Why Humor Might Not Be Your Best Strategy

I want to tell you about a mistake most people make when it comes to marketing and the reason why I generally caution against it ninety-nine times out of a hundred.

HUMOR

What I am referring to is (you probably already guessed it) humor. People make a huge mistake using it in their ad campaigns thinking it will make things easier. While it’s great at getting attention, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will sell. In fact, it makes it even harder to sell.

Humor in other instances is used to make rather serious conversations lighter, funny perhaps. Implementing humor into your ad campaign makes it funnier and helps gain attention.

But that is not the purpose of ad campaigns; ad campaigns are designed to sell, not to entertain people. Those who use humor often forget this point.

During the process of gaining attention through humor, another problem occurs.

HYPOTHETICALLY

Let’s say you pull it off, and the campaign is actually funny. 

Most of the time, people don’t even remember what the ad was about in the first place.

In many cases, the ad you run by spending huge amounts of money becomes a meme for the viewers—something to laugh about. Viewers should remember your product both when they see your ad and after seeing it.

While there are instances where humor works out for a few brands, it is a very difficult thing to do effectively.

EXAMPLE: Old Spice Ad 14 Years Ago

Let’s take an example of an Old Spice Ad 14 years ago: 

“In this case, the ad humorously claims that using lady-scented body wash is something no man would want. The absurdity of labelling every competitor's product as "lady-scented" is funny, and the ad gets away with it because of the humor. The reason it works is that the actor completely owns the role, delivering it with effortless arrogance and charm.

This 30-second commercial is with rapid transitions: from a bathroom to a boat, then to the actor wearing a sweater, holding tickets, presenting oysters, showing diamonds, and finally being on a horse. These seamless changes create a memorable and engaging experience.”

If you paid attention, you might realize that it is completely dependent on the actor to make the campaign work, which is quite a risky situation to put yourself in. When you consider using humor, ask yourself if you can pull off something this elaborate. The answer is probably no. Even with all the right elements, humor often still falls flat. Understanding this takes me back to my point.

FOCUS ON SELLING

Being funny doesn’t necessarily sell stuff. Do you know what does?

Selling sells stuff!

Make sure that you focus primarily on selling rather than being funny or entertaining because it's a hard thing to do and potentially leads to unnecessary complications in the selling process.

Sticking to what works and using proven strategies is by far the easiest way to make sure you don’t complicate the selling process and avoid unnecessary risk. 

If you're curious about how we can implement this strategy specifically for your business, get in touch with us:

Or

Schedule a call: https://calendly.com/affluencemedia01/discovery-call