11 Ways to Make Marketing Fun Again

If your job says something about marketing in the title and you fret over things like bounce rate and ROI, have no fear – marketing is not, and should not be, a death sentence. Contrary to popular belief, marketing isn’t always dry and repetitive. In fact, it shouldn’t be — specially in 2019, as we meet and get to experience more and more technological advancements and products to help us expand our platforms. 

At N2Q, we try to never take ourselves too seriously. We remember that our potential clients are real people, and contrary to popular belief, just because they might always have on their work hat, it doesn’t mean they wouldn’t appreciate you having some fun with them in the process.

Here are some simple ideas to bring a new life to your marketing campaigns.

Marketing Professionals can be funny, too!

People appreciate understanding that you’re just like them, even when it comes to customer acquisition and brand recognition. We love to see professionals let their hair down and have some fun. Show people that you’re comfortable enough with your marketing knowledge to poke fun at yourself, or others, and their confidence in you increases drastically.

Our favorite example of this is creating unique and entertaining 404 pages. When a page is broken, the default language is something like “404 Page Not Found”. Obvious, and boring. Here are some cool examples that show people you have a sense of humor, even amidst a common annoyance (and SEO killer) like a broken page.

We loved this 404 page from Bluehost, cheesy joke and all:

Run some contests

User-generated content is a big, fat easy button. It will increase your shares, which will increase your brand awareness. And that’s content that you didn’t have to hire out, or pay someone to do. Just off the top of our head:

• Post a photo (related to your biz, or not) and ask people to submit their best caption or create a unique and hilarious meme. You can give the winner a coffee card, a product you offer for free, or offer a killer discount on your services that they can brag about.
• You can also run a photo or video contest, where people need to post/submit their own entries with a common hashtag – and you pick a winner from there. People are competitive by nature, so make it fun and easy and use it to your marketing advantage. You can even add extra “entries” for social media shares… did someone say brand reach?
  

Ask the Experts

Interview someone in your field, and make sure that you have a good balance of business and fun in what you ask and the responses they give. No one wants to choose to read a stuffy interview on work time… keep them engaged.

Don’t be shy: Ride the Coattails of High-Quality Content

Stealing is never cool (and alway illegal), but re-sharing or curating great content is always ok when it’s done properly. Find an article you love, and link to it with a brief synopsis or opinion on it. Not only are you putting up relatively easy content, but you’re creating an opportunity to network with the writer of the original content. Shoot them an email and let them know you loved and shared their piece with a few thoughts of your own. They may be happy to mention you on social media, or feature your share of their share (we know, it sounds complicated. But it’s a scratch their back and they might scratch yours kinda deal).

Lists

Many people love lists. If you’re not sure what you can do to capture attention or increase engagement on your site, whip up a quick “top 10 list” of something your customers would be interested in. Insider tip: make it an odd numbered list. Like, maybe 11 Things… somehow, someway, people respond better to these random numbers. Maybe because it drives them crazy and they just have to know what drove you to create this random… we don’t really care about the psychology behind it all, but we sure like the benefit.

Lunch & Learn

We had an associate that would invite us to their office quarterly for a “Beers & Biz” networking event. They kept it pretty small and intimate, but we formed some great new connections during those events. Meeting new people is fun, right? Give creatives a great brew and watch the marketing world come unglued. Some great ideas were born in those meetings… and some not-so-great ones, too. But, we digress.

Collaborate

Speaking of beer & biz, don’t be afraid to collaborate. Even if the partnership isn’t something that would provide an immediate return, you never know the value and credibility it could bring your company in the future.

Gamify your site – and make sure you’re mobile friendly

Think Foursquare… check in to your business, and enjoy a perk. This won’t work for everyone, but if would be something that your audience might enjoy, make it happen. Own a pet store? Add a feature on your website to check in via Facebook, and give those people a free bag of treats for their furry friend.

As for the mobile-friendly mention above: if your site isn’t mobile-friendly, stop reading this post and send us a message to make that happen immediately. Quickly, before Google notices. If you’re not sure if your site is mobile-friendly, pull it up on your phone. If you can’t see any of your elements, or if you’re having a hard time navigating from your iPhone, you have a different issue than anything featured in this blog post. This should take immediate priority.

Be everywhere. 

This is mainly for new companies or startups, but seriously… don’t be shy. We have fun/random/creatively hand-drawn N2Q stickers to put on our laptops, notebooks, desk, car, to leave on the table when we all go out for happy hour. Our favorite is a hand sketched turkey sandwich that you can see on our site here… the sticker version is the best. It usually raises eyebrows, but we don’t mind: it speaks to our humble beginnings, and we love the conversation starter it provides. Some other ideas, that are so 2018: 

• Custom Popsockets
• Coffee mugs or water tumblers
• Bumper stickers
• T-shirts

Get creative, and don’t hesitate to hand these out for free everywhere you go. These may not show you an immediate ROI, but your name will be floating out there for everyone to discover. Marketing that lasts forever.

Be weird.

The best example of this is Dollar Shave Club. As Neil Patel mentioned, they spent $4,500 to create this video, which currently has 24 million views on YouTube. Wut. They gained 23k followers on Twitter, 76k Facebook fans and 12k customers in 2 days from this particular campaign. Weird? For sure. Smart? Absolutely. They win.

Think about this: why do you watch Super Bowl? I mean, for football of course… but for the commercials, right? Why? Because most of these beloved and known companies step outside the traditional marketing box, let down their hair, and get a little weird. It’s a crazy, outlandish battle of the wits and arguably the best part of a (non-Seahawks) SuperBowl.

Creative Content Wins

Again, we’re going to look at Dollar Shave Club (they just do it right). Although they sell razor blades, their blog is a wide range of entertaining topics geared toward men – barbecuing, shower beers, and “A Gentleman’s Guide to Eating Fruits and Vegetables”. This content has absolutely nothing to do with their bottom line, except for creating a loyal fanbase that keeps coming back for more and keeps them actively on Google’s radar.

Are you wondering which tactic you could run with? We’re here to help you make marketing fun again. Comment below with your favorite ways to keep marketing fresh, or drop us a line to chat about this with our team.