Humor marketing plays on the premise that funny sells as much as cuteness and sex. But how do you do it right?
Join us as we explore this premise and learn how to make your business funny and tickle your customer’s funny bone.
Why Humor Sells?
According to the Happiness Project, funny ads stick 90% of the time. And customers would support the competition of a brand if it was humorous.
But why does funny sell?
We have the past two years to thank because of the isolation and anxiety that the pandemic induced. And now that everything is returning to normal, 88% of consumers want to find a new way to feel happy since around 25% of the people surveyed admitted forgetting what true happiness is supposed to feel.
As a business, you need to consider these numbers to connect effectively with your customers. To empathize with your market, use emotional design.
When you add humor through your text or imagery, you create new, stimulating experiences for your customers to feel happy.
That’s why and how humor sells on the same level of sex and cuteness.
Common Misconceptions of Brands and Humour
Now, let’s understand businesses’ common mistakes in adding humor to their brands. To give you an idea, 77% of consumers would buy from a funny sales representative rather than a brand.
Incorporating humor into your marketing will help you create an expressive brand that satisfies your market’s needs and tickles its funny bone. To do that, you need to know what makes your customers like humor in branding since it’s different from liking someone funny from your business.
Harmony of Brand Personality and Humor
Yes, you can be funny, but does it coincide with your brand’s personality?
That’s the most critical question before adding humor to your branding idea. You can come off as trying too hard to start with our images’ visual hierarchy.
If you’re going with a funny photo with witty dialogue, prioritize the message your want to say over the actual visuals. You can opt to use readable typography through modern sans serifs.
Timing of Humor in Posts
You could offend someone if the timing is wrong when you deliver a joke. That’s the same with humor in your brand’s postings.
Let’s take a peek at the posts during the pandemic. Happiness and physical boundaries were redefined, and marketers turned to billboards, Instagram posts, or Facebook stories to connect with their market.
A great example of timing and humor is Smile At The World Orthodontics; their billboard says that now is the best time to get braces, and the person beside the text is wearing a mask.
If this were done any other year before the pandemic, it wouldn’t work. You’d look tacky and trying too hard and, to add to the wound, unprofessional.
So the question for you when you want to incorporate humour is when are you posting?
Targeting Gone Wrong
Second to last, we have targeting. You need to understand that not everyone will become your customer. Whether it’s a matter of why need or want you to people not wanting to do with your brand due to past issues.
When you tell your joke and present it to the public, ensure that the people you want to reach understand it. This point reinforces the need for timing in your humorous posts.
Also, knowing what tickles your market’s funny bone allows you not to waste time and energy doing the trial-and-error method of funny.
When you do that, you can hit a nerve instead of the funny bone and end up being on the bad side of your market.
Tone Matters
Lastly, aside from the third point above about targeting, you need to ensure that humor is A PART of your branding and not the other way around.
As a business, the voice you establish creates the impression your market has of you. Whether it’s the choice of an image or illustration paired with your business name and color palette, you must ensure that despite being funny, people still know you mean business.
Types of Humor in Marketing
You learned the misconceptions and why humor sells. Let’s teach you which kind of funny to add to your branding.
Let us present how you can incorporate humor into your brand kit.
Each individual has their preference when it comes to what makes them laugh. And as a brand, you need to fall into that category. When you do, you create a better rapport between you and your customers, allowing frequent transactions.Â
Seven types of humor to make a clear, humorous, yet still, professional brand voice are:
- Irreverent Humor: Dark Humor
- Deadpan Humor: Blunt Humor, a.k.a. The Office humor
- Observational Humor: Relatable Humor that touches on our Everyday Lives, ex. Ryan Reynolds and his ads
- Absurd Humour: As the name suggests, Weird Humor, ex. Old Spice advertisements
- Blue Humour: Inuendos and Sexual JokesÂ
- Topical Humour: Timed Humor based on Current Events
- Wordplay: As the name suggests, Using Literary devices or Puns to incorporate Humor.
Tips to Do Humour Marketing Right
Have you decided which type of funny you will incorporate into your brand? No rush in answering. Either way, we have a guide to add humor to your brand better.
Collect Data on Humor
Do humor in your marketing right through research and statistics. Those two words sound tedious, but the end game is worth it when you do it exactly.
Like some of the percentages we mentioned in Why Humor Sells, you need to collect data like that. After that, use the information to cater to your brand’s message to connect to your audience.
After all, data dictates the trends that your market would love to see from you. This tactic makes your market seen since you’re adapting what they like into your product and service presentation.
Get to Know Your Target
You collected data on humor in general; now look for the market you want to purchase your product and service.
Do you want to connect with your Gen X or Gen Z audience? Or maybe you want to hit two bids with one stone and target both?
Either way, ensure you know which type of humor your market loves. For example, Gen Z loves irreverent humor, a.k.a. Dark or cynical humor.
A touch of funny to themes not often talked about by other people: think of it this way; your target audience determines how you design. Whether it’s humor or incorporating it into your brand identity to make yourself appealing to them, knowing the funny bone of your market helps you get noticed.
Use Omnichannel Marketing
Next, we’ve established you’re funny, but did it reach your market? That’s precisely why you need omnichannel marketing. What is it?
It has multiple forms of marketing tactics. From TikTok to YouTube and Instagram, where your advertisements or posts appear matters.
We don’t want your excellent content to go unnoticed, do we?
Pair your witty statements with lively color palettes to strengthen the impact of your humorous post with color psychology.
Timing is Everything.
We’re almost done. Are you still with us?
This tip deserves another bullet point dedicated to it because your market are from every walks of life and various time spheres. Make sure you’re not stepping on anyone when you say a joke.
It’s better to laugh with your market than nitpick and laugh at them. Create an atmosphere of safe joking and laughing together at certain #relatable moments.
Choosing the Right Type of Graphic
Make sure you select the proper format for your content. Whether its the suitable logo size for your platform or creating a GIF or image for your promotions, the correct type of graphic is one of the most vital tools.
You can avoid looking tacky and present yourself as professional with a wicked sense of humor as a brand.
Careful on the Brand Malignment
Lastly, when you incorporate humor into your branding, ensure it still sounds like you, the brand voice you’ve established.
Don’t forget that you are a brand being funny, not a funny brand promoting their products and services. Whether it’s your advertisement design or website design, make sure that despite being funny, you don’t stray from why you are promoting yourself in the first place.
Market with Humor Today!
Did ya learn something new today? We hope so.
There are various ways to add humor to your branding, but it boils down to this marketing practice:
Humor is a tool to market better, but it’s not what your brand should revolve around.
You have brand values you want to tell people, use humor to give the presentation a creative twist. And if you need help creating such humorous visuals, you can hire a freelance designer or create your visuals through templates like business cards, email signatures, and more.
Happy branding, dear business.
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Written by DesignCrowd on Tuesday, February 28, 2023
DesignCrowd is an online marketplace providing logo, website, print and graphic design services by providing access to freelance graphic designers and design studios around the world.