Introduction
Marketing in a unique way that no one else is doing is great, but sometimes, it backfires. Well, I am talking about adding humor to marketing, which will always be eye-catching and act as a hook. Various startups and big companies implement this strategy to reach a wider audience, so sometimes they get amazing results, and sometimes not.In this article, I will explain the pros and cons of humor in marketing.
Why can humor in marketing be special?
Humor is the only aspect that impresses everyone irrespective of culture, gender, location, etc. Humor in marketing gives it a boost because it acts as relatability. You see so many advertisements, but you don’t remember for a long time if an advertisement doesn’t include humor.Adding more, in the age of social media, where retention spans are less from Genz and millennials, so here humor strategy works wonders!
Pros of Humor in Marketing: The Hidden Superpowers
1. Humor gives a long-lasting impression
When was the last time you saw branded products as the faceless giants they used to be? Consumers now expect firms to address issues of relatability. Thus, humor works brilliantly when it comes to advertisement form.Example:
Steve Jobs was a master at giving presentations humorously and that’s why his Apple is the market leader in the mobile industry.
2. Minimizes psychological barriers to purchase
If brands can make the audiences laugh, then the audiences are put at ease. A brand that brings out positive emotions in people will most likely be trusted by such people.Example:
Zomato is a food delivery application and its marketing strategy is to send funny mail so that it increases the click rate of mails and get the desired result they want.
3. Enhances Virality in a TikTok-Dominated World
Viral does not mean luck, as it requires the trend, algorithm and understanding of the targeting audience. In the digital world, entertainment value is a real currency, or to be more precise, memes and other content pieces are common shareable assets.Example:
Many wedding photo studio companies on Instagram share a funny reel about 90s video editing and then turn out with advanced video editing. As a result, they get millions of views.
4. Humor makes the complicated things easy
Humor makes complicated issues easier to teach and easier for the learners to understand. Many Example:One share advisor company utilized jokes to define the share market and advisory. It made it easy for customers to understand shares, and it became engaging, too.
5. Helps Your Brand Stand Out
When everyone is selling the same product or services, using humor in your advertising can set you apart from the rest. As simple as this may sound, a humorous message gets attention.Example:
Coke was an overall hit in the world, but in South Asia countries it still was a challenging task for them, Because people were fond of lemon water, they added humor in every Coco Coca-Cola advertisement and that strategy made them a successful cold drink industry
Cons of Humor in Marketing
It’s time to look at the other side of the coin. They came up with reasons why humor is not safe or effective all the time. Here is a list of some risky factors.1. Humor Can Be Misunderstood
While one person may consider a certain joke as funny the other person may just consider it as offending. Here, we are hinting that if people fail to understand the joke you make, it will be bad for your brand. Example:Some of the biggest controversies in the previous years include Pepsi’s advertisement featuring Kendall Jenner in 2017 which through comedy intention was to address social justice. However, people perceived it as tasteless and went on to massively bash the brand in question.
Why it’s risky:
- A joke can easily backfire.
- Misunderstanding results in bad publicity.
2. The Message Can Get Lost
In some cases, the ad is so funny that people just hear the joke and can’t remember what the actual ad was all about. I happened with so many brands that the advertisement was liked by so many people but there was so much change in the sales.Why it’s risky:
- Comedy might even dominate the product or service being advertised.
- It may be hard for people to associate the joke with your brand.
3. Some People Do Not Share the Same Sense of Humor
Some people don’t resonate with comedy because it is all about the culture, age, and personal choice that makes the humor translate differently depending on the country they are in. Example:A funny ad that may be consumed well in the context of the US market may not be well understood in the context of the Asian market as the two are very different.
Why it’s risky:
- A lot of great comedian jokes do not sound funny in another country.
- It puts a restriction on the number of people you are able to communicate your message to in the course of your campaign.
4. Humor Can Feel Forced
If humor is not suitably applied to your brand’s personality, it may feel unpleasant and unprofessional. Brands like life insurance companies and luxury brands can’t do well if they apply humor in their advertisements.Example:
For instance, a luxury brand, attempting to employ a comedian and doing comedy while promoting premium brands will not give results because that brand's advertisement works better when they show people in the advertisement as larger-than-life.
Why it’s risky:
- Some people don’t like jokes which are forced or which are forced upon you.
- This can harm your company’s brand in the long run by making the customers distrust the product.
5. Humor Trends Don’t Last
Humor more commonly associated with trends can soon become out of date. This is quite a problem primarily because once people lose interest and look for something new, your ad might look like it does not fit anywhere.Example:
If I talk about any social media meme, if you use the same meme for a long time, people will get irritated and they will lose interest in your product.
Why it’s risky:
Trendy humor, however, is transient and will disappear in the same way smartwatches did. It might not even produce a single profound effect.Tips for using Humor in Marketing
Humor in a particular strategy can be a fine line in marketing. It can help you make your brand easy to remember but if it is not done easily then it turns people off.Here are some advanced tips to ensure your humor hits the mark:
1. Understand the Psychology of Laughter
People should read funny material before creating them on the reasons why people laugh. In that way, you will act better than when to highlight the main word. Surprise, exaggeration, and reality as we already know are the main elements of creating humor.It is always important to be able to tap into these elements so that your funny signals appear very natural.
Practical Tip:
Choose everyday situations that most people can relate to such as an office incident or any daily challenges.2. Be Sure that Used Humor Fits Your Brand
Not every brand deserves to be entertaining in a way that customers roll on the floors laughing. The type of humor you use should in some way reflect your brand personality.Example:
Premium brands don’t require comedy in their marketing, because their audience is very particular and serious about the features of a product rather than entertaining factor.
Practical Tip:
Establish significant rules to enforce humor style to match the following campaigns and the needs of your audience.3. Use Self-Deprecation Wisely
Companies who make fun of themselves are a very engaging and unique strategy adopted by marketers. With that statement, it gives an impression of humbleness.Practical tip:
Try not to overdo it, otherwise, people will take your brand seriously and they will make continuous memes in your brand name.4. Include a Call-to-Action (CTA)
Attention is easier to catch when people hear the jokes but do not make them forget the aim.
Always bring the joke back to the message you want to pass or the CTA you want to relay to the audience.Example:
An advert for a mobile app that is humorous could use a tagline like this: “Smile on your face?" Good. Now download the app and simplify your life!
5. Adapt to Different Platforms
Every service is entirely different and has different memes and ways of laughing.As Twitter loves irony and proverbs, which are not present in this message, Instagram users prefer visually graphic comedy, memes, and probably reels and LinkedIn needs an even more formal, yet wise tone.
Practical Tip:
It is, of course, necessary to remember common rules of appropriate behavior for the particular site at which you are going to post funny content.6. Be Timely with Trends
In this form, engage and pompously reply to a meme, trend, or current event. Closely-timed humor helps your brand to be relevant.Example:
A brand engaging a tweet during a sports event by posting a humorous comment regarding a player’s haircut could trend in minutes.
Practical Tip
The humor you use should be wholesome and not involve any kind of sensitive jokes.7. Combine Humor with Visuals
Laughter does not have to be plain text; funny images, GIFs, and animations are even funnier. Images get a much better response as compared to text only.Example:
Companies need to continuously entertain their audiences; the Duolingo mascot is joked about in TikTok funny skits.
8. Try and Test
This might have been a joke to you but not to everyone. Before trying your hand with jokes in front of a large audience, try it first with a few people.Practical Tip:
Split your audience and show one ad or post with one form of humor, and the other with the same ad or post with a different type of humor to compare the results.9. Use Humor to Tell a Story
It’s important to add some elements of humor into a good story to make it even more effective. Everything you do should be packaged around a story that laughably sells needs for your product.Example:
Rather than run a conventional advert, share a humorous story that relates to how you created it or how your product functions.
Practical Tip:
Make sure your story has a meaning and doesn’t get carried away by the humor only.10. Mix Humor with Emotion
Sharing humor with some kind of emotion is much more effective than just using humor alone. This not only gives you a better script as an advertiser but people will also engage with your marketing.Example:
A chocolate advertisement that shows the bond of brother and sister sharing chocolate mixed with emotional and funny scenes.
Practical tips:
Do proper planning about the script, hooks, and end scene. You need to make a story that gives a smile as well as touches the heart of the audience.11. Involve Your Audience
Ask your customers to share their own funny stories connected with your product. The use of UGC not only includes the interaction but also brings a touch of the genuine to it.Example:
Post a meme about the funniest customer story, and then organize a competition, inviting your audience to share what they have, selecting the best list, and putting it on your social media.
Practical Tip:
Make sure you add giveaways so that they engage your audience and organise funny participation tasks in Social media.12. Know When to Step Back
You don’t always require humor in every campaign. It is best to stay clear of jokes with severe topics, or health awareness issues.Practical Tip:
In making your decision as to whether to joke you should look at the overall mood or tone of your campaign.13. Blend Humor with Data
It's great if you incorporate humor along with data in your campaign. Especially for B2B or technical organizations, it's possible to make any topic fun by using humor when presenting data.Example:
Many webinars you see on social media are using this strategy, this is not only engaging but also gives more conversions.
Practical tip:
Make sure that your presentation doesn’t look boring and you should add funny question marks and funny memes so that you can entertain your customers during the presentation. Usually, such presentations easily go viral on social media and it makes your brand popular.14. Surprise with unexpected humor
Sudden humor captures attention and keeps the text more memorable. Many advertisements use the humor surprise factor in between the scenes.Practical tip:
You can use the transition which is quite popular in Social media. With that strategy, people will share your content following that social media will boost your content because of an increase in shareability by the audience.15. Incorporate Cultural Humor
Local people always resonate with jokes that are within their region’s cultural norms or beliefs.Practical tip:
Most importantly, do your homework: Cultural humor has the potential to be very off-putting.16. Use humor to address customer Pain points
There is always a difference between a good advertiser and an average advertiser. An average advertiser will make a normal advertisement that gives a solution to the problem. But a good advertiser gives a solution that is relatable and touches the heart of the people in a funny way.Example:
The toothpaste advertisement of Colgate always comes with pain points and they address the issue in a very funny way which not only entertains the people but also wins the trust of the people by solving the problem.
Practical tip:
Make sure your humor doesn’t harm the feelings of people otherwise, people will hate your brand.17. Turn Mistakes into Laughs
Admitting a mistake and making a joke out of it will make a particular event turn from being negative to positive.Example:
One time KFC was out of chicken in a certain country, so after that they used the banner FCK on an empty bucket.
Practical tip:
You need to act smartly and before people criticize your product, you should make a joke about your brand so that people will think, it’s a marketing strategy, not a mistake.18. Use office memes for B2B Advertising
Some of the more popular and appropriate types of humor for B2B audiences include office jokes, meeting jokes, and jokes about email.Example:
Many recruiting companies use this meme strategy for their marketing and as a result, they get a lot of shares and views.
Practical tip:
Make sure while making memes, you should not overdo it otherwise people will feel that this company is a red flag to its employees.19. Make your product the punchline
Make your product headline funny so that the audience’s attention remains on your brand.Example:
An example of a humorous advertisement of a toothpaste brand where a couple of characters faced problems and could not even talk closely.
Practical tip:
Make sure your headline describes your product as well as it sounds funny.20. Engage with Comedians or Influencers
It is easier and more natural to work with people who themselves have a funny bone for your humor campaigns.Example:
One common trend Netflix uses is getting comedians on board to promote their campaigns as this adds humor to all the campaigns.
Practical tip:
Sometimes many comedians or influencers give a controversial statement and with this, their reputation among people is not good. So make sure to hire those comedians or influencers who are free from controversy.21. Surprise in unexpected comparison
Not many companies are using this strategy and the reason is that it requires a lot of thought. What happens is that they compare two things that aren't even close to each other and they appear in a funny way.Example:
A cybersecurity company with a catchy slogan describing what they do as having protection as a guard dog, then the creatives of this guard dog going after the hackers.
Practical tip:
Make sure your story is inclined perfectly otherwise, people will not understand what you’re trying to show.22. Get into Mass Jokes or Other Stereotype Issues
Mass jokes and stereotypes are very powerful marketing tools that are widely used by marketers. Example:My dieting: Make a salad that tastes like a burger.
Practical tip:
Use jokes that don’t hurt the sentiments of other people, make sure that you joke healthily because your main focus should be to advertise the product, not to insult anybody.23. Add Humor to Your Packaging
Any type of wrapper with humorous messages, jokes, or design can generate shareable moments for the customer. Example:When a beer brand decides to put an “Open in case of emergency" tag on its bottles, the packaging becomes funny.
Practical tips
Packaging must be engaging and if it includes the picture resemblance of your target audience using the product, then it will give a boost to your brand, and make sure you ask the customers to share it on Social media.24. Produce entertaining behind-the-scenes information
To succeed in branding, use break times in your team or in the product development process to showcase the fun side of things. Example:Some funniest scenes captured when shooting an ad can be included in a bloopers reel to make your audience laugh as well as make them associate your brand with real people.
Practical tips:
People love to see real things and they get excited about how their favorite brands shoot the advertisement and that strategy increases engagement. So posting the right content using raw scenes gives a good edge.25. Always Find Time to Be Funny with the Customer
Engage the customer and use some fun in your conversation or email to accrue those sweet moments.Practical tips:
Must organize fun quizzes and post funny reels about the real-time situation at least two times a month, so that customers can recall your product for a long time.FAQs
Is there any brand for which humor does not work?
Not necessarily. However, it also depends on the brand’s personality, audience, and line of business. The type of humor a particular brand may use can vary, for example, a financial institution may need to employ subtle or situational humor whereas a brand of snack may be quirky or bold.Is marketing humor effective for improving conversion rates?
Yes! Laughter makes your brand more familiar as compared to normal campaigns thereby improving the click-through rates which are followed by sales. However, it must not be overdone in that people are more likely to forget about the message being passed or the action being encouraged.What can I do to test if humor is going to be effective for my campaign?
For any campaign, if you’re not sure about whether humor will be effective or not, then you should use A/B testing. Test and try out different forms of campaigns in a short period and make sure you understand that if the campaign is capable of making you laugh or your fellow mates are impressed, then you can go ahead with the try and tested method.What is the secret to good humor in marketing?
You need to understand your target audience and you will get to know them by making an Ideal customer profile, so with the help of this you will come to know what are their hobbies, interests, demographics, and behaviors. So based on the information you can make a good script in terms of humor marketing.Conclusion
In conclusion, For your brand to stand out and easily be associated with your target consumers, humor can be key since it creates an emotional appeal and hence conversions.However, You need to make planning and you should know the cultural differences and target audience so that the humor strategy works better otherwise your brand will be in trouble.