Embracing Humor in Your Writing: The Funny Side of Business

Want to make your marketing more relatable? Wondering how humor could help?

In this article, we’ll explore how to embrace humor in your writing.

Why Use Humor in Marketing?

Humor can be a powerful marketing tool that can increase brand awareness an customer loyalty, but many marketers shy away from using it. They worry about offending people or think they're not naturally funny. 

However, Lianna Patch, founder of Punchline Conversion Copywriting, explains that using humor in marketing has several important benefits. First, it makes people feel good and activates the brain's fulfillment and enjoyment centers—like eating ice cream. Humor is a pleasurable experience that can create positive associations with your brand. 

But the benefits don't stop there. Humor also boosts information recall. When you hear information with a joke before or after it, you're more likely to remember that information. This can be crucial in marketing campaigns, where you want your message to stick with your audience.

Another key advantage of humor is that it creates a better rapport with your readers. Humor shows a more human side of your brand, which can help build trust and connection. This can be particularly helpful in customer service situations when you need to break bad news, as people are more likely to forgive you if you've already built a relationship through humor. 

Additionally, humor psychology is an enormous field that's been around for about 100 years. Research shows that using humor as a means of connection has cognitive, social, and emotional benefits. While it might feel scary at first, the upsides can be significant.

Does Humor Actually Convert?

You might wonder if using humor actually leads to better conversion rates. Lianna has seen impressive results with her clients. 

For example, she worked with an eCommerce store that wanted to be the “dollar shave club” of engagement and wedding rings. After adding humorous product copy to their page (without changing anything else), they saw both “add to cart” and purchase conversions increase dramatically. One ring saw a 98% increase in purchase conversions, while another saw a 200% increase in “add to cart” actions.

If you think your industry or company is too boring for humor, think again. Comedy can be applied to almost any field, even those traditionally considered serious or technical.

For example, Lianna worked with a stormwater compliance monitoring software company. This company dealt with seemingly dry topics like measuring rainfall and pollutants. Despite the technical nature of the business, Lianna helped them incorporate humor into their weekly email newsletters about compliance news. When they surveyed their readers, 85% said they preferred the funnier emails.  

Lianna also worked with the environmental compliance software company Mapistry, for which she created a humorous landing page called “Retire Spreadsheets,” highlighting the benefits of their platform over traditional spreadsheets.

The page included jokes like “We're going to take your spreadsheets out behind the barn” and a button to “kill a spreadsheet.” This approach made a potentially dry topic more engaging and memorable, allowing the company to differentiate itself in an industry that might not typically use humor.

While there's usually a way to incorporate some humor to make your marketing messages more effective and engaging, you might still be unsure of making the leap. Lianna says what stops people from using humor in their marketing boils down to two fears:

• Fear of trying: Many people worry they're not naturally funny or that humor won't work for their brand. “People think of humor as something that they receive, like, it's to be entertained, but they've never given thought to what their personal brand of humor might be or what even resonates with them,” Lianna says. Start small and experiment. You don't need to be a stand-up comedian to create humorous campaigns.
• Fear of offending: This is a common concern, especially for brands dealing with serious topics. Be mindful of what your audience finds funny. Start with safe forms of humor like observational jokes about industry frustrations or mild self-deprecation.

Having some guardrails in place and understanding why you're doing what you're doing is key to creating humorous marketing campaigns. 

In many cases, being the only brand in your industry to use humor can be a significant advantage. It can make you more memorable and relatable to your audience and make you stand out. 

As Lianna puts it, “Why wouldn't you want to be the one brand in your industry that is trying humor? It would be so easy. Like the bar is on the floor, right? You could just step one step above it, make a little bit of a joke, and you would immediately be more memorable than your competitors.”

For example, Lianna worked with a wholesale sprinkler supply store. For this client, she created a series of abandoned cart emails featuring a fictional character named Kyle.

Instead of a generic “You left items in your cart” message, the emails told a story about how upset Kyle was when the customer abandoned their cart, gradually escalating Kyle's distress in each email. This approach turned a routine abandoned cart email into something humorous, memorable, and engaging, getting positive customer responses even years later.

#1: How to Start Using Humor in Your Copy

If you're new to using humor in your marketing, get curious about your own sense of humor. Think about what makes you laugh. Lianna suggests five main types of humor:

1. Wholesome and goofy: Think cat memes, people falling (but not getting hurt), and funny animal videos. It can be affiliation-based humor, humor that makes you feel safe.
2. Lowbrow and crass: This includes poop jokes and sex humor.
3. Highbrow and intellectual: These are jokes that require some knowledge to understand, like language puns or math jokes.
4. Dark and morbid: Think Wednesday Addams-style humor.
5. Absurd and surreal: This humor doesn't always make logical sense, like “Garfield Minus Garfield.” It's where Garfield is removed from all the Garfield comic strips. What's left is just Jon, Garfield's owner, talking to himself.  This is absurd humor—it's funny because it's not what we expect from a comic strip.

Most people enjoy a mix of these types, with one or two being their favorites. Figure out which types you like best. This can help you understand what kind of humor might feel natural in your writing. 

Remember, you don't have to be an expert in all types of humor. Start with what you enjoy and what feels authentic to you. This will make it easier to incorporate humor into your copy in a way that feels genuine and relatable to your audience.

If you're worried about your humor matching your company's brand's style, here's what to do:

First, remember that it's easier with founder-led brands because there's less separation between personal and brand voice. But for bigger companies, you can still make it work.

Think about how you want the copy to make people feel. This is often overlooked in conversion copy, where you usually focus on what you want people to do. Ask yourself:

• How do we want readers to feel as they read?
• Are there parts where readers might feel anxious?
• Could a joke help relax them in those spots?

When presenting the idea to higher-ups, frame it as a strategy. Suggest starting small:

• Try humor in just one small area first.
• Don't propose a full rebrand with humor.
• Maybe start with a single campaign, not the whole brand.

This approach can help you introduce humor gradually and show its benefits without making big changes all at once.

To figure out your sense of humor, try these simple steps:

• Think about your favorite TV shows. What makes you laugh at them?
• If you watch comedy shows, which comedians do you like best?
• Remember what made you laugh as a kid. Was it comic strips, funny books, or something else?
• Look at the email lists you're on. Which ones do you enjoy reading?
• Think about brands you like. Do they use humor? How?

When you look at these things, ask yourself:

• Do they make fun of themselves?
• Do they joke about everyday things we all see?
• Are they offensive, like Cards Against Humanity?

Humor isn't just “funny” or “not funny.” It's more like a scale. On one end, you have very offensive humor (like Cards Against Humanity). On the other end, you have boring, corporate talk. Most people are somewhere in the middle.

You don't need to be super funny. Even being a little warmer and more lighthearted can make a big difference. 

Where to Use Humor in the Marketing Funnel

Lianna offers some guidelines for incorporating humor into your marketing efforts. She suggests using more humor in places where you have a more personal connection with the reader. This includes emails, some social media posts, and anywhere you're talking one-on-one with your audience. People expect a more casual, personal tone in these spaces.

However, be careful when using humor in hero sections and home pages. These areas are crucial for quickly explaining who you are, what you do, and why people should care. Adding humor here can complicate your message. As Lianna explains, “It's so hard to explain who you are, what you do, and who you do it for, and why they should care in like the 0.5 seconds you have for someone to read your headline on your homepage.”

One effective way to use humor is to “turn the pressure valve down” and ease anxiety around conversions. While you want some anxiety to drive action, humor can help make the process feel less intimidating. Lianna suggests, “You don't want to just make them feel like everything's great.” Instead, use humor strategically to address concerns while still encouraging action.

Another good place for humor is around objections people might have. This can help address concerns in a friendly, approachable way. For example, you might joke about common fears or misconceptions about your product or service, like “Ever notice how hot it gets in Texas? It's so hot that your packages are melting on the porch before you can grab them! It happened to me just this morning. Annoying, right? Well, we've got a fix for that. We made a package cooler that sits right by your mailbox. No more melted deliveries!”

Finally, Lianna recommends rewarding people who read closely by adding humor to body copy, photo captions, and text under buttons. 

#2: How to Put Humor to Work in Your Copy

When you're ready to add humor to your copy, start by identifying the problem you're addressing. This is often a great place to inject humor, as you can make light of your audience's frustrations. 

For example, let's say you're selling a healthier alternative to soda. The product has no calories, sugar, or artificial sweeteners. The problem: People want a healthy drink that keeps them awake but are afraid it might taste nasty.

Here are some ideas for adding humor:

• Make jokes about how bad other health drinks taste. For example: “Tastes better than ten raccoons rotting on a trash heap.”
• Joke about guilt from drinking regular soda: “Feel good about your drink choice for once!”
• Make fun of too much caffeine: “Won't make you feel like Thor punched you in the heart.”
• Poke fun at artificial sweeteners: “No aspartame—so you won't become a lab rat.”
• Joke about boring healthy lifestyles: “One treat that won't ruin your diet parade.”
• Compare caffeine sources: “Sip your energy instead of shaking like a jackhammer.”

When presenting your solution, use humor to address your audience's lingering concerns or objections. For example, to make light of health concerns around your healthy alternative to soda, you could say something like, “Whether you think aspartame is fine or pure evil, you can avoid it just to be safe.”

Remember to be specific in your humor. The more specific and unexpected your punchline, the funnier it often is. Instead of a generic joke, try creating something unique to your industry or audience. And when crafting your sentences, put the funny part at the end. People are geared to wait for the ending, so this is where your punchline will have the most impact.  

Here are some practical tips to help you put humor to work in your copy: 

First, write your copy “straight.” Create your emotion-backed, research-backed copy as you normally would. This ensures you're still hitting all your key points and marketing objectives.

Next, read it out loud and pretend you're talking to a friend. Notice where you have impulses to make jokes or asides. These are natural places where humor might fit well. As you read, look for missing “connective tissue” between points. These gaps can be good spots to add humor. 

When adding humor, aim for no more than one joke per paragraph. This helps keep your copy focused while still adding humor. Lianna advises, “Always cut the joke if it's getting in the way of the conversion.” Remember, the primary goal is still to convert your audience. Humor should enhance your message, not overshadow it.  

Types of Humor to Try

Lianna recommends two “fail-safe” humor styles for beginners: observational and self-deprecating. Observational humor points out something weird or unusual happening in the world. It's about finding the funny in everyday situations. 

Consider Jerry Seinfeld asking, “What's the deal with airplane food?” It's something you never really thought about before. But when he points it out, you suddenly realize how strange it is. Or how comedian Sebastian Maniscalco takes small, everyday moments and makes them funny. 

Observational humor is safe because it creates a sense of shared experience with your audience. It doesn't offend anyone.

Consider what you love and hate about your industry to see if there's room to poke fun. But be careful not to “punch down” someone with less status, reach, or power than you.  

For marketers, this could mean poking fun at common industry frustrations or challenges, like “Why is it so hard to get help from Facebook? It's one of the biggest social media platforms in the world! Aren't we all using it? You'd think some of those billions of users could answer my questions!” 

Or, let's say you're joking about social media algorithms. You could say, “Why do we make great content that no one sees? It's like the algorithm is out to get us!”

Then, you can make the joke bigger and funnier. This is called “heightening” in improv. You start with a minor frustration and blow it up: “First, you post something. Then you're checking views every minute. Next thing you know, you're wearing all black, lighting candles, and chanting, ‘Oh mighty algorithm, please show my post!'”

Self-deprecating humor, however, involves making fun of yourself lightheartedly. This can help you seem more relatable and approachable to your audience. 

However, there's a fine line—you don't want to go too far and make people uncomfortable. Stay away from physical traits, as these can make people uncomfortable. Instead, focus on temporary things or quirks in your behavior or work. For example, Lianna once joked about her outfit on stage (wearing a green dress, leggings, boots, and a big amulet), saying she looked like Link from Legend of Zelda. 

If you're an email marketer, you could say something like this: “Hey, Sarah, I know you get 5K emails a day, and I'm not important enough to be the only one you read. But I hope I'm important enough to be the one you really love.”

What if Your Humor Doesn't Work?

If you try using humor and it doesn't seem to land, don't panic. Don't let one negative response stop you from trying. The people who respond with deep offense probably weren't your target audience anyway.

However, if you start offending your actual target audience, that's when you need to recalibrate. 

In such cases, asking your audience what kind of content they want to see from you can be helpful. Then, think about how you can make those topics funny. 

Remember, finding your brand's humor style takes time and practice. Don't be discouraged if your first attempts don't work perfectly. Keep experimenting and refining your humorous approach. The goal isn't to turn your marketing strategy into a comedy routine but to inject personality and relatability into your messaging. 

Doing so can strengthen your connections with your audience, make your brand more memorable, and potentially boost your conversions. So go ahead and try adding a little humor to your next marketing campaign—your audience might just thank you for it.

Other Notes From This Episode

• Connect with Michael Stelzner @Stelzner on Instagram and @Mike_Stelzner on X.
• Watch this interview and other exclusive content from Social Media Examiner on YouTube.

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