Using humor in your marketing can help you connect with your audience on a deeper level. Laughter breaks down barriers and makes people more open to new ideas. Here’s how you can effectively incorporate humor into your marketing strategy.
Techniques to Add Humor to Your Marketing
- Know Your Audience: Understand what your audience finds funny. Tailor your humor to their tastes and preferences.
- Create Relatable Characters: Develop characters with unique traits that your audience can connect with. For example, a quirky mascot or a humorous spokesperson.
- Use Everyday Situations: Find humor in common experiences. This makes your brand feel more relatable.
- Visual Humor: Use memes, GIFs, and funny images. Visual content is highly shareable and can quickly capture attention.
- Wordplay and Puns: Clever wordplay can make your content more engaging and memorable.
Ensuring Humor Fits the Context
Humor must be appropriate for the context and audience. Here are some guidelines:
- Timeliness: Ensure your jokes are relevant to the current time and context.
- Cultural Sensitivity: Avoid humor that could be offensive or misunderstood by different cultures.
- Brand Alignment: Make sure the humor fits your brand’s voice and image.
Example: Hotels.com and Captain Obvious
Hotels.com created the character Captain Obvious to stand out in the competitive online booking industry. Captain Obvious humorously pointed out obvious facts, like “Hotel gym is short for a gymnasium!” His quirky appearance and deadpan delivery made the ads memorable and relatable. This campaign led to a 30% increase in site traffic.
Practical Steps to Create Humorous Stories
- Find the Game: Identify a funny element in your story. For example, a horse rescue shelter could feature a globetrotting, bookish horse named Helen.
- Build the World: Ask yourself, “If this funny thing is true, what else is true?” This will help you create a consistent and humorous world.
- Set the Scene: Describe the environment and how your character interacts with it.
- Heighten the Game: Push the humor by exaggerating the character’s traits and situations.
- Stay Consistent: Maintain the internal logic of your humorous world.
For instance, Helen the horse could write an online diary about her adventures called “Eat, Neigh, Love,” detailing her journey from Paris to India.
Using Humor in Different Marketing Channels
Humor can be adapted to various marketing channels:
- Social Media: Use memes, funny videos, and witty captions.
- Email Campaigns: Add humorous subject lines and engaging content.
- Blog Posts: Write entertaining stories and use playful language.
- Ad Campaigns: Develop characters or scenarios that incorporate humor.
Questions to Guide Your Use of Humor
- Is your brand voice casual and colloquial?
- How do you want to be perceived? (Friendly or authoritative)
- How would you describe your product? (Fun and playful or straightforward)
- What’s your target audience like? (Modern and edgy or traditional)
- What do your customers seek? (Engaging experience or trusted service)
Start by identifying a funny element in your brand and think of ways to apply it across all your marketing assets. By using humor strategically, you can make your brand more memorable and engaging.
