are inherently skeptical of content from a brand, because they’re expecting a “gotcha” from a product or service being pushed on them. One way to lower those defenses is by incorporating humor in your writing.
If you can provide a few laughs for your readers, you pull positive emotional strings for them, helping them make a connection to the human behind your marketing. With a humanized business voice, your message resonates more.
Levity in marketing and advertising is also highly shareable. Word of mouth is invariably stronger than marketing efforts on the brand side, so if there is potential to have your branded content go viral, you want to give yourself the best chances of making that happen.
There are many examples of smaller companies using humor, such as Dollar Shave Club, that are able to compete with Gillette, whose leading brand has a much more corporate and clinical feel. QuickSprout CEO Neil Patel explains:
“Although they didn’t have the massive budget of their huge corporate competitors, they understood how to capture the attention of their audience with humor.”
Here are a few tips for applying laughs to your content:
Understand your demographic: you should already have an idea of who your audience is. Do some homework on the type of things that appeal to them and make them chuckle.
Align with brand identity: you know what your brand is all about, so make sure the laughs you provide can be identified with your company. Example: A healthcare company should not necessarily be joking about mortality.
Keep it simple: don’t force laughs. Find a seam where a funny can be slipped in and don’t make it a comedy routine.
Being light hearted in your writing can be enough to leave your readers walking away with a smile on their face, and ready to come back soon. Read more of Neil’s insights on humor in marketing below.
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