B2B Content and Humor: A Match Made in Marketing Heaven or Hell?

“Thou shalt not tryeth be funny in thy content,” said God as he revealed the Ten Commandments of B2B content writing. 

(Not really!) 

Yet, for some odd reason, B2B content marketers always shy away from humoring their audiences with content. They don’t consider humor to be a part of their content-market fit. 

But why? Mind begs the question, especially when countless B2C brands have seen and continue to see success with humorous content. Snickers, Red Bull, and Netflix, are some of the many B2C brands that do humour just right. But B2B content, for the most part, is no-nonsense, to the point, and at most, conversational. 

Although slowly, more B2B brands are experimenting with funny content and enjoying success. But is a B2B content strategy centred on humour for everyone? Should you use humour in B2B content writing? 

Should You Use Humor in B2B Content Writing?

B2B content writing is bland for one very simple reason – marketers target businesses, not people, which they believe is a “serious business.” 

B2B marketers also have a smaller target market, unlike B2C brands. So, it makes sense to deliver content that ticks all the necessary pain points of business owners without playing around with puns, memes, and GIFs. 

But who is consuming the B2B content these businesses put out? Who is making the purchase decisions? The CEOs, founders, and other leaders all are people, and they all react to emotions. 

Most B2B marketers tend to focus on empathy, compassion, and happiness as building blocks of good marketing copy. But they forget humour is just as important an emotion for winning in marketing.

Yes – that’s a tall claim, but there’s ample evidence to prove it.  

According to Buffer, audiences respond positively to humorous content. They engage with it more, and they share it more. So, if you’ve decided not to use humour in your content, you’re risking the chance to bag a unique competitive advantage. So, to answer the question – yes, you should use humour in B2B marketing.

Why Should You Use Humor in B2B Content Writing?

Okay, humour gets people hooked, so I should use humour in my content. Is that it? Share memes and exchange ‘knock knock’ jokes? 

Well, yes and NO.  

Let me give you some concrete facts that back up the usage of humour in B2B marketing. 

#1 Humor Makes an Impact

There are no quick wins when it comes to B2B content marketing. Instead, it is a long, long quest to build strong relationships and increase brand familiarity. So, many marketers use this long buyer’s journey as an excuse to avoid humorous content, fearing it may fail.

On the contrary, humour brings a feel-good factor to the content. It can help you create highly compelling marketing messages. 

Do you know the often-quoted psychology fact? “If you want to be likeable, make people laugh.” That rings true in marketing as well. 

When your audience finds value in your content while also chuckling here and there, they are more likely to remember your brand. And the initial good impression leads them to return for more and even share your content with their peers. 

That’s a win for brand recall and content recall as well. 

#2 Leading B2B Brands are Already Doing It

If you’re wondering, what’s the right time to create and publish more humorous content? It is now. There will be no perfect time to do so. 

Today many brands are experimenting with humour and enjoying significant online following and an actual increase in revenues. 

Whether it is Slack’s Euphoria campaign, Zendesk’s Alternative, or MailChimp’s Did You Mean MailChimp – you have many peers to take inspiration from. So many B2B companies using humour have normalised casual content among niche B2B audiences. So, being funny will hardly be out of touch if you do it right.

Here is how Slack communicated the benefits of using its app in the Euphoria campaign:

#3 Changing State of B2B Ecosystem

B2B companies are moving towards digital transformation at a greater pace, especially post-pandemic. As B2B buyer journeys are becoming increasingly digital, building relationships with buyers is a huge challenge. 

Content can effectively build an audience, and humor is an excellent differentiation tactic. In fact, around 48% of buyers say they are bored with contemporary B2B content marketing and look forward to more creative and humorous content from their brands. If you do it right and your audience relates to it, humor can give you a distinct but recognizable brand voice. It can help you make boring topics come alive.

How to Use Humor in B2B Marketing?

Humor in content marketing has benefits, yes. It is a perfect time to begin with humorous content, yes. But being funny is hard. Hell, finding content ideas in general is hard. 

However, even the brands you see as examples of success have gone through several rounds of trial and error to perfect humorous yet helpful content. But — you don’t have to. 

Here are some proven ways of using humour in B2B marketing. 

1. Distinguish Appropriate from Inappropriate Humor

The reason why B2B brands shy away from humor is not only because it’s challenging, but it’s risky as well. First, the audience may not see eye to eye with what you find funny. Second, it is too easy to offend someone and get cancelled in such volatile times. 

So, as a marketer, you must understand what is appropriate humour and what is not. Here is how you can avoid crossing the fine line between being funny and being offensive:

• First, identify humour that resonates best with your audience.
• Even if a small portion of the audience seems to be wary of your kind of humour, it is better to fold than face even the slightest backlash.
• Identify situations when you may or may not need the humour to convey your message.

2. Play with Words

You do not always have to tell a joke to be funny. All you need is wit and an element of surprise. Clever writers know how to play with words and humour the audience with even the slightest wit. 

Use metaphors, word-plays, puns, cultural references and anagrams in your writing to catch your audience by surprise. It will not only make for a light-hearted moment, but you will earn brownie points for your creative, original content. 

Here is how MailChimp gives Sherlock Holmes reference without being unprofessional:

3. Be Casual in Your Approach 

If you take your usual to-the-point corporate-style content and sprinkle bits and pieces of humour, your content will feel out of place. So, start anew and be casual in your marketing content. 

Use a friendly and conversational tone in writing, so there is more room to play with humour. Being casual also allows you to use quirky fonts and memes and crack jokes without being off-putting.

To Conclude

Whether humor and content are a match made in marketing heaven or hell depends on how you use humor in B2B marketing. If you randomly crack jokes, you may not get results.

So let humor come naturally, learn from what audiences think is funny, and good B2B content shall follow.