Top Ways to Use Humor in Marketing

If you’re in sales, then I think you need to use humor. Comedy is a great way to connect with your clients and make you APPROACHABLE. Don’t you feel like you can chat with someone, even a stranger, if they say something funny? Humor makes you an instant friend, so using it in your marketing just makes sense.

There are lots of ways you can use humor in marketing, and I’ll be devoting the next few blogs to humor in marketing. One great way that I’ve used for years is to anchor your humor around a funny gift. I’ve sent food items to the speaker bureau agents who book me, and I include a funny note that ties into the treat. I focus a lot on candy, because it doesn’t matter what age you are, just about EVERYONE on the planet likes candy or they have a kid that they can give it to. I’ve been able to twist just about every kind of candy item into something funny. Some of the fun promos I’ve done include:

funny cigarettes are the only good cigarettes

•  Candy cigarettes with the title “My comedy is smoken”
• Riesen candies with the tag “Top Riesens to book comedian Jan McInnis”
• Goo Goo clusters announcing that “Jan’s been on the Goo Goo with her keynotes”
• Mints alerting everyone that “Jan has FRESH comedy”

I’ve sent these to agents so long that I now get comments I’ve heard from my agents include things like

“I had a craving for chocolate so I opened your letter immediately.” And “thanks for thinking of me and giving me something I can use.”

So tag your marking up to an fun item and you can get people to remember you and get in the habit of opening your packets. It doesn’t have to be expensive, and the goofier the better, but I do have one “rule” for the item that I think is the reason my promotions have been so successful. I’ll be talking about that in my next blog, so stay tuned!