Balancing Humor and Professionalism in Business

Do you think the marketing material you use is a little too drab? Perhaps it requires something to liven it up a little. Have you considered humorous art? Art is a great way to add a little bit of fun to your otherwise dry business marketing material. And there is nothing better than humor to brighten someone’s day and to get them excited about your product or service.

Why use Humor?

Humor gets you attention. Everybody loves a good joke, and why not? Jokes make people feel good about themselves, it makes them happy and look forward to the rest of the day with a twinkle in the eye.

Humor used in commercials does wonders for your branding. When people feel happy and good about themselves because of  humorous material used with a product or service provided by your business, they tend to associate that feeling with your brand itself.

In effect, humor, when used well, is one of the most powerful viral marketing strategy you can have for a product. Ask yourself – which commercials are the most popular and get talked about the most in your office? Surely, those are commercials that use humor in them?

Humor is Infectious. Humor goes Viral.

People share humorous commercials and talk about them with friends and family. They become a part of several water cooler conversations at the office. When humor is used effectively in a commercial, it spreads like wildfire in college campuses around the world, as well as on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social networks.

Humor creates a viral loop around your product, spreading the general awareness about it from 1 to 1 million (or more) in little time, because of the power of the internet and the social media.

One of the most popular recent advertising campaigns that went viral, using a combination of humor and art was Oreo – The Daily Twist, which involved creating one new humorous ad every day for 100 days, as a part of Oreo’s 100-year anniversary. You can check it out here and see what it’s all about.

Does Using Humor Indicate a Lack of Seriousness?

Now, does using humor to project your business in a more fun and interesting way have a flip side to it – are you worried, in particular, that your business may not be taken seriously if you have cartoons on your websites, representing your products or services?

Certainly not! Disney has always been associated with cartoon characters – but it is one of the biggest media and entertainment companies in the world. It is important to understand the professionalism and humor are not opposites. They are certainly not mutually exclusive.

However, it is very important to know when to use humor and when not to. There are certain situations where using humor in the marketing material would be wholly inappropriate.

There is a strict list of “Dos” and “Don’ts” when it comes to using humor:

Don’t use foul language – Your humor should be family friendly and appropriate for children as well, as you cannot restrict anyone from watching your ads. That’s why using foul language in the ads is a strict No.

Don’t use crude humor – Your humor should be fun, interesting and make people happy about themselves. It should not be crude, vulgar or obscene. What’s worse, such humor gives a bad impression about your business.

Don’t try to be funny all the time – Don’t overdo the humor; don’t try to be funny at any cost. Humor should come naturally, it shouldn’t be forced. Forced humor never works out well.

Do use professional and well done images and content – Always get your marketing material – content and images – done by top professional artists. Use high quality images and content. Anything less would reflect badly on your business.

Don’t bad mouth other companies or public figures – Never bad mouth other companies or famous public figures in your commercials. Negativity can never help you sell a product; it only creates a foul ­taste.

Tread carefully when it comes to politics or religion – Politics and religion – stay away from them completely, if that’s possible. Your job is to sell a product or service, not to make a statement about religion or politics.