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Marketing

09

Jan
2012

One Comment

In Marketing

By Ben

Article Thoughts: Why Humor Belongs in Marketing

On 09, Jan 2012 | One Comment | In Marketing | By Ben

UPDATE: MarketingProfs’ Matthew Grant has been kind enough to provide some thoughts to my thoughts in the comments–now, in the spirit of Inception, let me offer some thoughts to his thoughts on my thoughts….

From my perspective, as marketers, our job is to get the customer’s attention, then begin to provide them with relevant content that will hopefully further generate interest and ultimately lead to a lasting customer relationship.  Perhaps ‘license’ was not the best word choice; my point was more to say that with their interest piqued, I think it’s fair to then provide a call-to-action toward still relevant, but perhaps more product-related content.  Thanks again Matthew for stopping by!

Perusing old MarketingProfs articles, I came across the following by Matthew Grant: Why Humor Belongs in Marketing.

What really caught my eye is  Matthew’s point about the emotional connection humor makes with a ‘blind’ audience.  Quoting from an interview with Tim Washer, Matthew notes that Tim recommends “approaching your video with the goal of ‘entertaining people and generating a little good will'”.

And I couldn’t agree more.  Not only does that entertainment-through-humor make your audience feel like they’ve received something gratis, it has also grabbed their attention.  Now that you’ve got it, you’ve license to begin touting product benefits….

 

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Comments

  1. Hey Ben –

    Thanks for the reading and referencing that article.

    I agree that humor can help grab attention and draw people in, but I don’t agree that, as soon as you have someone’s attention, you have “license to begin touting product benefits.” You may eventually have that license (though you should ask yourself if anyone ever really wants to hear about your product’s benefits) but you really have to build up to that.

    If someone starts paying attention to your stuff, I think that only really gives you “license” to offer them more stuff like the stuff they liked in the first place. If they want to know about your product (rather than your funny stuff), they’ll ask!

    Take care.

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