They say laughter is the best medicine, and for your marketing strategy, that just might be true. Many businesses—small and big alike—try to avoid humor in marketing for fear it might turn sour with the public.
But if used appropriately, humor can be a great marketing tool to help grow your company. Still not sure? Check out some of these ways humor can help your marketing campaigns, and even a few tips to get you there.
Clients Remember Your Business
When a person finds something funny, their brain triggers endorphins that encode the joke into their memory, which is why adults can remember things they found funny in their childhood.
If a business utilizes humor or “AHA!” moments in their marketing strategy, consumers automatically recall that event much easier than other marketing campaigns.
An “AHA!” moment works like the punchline of a joke—you’re thinking along one line, when suddenly the joke switches course completely.
For example: “What type of bow can’t be tied? A rainbow!” In this joke, one is initially thinking of bows in terms of yarn or string, but then the “AHA!” moment occurs when the line of thought switches to a rainbow.
Humor in your organization’s marketing campaign can help you be more memorable to potential clients.
One tip to accomplish this: Deliver company data with a punchline. Poke a little fun at yourself or your business, while still being sure to market your products and services.
Clients Trust Your Business
When clients find humor in your marketing strategy they’re prone to smiling and laughter, which makes them associate happiness with your company. This causes clients to like your business even more, which then leads to trust in your products and services.
Using appropriate jokes in marketing can lighten difficult situations, add joy to usually boring topics and create a sense of mutual humor. When clients have a shared happy experience with your organization, they will be more likely to trust your knowledge and expertise in the field.
For example, take the brand Clorox and one of its recent commercials. A little boy carries his potty trainer down the hall (and spills its insides everywhere) to show his mother how proud he is that he went potty.
Using a situation that consumers can relate to, adding humor to it and then telling how your product can help, will lead clients to be confident in your business.
Clients Align With Your Business
Just like with trust, using humor can build a relationship between your business and the consumer.
It creates an alignment between both parties: You have the same struggles, experience the same surroundings, enjoy the same pastimes etc. Ever met someone funny who seems to get along well with everybody? Yea, just like that.
Pop-culture references can be a great way to align yourself with consumers. This can be a fine line, so be confident that marketing jokes are appropriate and cannot be taken out of context before utilizing them.
For example, many companies have been taking advantage of the current presidential race to showcase their products (e.g. Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts and their commercial of pop-tarts campaigning for president).
Having a mutual joke to share between your clients and your business builds the relationship and encourages a sense of unity. Consumers believe that you understand them and therefore want what’s best for them.
When it comes to your marketing campaigns, set your business apart through humor.
Not only will consumers remember your brand, they’ll also trust and align themselves with your company. After all, a little laughter goes a very long way.
For many of us, summertime means relaxing beside the pool and soaking up the sun. It’s full of lazy days that are great for individuals, but can breed bad news for small businesses.
It’s been called the “summertime slump,” as many small businesses experience a decline in sales during the hot, lazy months. So how can you combat this slump?
By staying current in marketing strategies, of course. Check out some of these top recommendations on how to boost sales and market your business over the summer.
Campaign Events
Community events are a considerable opportunity for you to promote your small business to constituents. These can be in-house or part of an outdoor event already happening in the community, (e.g. a county fair, festival, trade show etc.) Be sure to take advantage of fun summer themes.
Try handing out popsicles with flyers at a local parade. This way, not only do clients learn about your company, but they also remember you through a fun occasion.
Make sure to promote any campaign events your small business is having via email marketing and social media, and offer specials and summer sales promotions to get clients in the door. By hosting campaign events and being a part of community functions, your organization will gain recognition, leads and sales.
The Holidays
Summertime is full of holidays like Father’s Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day that your business can utilize in marketing. Invite customers to come in by sending themed emails, newsletters and social media posts centered around the holiday. You could even offer special holiday sales and “freebies” for customers to claim so they can celebrate with your company.
One example of a holiday marketing technique is a social media contest. For instance, your business could ask clients to send in their best pictures from Father’s Day, then draw a winner from the respondents to gain a free service. This is a great way to gain followers, leads and boost sales. By utilizing summer holidays and getting constituents involved, customers feel valued and important.
Promotional Products
A classic branding marketing technique involves sending out promotional products for consumers to see and recognize. These can saturate the market with your brand and increase client recognition.
Examples that work well for summertime include vinyl banners, posters, handout flyers, stickers, magnets and door hangers. Use products like these to promote your business, any event or sale you may be having and your mission.
Since summertime can get pretty hot and sweltering, you can even create some more fun and unique promotional items, such as can koozies, sunglasses, T-shirts, fans or water bottles. These get your brand name out there to potential customers and can continue to promote your organization even after summer ends.
The “summertime slump” is a real issue for many small businesses—but it doesn’t have to be. If you stay active and current in marketing strategies throughout the summer, you can fight the slump and even increase sales.
Still, remember to continue with these practices throughout the rest of the year so your business can profit and really make it out of the heat.
When it comes to online marketing, an effective landing page is critical.
These pages draw visitors in and help generate leads for your business, yet generating a successful landing page can be more difficult than you think.
If you’re struggling to create an effective landing page for your business, check out these top 10 super awesome tips.
1. Be Consistent
Make sure to keep the messaging between your ad and landing page consistent. Use the same language and images to create a predictable and relevant user-experience. No visitor confusion means better lead generation.
2. Keep it Clean
An effective landing page should have a clean, organized design. Its goal is to create the easiest experience possible for your visitor. Keeping the design crisp and neat will make it more effective for your visitors and drive lead conversion through the roof.
3. Remember Less is More
When it comes to landing pages, be a minimalist. Visitors don’t have time for wordy language or an over-stimulating design. Provide the bare minimum information necessary and minimize distractions. Keep it simple because in this case, less really is more.
4. Stay Colorful
Colorful is wonderful! Different colors can evoke different emotions among your visitors, so be aware of those your landing page uses. Stick to a palette that works well with your business logo and is aesthetically appealing. Use color to draw attention, but don’t get too crazy.
5. Be Unique
Your landing page should not—we repeat—should not be your website’s home page. Once a visitor arrives, it’s your job to keep them there. Remove the main navigation, and keep available options minimal in order to avoid distractions and create more lead-generation.
6. Keep It Short and Sweet
When it comes to lead generation forms, ask only for the information your business really needs. The fewer fields you have, the higher the conversion rate will be.
7. Be-YOU-tiful
No one wants to click on a page and read a company’s entire life story. Make sure your landing page’s language is you-centered. What can you do for the client? How can you make their lives easier? Put yourself in the customer’s shoes and envision how your business can benefit them.
8. Go Mobile
Nowadays, nearly everyone has a smart phone, so it’s important for your landing page to be loadable on the go. Be sure your page can convert to mobile-friendly, is easy to navigate, loads quickly and is ultra-clickable. Where your visitors go, your landing page should also be.
9. Stay Social
Social media is everywhere, and your business can be, too. Include social media sharing buttons on your landing page that encourage visitors to share your content and offers.
10. Create a Call to Action
The final step is your Call to Action (CTA) button. Avoid terms like “Submit” or “Finish.” Think of your CTA as an “I want to” button.
Visitors are much more likely to say “I want to… Choose A Plan!” verses “I want to… Submit.” Strong, clear and fun CTAs can be the ultimate difference between a bounce and a lead-conversion.
In this technological age, online marketing can be a deal breaker for a successful business.
Make sure yours is up-to-date by creating effective lead-generating landing pages, because where visitors land there’s a lead.
There’s something captivating about visual media. The movement has been able to capture our attention through cinema, commercials, music videos and more.
Your company has the power to capture video and captivate your audience.
Sure, you could hire a video company and pay tons of money to show off your business. Or, you could use these tips to make a professional looking marketing piece with video.
Step One: Define Your Purpose
Videos can be used for comical relief, to show off a new product up close and from different angles or for shooting your very own commercial.
Identify how exactly you’d like videography to play a role in your marketing efforts. If you’re using a multi-channel marketing method, consider ways to integrate video into your plan.
Step Two: Make a Road Map
Set some deadlines and determine how you’re going to achieve your end video result. Do you have the equipment to shoot something or will you need to seek outside help? Make sure to determine a beginning, middle and end to your video. Have a progression and stick to it. This is also the right time to write out a script once you’ve determined the purpose.
Step Three: Pick a Camera
Back in the day if you didn’t have high-tech, expensive equipment you were out of luck. These days, you probably have the tools you need in your pocket or within reach. Smartphones have the capability to shoot high-quality video.
Or, you could use a traditional video camera or a DSLR camera that has video capability. Don’t feel like you need to spend top dollars on finding equipment that has technology you don’t even need.
Step Four: Find Talent
Don’t search too far and wide for talent; while you want to make sure the actors are quality, there is often hidden talent right under your nose. Some of your employees might double as community theatre performers. It’s a small world—chances are that somebody knows somebody who could help. If you’d like to have some fun with it, host auditions.
Step Five: Edit
The editing process doesn’t have to be difficult. Most computers today come with applications that allow you to quickly piece together videos, even if you have no prior training.
Don’t forget to add a call to action at the end, even if your video is just for fun.
The most simple call to action would be your company’s website URL featured at the end of the video.
Step Six: Release to the World
Now is where your social media efforts come in. It’s time to turn your video out into the world. You can do this by posting it on various social media channels and your website.
You could even host a contest to get people to share.
