In a content world suffering with generic, AI-created content, I have a marketing survival tactic that I think you’d really enjoy learning – comedy. If you’re willing to try comedy in marketing, and zest it up with truly funny marketing, it’s like maple syrup on your oatmeal…it goes from being an unsavory, tasteless blob to something people willingly swallow.
Speaking of breakfast cereal (long story) a media buyer I know said something to me years ago that I never forgot. We were debating about the use of email for marketing, as I thought it was a horrible way to market a business, and this was before anti-spam laws. But he said, “There is no bad media. No matter where an ad goes, someone could see it. The thing that causes failure is weak creative messaging.” Think about that for a minute.
You spend hundreds, thousands, or millions of dollars on marketing to put a message in front of your target customers. Do you want it to bomb?
That means that your customers will be exposed to your message (not naked, although that might help), and yet remember zilch because there was nothing worth remembering. I can guarantee that all you’re thinking right now is that your customers were naked. See, that was more fun.
Last year, I took a course in stand-up comedy. It wasn’t about comedy in marketing specifically, but they had me practice writing comedy every day. Could I use it to make funny marketing? Hell yeah.
Comedy training puts your brain in a new mindset. Suddenly, all the daily crap that happens to you becomes material, i.e. fodder for comedic stories, which is exactly what you need to practice your comedy. It’s like a silver lining on everything from the idiot cutting you off in traffic (no, that’s the guy who forgot his adult diaper), to the price of groceries (no, it’s the fad diet you just invented – starvation), to the sagging eye flaps (no, you can now nap in public and no one can even tell). Fun right?
My point is – customers are humans. So, they want to buy from humans. And by adding some comedic touches, you’ll prove you’re human, and keep them reading.
It’s “Marketing – yuck. Funny Marketing, yum. Give me some more.” Here goes.
Comedy in Marketing Examples
Here are a few examples of typical marketing content. See how they come alive with a little humour:
| Without | With |
| Buy a humidity detector for your floors, so you’ll they’ll look their best. | Look in the mirror five years from now, and you’ll wish you’d paid more attention to humidity. |
| (From a staff bio) Jamie works in our warehouse, and he loves basketball. | Thanks to high-end basketball shoes, Jamie is easy to locate squeaking through our warehouse. |
| This community has big, beautiful trees and a dog park. | Dogs love getting up close and personal with every oak in our dog park. |
| Feel safer knowing a qualified lifeguard supervises our outdoor pool. | No matter how tiny their swimsuits, our lifeguards boast full qualifications. |
| You’ll enjoy the handy post office right inside the corner store. | The corner store has a post office that your kids will love visiting, especially when grandma sends cash. |
| Our restaurant has the finest cuisine in town. | Our foodgasms will make you re-think your significant other. |
| This daycare believes fun is educational. | Do your kids come home sweaty, dirty and covered in finger paint? Then we’ve done our job. |
Now, I’m not saying humour is the answer to all content- after all, there are plenty of times you need to write an instructional manual for an infant respirator.
But please, for those other times, why not use comedy in marketing?
If you need help making some juicy, funny marketing, call us. Or if you need some coaching or training take a course from www.funnyfest.com. You’ll laugh your guts out listening to the other trainees attempt comedy, at the very least. It’s all newbies anyway.
And if they laugh at you, remember that’s a good thing.
Go on, we dare you!
