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The CMO's Guide To Using Humor In Marketing
What humor is, at its worst
- The wrong joke at the wrong time. It can make your brand look amateurish and unprofessional.
- If people think you’re cracking jokes for the sole purpose of getting more attention, you’ll be seen as exploitative rather than funny.
- Humor can cheapen certain ideas or make them be taken less seriously.
- In some cases, humor can be outright offensive.
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Humor at work
Being funny can have both positive and negative consequences, in your personal as well as your professional life. And context is always important: when making a joke, for instance, you should defin...
Humor and its effects on the status
Humor and status have always been tightly linked: good leaders seem to often use humor in order to motivate their team members' actions. As individuals, we tend to prefer, researchers claim, jokes that make us laugh while feeling slightly uncomfortable.
Furthermore, we perceive the joke teller as a self-confident person, who could easily become a leader due to his or her courage to make such a joke. The key point here is that the joke should be appropriate and match the context.
Inside jokes
Making inside jokes usually shows how bounded a team or a group is: their jokes can understood the best by themselves.
However, the moment an outsider integrates the group, it is better to avoid the inside jokes, as this will most probably make him or her feel out of place.
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Humor in social media
Adding humor to your social media strategy can be a great way to get people’s attention.
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5 tips to help you get started
- Ask yourself WWJD? (What Would Jerry Do?) Take an everyday situation and ask yourself, “What’s funny about this?”
- Keep it clean. Steer clear of controversial topics and jokes in bad taste.
- Use your wittiness to compete against big budgets.
- Just because your company is serious doesn’t mean all marketing has to be. Poke fun at yourself by doing a parody of your company or your industry.
- The best humor comes naturally. Experiment by recording video interviews with quirky customers and employees.
Being Funny Is a Risk
- Some people might not appreciate your company’s brand of humor. Make sure the humor fits.
- Being funny may not work for healthcare, financial services or any highly regulated industry.
- Try using an online survey to test your attempt at humor against an internal audience before you send it out.
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“In workplaces that encourage people to be themselves--that are less hierarchical and more innovative--people tend..."
Michael Kerr
Why humor is a key to success at work
- People will enjoy working with you.
- Humor is a potent stress buster.
- It is humanizing.
- It puts others at ease.
- Ha + ha = aha! Humor is a key ingredient in creative thinking.
- It helps build trust.
- It boosts morale.
- People who use humor tend to be more approachable.
- Humor can allow your company to stand out.
- It can increase productivity.