Oct 28, 2014 | 2 minute read 
They say laughter is the best medicine. So can humor improve messaging? It’s as true in marketing as it is in our everyday lives. A 2013 Nielsen Survey of Trust in Advertising showed 47% of respondents note that of all approaches to marketing content, humor resonated best with them. Humor helps us to connect and lower our boundaries.
Liven up your messaging with various approaches to humor including:
Parody. Using parody to improve your messaging is an effective way to infuse some humor in your marketing. Two common ways to use parody are by emphasizing the truth or surprising viewers. There are some inherently funny things about how most of us do business and interact with our clients and/or vendors. Bring those funny moments to the surface. A parody can also surprise viewers by changing expectations.
Interactive Messaging. Marketing doesn’t have to be boring. Find ways to bring an interactive element to your messaging. Some businesses have produced comic books or activity books to get people looking at and interacting with their marketing.
Overstate the Obvious. Exaggerating a basic fact or occurrence can be quite funny. It’s easy to get people laughing when you overstate the obvious and make a mountain out of a mole hill.
Oil and Water. Bringing together two things that don’t generally mix is a great way to get the laughs started. Remember the Sprint commercial where James Earl Jones and Malcom McDowell read teen texts. Their theatrical reads of teen speak, including the words ‘Adorbs’ and ‘Hottie’, were pretty darn funny!
Real Stories…Real Funny. Real stories about how people interact with your product can highlight the human experience which is often very funny. Create a fun atmosphere where you can talk to your customers about how they use your product or service.
Going for the joke can be intimidating. What if you fall flat? If you’re starting with humor for the first time, test it internally to see if it resonates. Humor helps create real connections with consumers. Look for ways to inject humor into your messaging.
