Humor: The Marketing Ha-Ha Hack Your Brand Needs to Engage Audiences

Your product or service will help determine whether or how much humor you can incorporate into your marketing.

To get the most out of comedic marketing, consider defining how much you’ll use humor in the earliest ideation phases of creating your identity. Of course strategically shape your humor by making sure anything funny or funny-adjacent is actually relevant to your brand.

If you’re past that early ideation phase, don’t worry, there are still plenty of ways you can start gently incorporating comedy in your marketing to engage audiences in a new way.

What To Watch Out For

Humor is highly subjective. We might have overlapping senses of humor… and it’s possible that one of us could find a joke tasteless while the other enjoys the spiciness and takes no offense.

Humor doesn’t always translate internationally, and even what we take for granted as funny in the US may mean something very different overseas! Do some research if you’re going to promote your work outside the U.S.

The kind of humor you incorporate is truly dictated by your brand identity and should take your ideal client into account. Define what your people love. What do they want to feel relief from and how might that intersect with your brand? Either of those might be a starting point to incorporate comedy in marketing.

The Most Common Comedy Structure

There are many ways to tell a joke or deliver other forms of hilarity, but one universal structure is to first set up a normal world and then surprise the listener with a quick, cat-like pounce. That punchline can come from subverting a common assumption, exaggerating, or using contradictions, for example. If the humor is well-crafted, you’ll feel surprised. Noises might come out of your mouth.

The basic structure is set-up, punchline, tagline. To set-up the joke, set the scene in the so-called “normal world.” Land the punchline, the unexpected pounce, and maybe add a tagline.

Use Funny Memes in Your Social Media Campaigns

Consider using memes as part of your campaign strategy. Since they’re lower cost to produce, memes are a great way to experiment with humor, especially if you’re new to using comedic marketing.

Whether it’s illustrated or photo-based, a meme is really a digital update of a single panel cartoon. It packs a lot of information into one frame using an instantly understandable visual and a few concise words. They’re impactful when done right.

Why It Works

If you’ve just met someone who makes you laugh, you’ll remember them affectionately.

Comedic marketing also works best when it stimulates a real emotional connection and when your strategy is aligned with your brand.