Be a Clown: Using Humor in B2B Marketing

Humor is a powerful marketing tool, but making it work can be tough for B2B marketers. After all, what’s funny about warehouses, processors, supply chains, and microchips?

But humor can be applied to the B2B world in effective ways, particularly with video. Humor humanizes B2B brands, invokes positive emotion, and rewards your audience. People love you when you make them laugh. 

But how do you get it to work for you? Cisco’s social media manager, Tim Washer, has some pretty great insight on that. He takes dry technology and turns it into comedic gems. The process goes something like this:

First, make the case
Go back to the marketing strategy and see where humor could fit. Big product launch? Upcoming tradeshow? Videos are simple pitches. They can be sent to the news media, consumers, purchasers, and other influencers through an easy YouTube link. Map a video into the marketing plan for a specific event or time. Set the bar low with expectations. Don’t expect the video to deliver massive ROI.

Find someone who believes in comedy
In the B2B world, comedy often gets shot down. It doesn’t look as great on paper as it plays out in the author's head, and most of the marketing team won’t contribute good ideas or grasp the concept. The key to overcoming resistance is to find a prominent person in the company who believes in comedy. Approach that person with your script. If all else fails, keep the budget low, gather a team, and spend your resources to sell the first one.

Create a concept
This is the fun part. If you don’t consider yourself very comedic, you can find inspiration in some of your favorite late night humorists: Conan, Letterman, SNL. They’re all great first stops for guidance. Get yourself in the most absurd mindset you can.

Comedy comes from the truth in pain. Don’t point fingers at other companies. Rather, think of common industry gripes. Locate the problem, and then exaggerate the consequences of the problem. For example:

Set expectations
You are not going to get a lot of page views for a B2B video. You should use it as pitching material for your PR department. CrossOver’s video pitch to several tech writers for Macworld was genius:

This Valentine’s Day video from Cisco grabbed headlines in the New York Times, Network World, and elsewhere:

Find the amateurs
Go to a local film school or the media department at the university. Students are often great storytellers, and they are less pricey than the professionals. Look for long-form improv clubs, and find comedy writers to help you construct a script.

Laughter is the best ingredient for selling anything. But in the B2B sector, it isn’t easy to pull off. Add character to your dry subjects. Look at these videos for more examples, and try to think of your own ways to make humorous videos support your brand.

What are some additional examples of humor being used effectively in B2B marketing? Have you tried using humor in your own B2B marketing? How did it work out?

Related posts:

• Five Dos & Don'ts for B2B Video
• Time to Cut Groupon's Marketers Some Slack
• A New Age of B2B Marketing

— Constance Aguilar is the leading social media strategist at The Abbi Agency.