Funny business: 7 tips to add humour to your next B2B campaign

Another B2B brand that famously uses tongue-in-cheek humour very well is MailChimp. Above is its 401 unauthorized error message in 2013.

In this example, MailChimp brings together design and copy to make a potentially irritating message fun, while reinforcing the brand’s identity. It uses the same playful language and imagery in its campaigns.

7 tips to add humour to your next campaign

Here are a few tips for peppering your next campaign with humour:

• Use expressive, relatable imagery – whether photography or animation, images are unrivalled at evoking emotion, except perhaps by video
• Use video – people love funny videos
• Have fun with your language – use jokes and puns, and write in a playful and conspiratorial style
• Be informal in your comms – an informal approach to all comms makes your audience feel relaxed and comfortable, creating a greater level of intimacy that’s fertile for humour
• Add a gaming element – gamification is interactive and great for engagement, and games are often funny, just look at Operation or Cards Against Humanity!
• Be personal – know your audience and tailor your cheekiness accordingly, some audiences will be more receptive to certain types of humour than others
• Be surprising – this may sound general, but it’s where creativity really comes into play – how can you elicit humour in a unique and surprising way?

Humour has a role to play in all sorts of communications, whether in your day-to-day exchanges with existing customers or in inbound and outbound campaigns. It’s a risk – you don’t want to look like you don’t take your customer’s needs seriously – but if these examples are anything to go by, it’s a risk that’s worth taking.

Article written by CEO at Octopus Group, Jon Lonsdale, and originally published by B2B Marketing.