Working comedy into my marketing is a guarantee to get more clients, because it gets laughs, right? --- WRONG! Putting ‘comedy’ into your marketing is not helpful. Let me tell you what you can (legally) do instead, that works much better!
I’ve been working forever on this, figuring out how to put the art of humour (not comedy) into advertising, it can help massively. I’ve actually been working on this for so long that to me it’s obvious, but if you’re not careful, and you get this wrong, you can look like a fool.
The best ‘nearly’ illegal way to sell, can be guerilla marketing, the problem with this, whilst being super effective? Well, we’re local business owners, we don’t want to piss off our neighbours.
But how do I make my audience remember me? How do I stand out? Without losing credibility.
The Expectations I’m Not Looking For
I’m not expecting everyone to become a world-class comedian, there are things that Michael McIntyre could say, that I’d never get away with…
Understanding how to work humour into your daily life, let alone advertising, can be like trying to make blancmange with a baseball bat.
There are loads of ways to test out using humour in your day-to-day life:
In anything you write, posts, messages, letters
With friends, testing out making people laugh without becoming a clown
Professional networking, softening up your audience
However…
“Hey, I found your nose, it was in my business again”
Whilst you think this kind of thing could be funny, to your wider audience, it can be quickly misinterpreted and your reputation can be damaged.
Over the last decade, humour has decreased significantly in advertising.
Do we live in a more serious world now? No, probably not. I think there will always be room for well-placed humour.
What has changed, is the increase in fear of using the humour incorrectly, causing offense.
The Simple Solution
The solution is not to add humour into your advertising and daily life, by trying too hard, or by taking too big of a risk ‘being a comedian’ — Just be confident in the delivery of good humour to your audience, that comes from you and your personality.
The same way that the humour in what you’re reading here; comes from my personality. It’s not to everyone’s taste, but it’s easy to understand, and I enjoy writing it.
That’s all that MATTERS.
Humour gives you a great opportunity to make your brand more relatable, in the same way that you laugh around friends you’re comfortable with, brands that connect to their audience with laughter also build a stronger bond with them.
If you get this right, you can become more charismatic, more confident, more intelligent, and to your audience, this eventually comes off as being more trustworthy.
People are always looking for relief, we’re an awkward species, so we’re looking for a laugh, to loosen up a situation, especially when we’re buying something that’s high-value.
Here are some examples to watch over a coffee this week...
Visual/slapstick humour:
Wordplay humour:
My thoughts on what’s to come?
After years of ‘sadvertising’. It may be time to start to give people something to laugh about. Getting humour in does require some courage, but there are many more like you who are trying to bring some humour back into their business.
What better way to stand out from the crowd?
Creating side-splitting content in blogs on your website is a great way to attract more clients, and build memory and laughter into your brand.
We can help you to define your perfect audience, and give you a head start on how to write engaging and trustworthy content.
Talk soon,
Thomas
P.S. If you want us to review your marketing plan and suggest improvements, get in touch here: www.thresults.com/contact-us.
And if you’re looking to attract more clients using Meta ads, download our free guide here: Meta Ads Guide.
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