Humor in Copywriting

Use humor in your copy to create that strong connection between people and your brand only humor can create naturally. Make your customers feel part of an exclusive community.

by Monica Di Santi

January 29, 2024

Humor is the ability to find a comic or amusing quality in a situation, action or group of ideas. Humor can help you not only to laugh and have fun but can be a great tool in your everyday life, too.

Humor is a natural medicine that helps you loosen your muscles, keep you younger and stronger to face difficulties in a stressful world, and it can also be a great tool to harvest ideas, overcome copywriter’s block, be more creative and even to improve your copy.

The human mind tends to automate habitual actions and so you easily stick to routine just like getting up in the morning, dragging to the bathroom and brushing your teeth.

To shake your mind, and open up your mind to even absurd ideas, try doing things in a different way.

How about having coffee in the bathroom or brushing your teeth in the backyard?

It sounds crazy but it helps release your mind from routine.

To be creative you have to break routine, take fresh approaches to daily chores. Humor loosens up your mind and and put you in the mood to combine ideas in a funny way..

Laughter is an instant vacation. Milton Berle

Paging comics, reading funny captions and writing your own jokes will help you not only to relax but to be a better copywriter.

So, to produce a humorous pieces of content you need to train your mind everyday like a muscle on your body, to keep it fit.

Laughter can bring a new perspective Christopher Durang

And...

When you start working on a text you should be in a playful and humorous mood and make new ideas flow.

• Let’s combine relaxation and work.

• Let’s read and write jokes.

• Let’s the absurd and goofy ideas spring out from you.

• Let's engage in this kind of craft without caring about the result.

You’ll engage in this kind of craft without caring about the result. This technique will help you not only to stretch your mind but relax and have fun at the same time..

What is Laughter?

Laughter is a psychological response to humor that brings you physical and mental benefits and sharing a joke produces an immediate social bond, showing you feel comfortable in that environment.

Scientists believe laughter makes you healthier because it lowers the blood pressure and increases the oxygenation of the blood.

Laughter also provides you with a natural process to cope with hard stressful situations and negative emotions, and it brings you mental comfort and well being.

Laughter is associated with play and that’s why children laugh much more than grown-ups.

Laughter is a spontaneous reaction to a comic or absurd situation which is provoked by a real situation or a story you have read, and it’ll make you belly-laugh if you see yourself, your profession, a friend, or a spouse in that ludicrous situation.

Write Funny Copy Easily

To write funny copy, you have to train your mind. Read jokes and become familiar with them. You’ll relax, and open up your mind to creativeness. Start writing jokes about what you know and it would be easy to write your first funny copy.

Start with topics such as:

• your profession, business or industry

• your clients, prospects or advocates

• your close relationships

There are several ways to write jokes but you’ll read only a few here as the purpose of this article is not to instruct you in the art of writing jokes but to use some joke techniques as tools to add humor to your copy.

There is little success where there is little laughter. Andrew Carnegi

Joke Structure

When you read a joke the set up premise shows you an ordinary situation you are familiar with, and you automatically associate that idea with other logical ideas anticipating what’s coming (This is what you always do when you read) but...

then, you reach the punch line which makes you relate the first premise to an illogical conclusion or a minor detail you haven’t thought of.

For example:

First Premise

On Monday morning, an editor told his staff copywriters, “I have good news and bad news. The good news is that we have enough money to write long copy.

You anticipate to the next premise applying your logical thoughts, so you connect “bad news” with something going wrong in the company…, but then you read:

Second Premise

The bad news is that COPY is still out there in other copywriters’ mind.”

And this makes you laugh because it surprises you.

Riddles

To write riddles think of a word related to the writing world, let's say reader and write down some:

• meanings

• synonyms

• related ideas

• homophones like reeder.

Then ask a question whose logical answer is the homophone reeder.

Example

Why do writers enjoy visiting textile factories? You can’t find a reason why a writer should enjoy going to such a place unless he or she is writing copy about that. So you give up.

The answer is: Because they love to meet the reeders. This word sounds like the original word (reader)and as it is out of context, the joke will make writers smile.

Goofy Answers

Ask a question and think of a ridiculous, goofy answer.

How can a copywriter beat a writer’s block?

The logical answer that comes to your mind is doing something different, going for a walk, paging at different magazines, attending a conference but...

you never expect an answer such as With a hammer, because it’s foolish and it’s using the word block in another sense.

Curiosity

Why do investors like traveling?

This question is intriguing you and you’ll think of logical answers such as visiting exotic places, meeting new people, experience new situations.

Then comes the answer...

Because they enjoy investing in themselves. The joke plays with the the meaning of the word invest, that generally is used to invest in shares or properties.

Regular Information

Use common information your audience can easily recognize.

What's the most common pain entrepreneurs suffer from?

The question misleads your thoughts as you think about the entrepreneur’s body and diseases.

Then, the answer provides common information all entrepreneurs will recognize immediately though it’s used out of context:

Financial-ache.

Comparison

Make a ridiculous comparison. Check the similarities and dissimilarities of the two things comparedd. Then, create a silly and absurd statement that triggers laughter.

Example

A start-up is like a toddler bumping into stones.

A start-up and a toddler have in common that both are at the beginning of something.

And, at the same time, they are two different things as one is an entrepreneurship and the other is a person.

Comparing them creates a funny statement that engage people.

Twister

To write a twister choose two or three words that sound alike and combine them in such a way that the statement you create turns it difficult to say quickly and correctly.

This salesman sells sails to sail-men who sail in the sea.

How to Use Humor in Copywriting?

Humor in copywriting has to be subtle and tied to the type of humor your audience love. Your [target audience] (https://www.mostprofitablewords.com/en/blog/the-importance-of-knowing-your-target-audience) will easily relate to your joke and and get engaged.

When you use humor in your copy, you're lightening your customers' heart, making them feel relaxed and in a positive mood to listen to what you have to say.

When you're in copywriting pre-writing session, brainstorming ideas, these funny techniques will help you stretch your brain and reach a playful state of mind, boosting your creativity. Writing humor trains you to think about the unexpected and look at things from different perspectives.

You can:

• Brainstorm ideas beyond the logical connections

• Create expectancy and surprise in your copy

• Produce memorable headlines

• Approach a topic from a different angle

• Write a twist at the end of a story

• Jot down catchy phrases

• Turn sharp thoughts into unoffensive statements

Funny and Memorable Copy

Source: Swipe.co

Source:Ads of the World

Source: Pinterest

Conclusion

Don't stick to routine. That takes you to a dead end.

Stop playing safe and challenge yourself. Write some jokes for fun and your business!!!

Humor will help you be in a relaxed and playful mood that will allow you to interact with others in a gently and friendly way.

If you share some of your jokes with your prospects, clients or colleagues you’ll certainly brighten their day and they will remind you as a smiley person.

Use humor in your copy and reap the reward of being listened to, creating a brand community where your customers feel a strong connection to your brand message.

Note: A similar version of this article was published Filbusrt Publication Minnesota.