Fun Sells More

In almost every market, fun marketing sells way more than intellectual marketing. I’ve seen example after example where the marketing campaign for a product or service had little to do with the actual product or service they were selling. It had everything to do with capturing the demographics emotions.

Most buying decisions are emotional ones, one way or the other. Capture the emotion of the customer, and you capture the customer.

Think beer commercials. Do they really talk about beer? Or do they talk about fun, sports, parties, adventure, and of course... beautiful women.

Burger King now sells the toy inside the kids meal, not the kids meal. Not even the glass-encased indoor playground. The toy in the bag. Kids don’t like fast food because they like hamburgers. They like fast food because it’s more fun.

Adults are just bigger kids.

The first step to making your marketing more fun is to think about who your marketing to. What do they think is entertaining? And, what draws on them, emotionally? Find a way, however remote it might be, to link that emotion to your company, product or service, and you’ve got the foundation for a winning market strategy.

A word of caution: While customers would rather buy from a company that appeals to their emotions and is fun, they don’t like to buy from clowning idiots. Well, in most cases, anyway. If competence is important in your market, be sure not to sacrifice solidity for silliness.

There’s a definite balance, but it’s a risk worth taking. Especially if all your competition is a bunch of boring stiffs.