Sometimes audiences can grow tired of being marketed to, especially within our saturated environment, but with a touch of personality and a sprinkle of humour, your message may not only get noticed, but welcomed by your target audience.
Small-to-medium sized businesses are often more flexible when it comes to their marketing strategy than large corporations, which can mean integrating humour as an effective tool into your marketing can reinvigorate your campaign.
So if you’re ready to engage your funny-bone, here are some ways to inject some laughter into your marketing.
Pop Culture
Watch out for trends, fads and topics that emerge and try giving them a humorous spin for an opportunity to appear in the spotlight. A degree of thought should also be applied so not to appear insensitive in your attempts, but don’t be afraid to poke a little fun at others expense.
A great example was this BBC Three tweet:
The response was immediate and spawned a hilarious debate.
Showcase your product unorthodoxly
Try presenting your product in a humorous way, by putting a spin on how people use it, for example. This can garner plenty of attention by promoting a product outside the usual predictive product videos. Don’t be afraid to be creative and to think out of the box.
Have some banter with your audience
Don’t be hesitant to comically engage with your audience.
Sainsburys had a rib-tickling ‘pun off’ with one of its customers. The exchange made the headlines, showing how light-hearted campaigns can be very successful!
The small things can be the funniest
Hiding humour in places you’d least expect it can often be the most successful. Online gaming retailer Gamestation took advantage of this with their April Fools prank the “immortal soul clause”, which gave Gamestation the right to their customer’s souls. Anyone who didn’t opt into the clause was rewarded by Gamestation for their attention to detail. The news of this went viral and received plenty of coverage. Amiably Gamestation gave their customers back their souls the next day.
The humour shouldn’t overwhelm the brand
Whilst humour can be a great tool to deliver a message, it should never overpower the message you’re trying to convey. If you’re going to use a humour in your marketing, make sure you’re still selling the audience something, whether it’s a brand, company, product or service. Throwing a pie into someone’s face is always funny, but make sure you’re selling them some whipped cream afterwards.