How to Use Humor to Increase Sales

Using cartoons can help brand your marketing and drive home important messages. Although surprisingly inexpensive to acquire, humor can be one of your most powerful marketing tools.

Humor puts your readers at ease. Readers appreciate a touch of humor in an otherwise overly serious world.

Humor operates on an emotional level, driving home your message in a far more memorable way than words alone. Humor makes sensitive topics more approachable while summarizing and reinforcing points that would otherwise be lost.

Different types of humor work best in different contexts. Many speakers begin with a joke to put the audience at ease, or a story about 'a funny thing that happened on the way to the meeting.'

But jokes and stories are less appropriate for written communications. Jokes can be misinterpreted and depend on delivery and timing for their effectiveness. Stories can take too long to tell.

Cartoons are perfect for print communications. Readers who typically check them out before reading the adjacent articles appreciate cartoons.

More important, cartoons communicate at a glance. A cartoon can attract your reader's attention and drive home an important point in a memorable way.

The editorial page of any newspaper shows how effective humor can be in simplifying complex subjects and driving home a point of view.

Humor also adds a visual dimension to your marketing, differentiating your message from your competitor's. Cartoons encourage readers to look at topics they might otherwise skip.

Where do you get cartoons? One of the best sources is the Cartoon Bank, www.cartoonbank.com. Here, you can license reproduction rights to cartoons that originally appeared in the New Yorker Magazine.

You can select from tens of thousands of cartoons. You can search by topic or keyword. After choosing an appropriate cartoon, you can find out how much it will cost to license it, and then you can download it.

Licensing fees are surprisingly reasonable for most business applications. For example, you can license New Yorker cartoons for use in presentations for just $19.95! For other purposes, the cost depends on where you're going to use it and how many people will see it.

There are, of course, other sources of cartoons. If you see a cartoon you like in a newspaper or magazine, write the cartoonist in care of the publication and ask about availability and pricing. If there is a particular cartoonist whose style you like, contact the cartoonist about a custom cartoon.

This has worked very well for me and I owned total rights to use the cartoon any way I wanted.

Cartoons are great for the home page of your website, newsletters, training materials and presentation visuals.

In each case, the unexpectedness of a cartoon immediately captures your audience or reader's attention and visually reinforces your message.

Here are some suggestions for marketing with cartoons:

1. When in doubt, leave it out. If the cartoon does not perfectly support your point, leave it out.

2. Always add the copyright information described in the licensing agreement.

3. Never run a cartoon without first obtaining a license to reproduce it.

4. Optimization. After downloading, resize and sharpen the cartoon in an image-editing program like Photoshop and export it in the proper file format.

Using humor in the form of cartoons is a powerful way to brand your marketing and drive home important messages to your prospects and clients.

About The Author

Roger C. Parker is the $32,000,000 author with over 1.6 million books in print. Do you make these marketing and design mistakes? Find out at www.gmarketing-design.com

---

How To Become A Sales Superstar And Have Fun Winning More Business - Start Here!

One of the interesting things about being a coach and... Read More

The 7 Deaths of a Salesman

In sales, you can work one of two ways. You... Read More

10 Boundless Ways To Anchor Down More Sales

1. Multiply your marketing and advertising efforts on the Internet.... Read More

Direct Sales and the Use of Clipboards

Do you ever feel that when you are doing direct... Read More

Selling White Space

Almost all Internet Marketers have a basic idea of what... Read More

Visual Science of Selling

Statistics state that 55% of people judgments are made based... Read More

Why More Sales Training Comes Before More Marketing Expenditure

In most businesses, when sales are slow or low, the... Read More

A Great Sales Technique: Be Aware of Sales Myth #5

A myth can best be described as somebody or something... Read More

The Ultimate Think Differently Sales Tip

Sales drive revenues, and revenues drive companies. Companies, then, are... Read More

Stop Selling! for the Million Dollar Contract

During the introduction of the "Stop Selling!" philosophy, we typically... Read More

11 Secrets to Leadership in Sales

In his classic book, "Think and Grow Rich", Napoleon Hill... Read More

If You Respect Them, They Will Buy -- Closing the Sale

We've all had the unfortunate experience of being convinced by... Read More

TheTop 10 Reasons Why Salespeople Get Outsold

In my business, it has been an interesting and very... Read More

8 Sales Lead Generation Methods

I've been getting lots of email from my readers lately.... Read More

Using the Consultative Approach to Gaining Sales

What do we mean by a consultative approach?When you hear... Read More

Marketing Vs. Sales

Marketing and sales co-exist and work in tandem beautifully if... Read More

Why Salespeople Fail

Since 1990 I have focused on the three primary barriers... Read More

Method to the Madness of Training Seminars

I arrive with about 350 other guys. We smile at... Read More

Your Business Approach Can Make or Break a Business Deal

Every sales presentation should start with the approach, or introduction.... Read More

5 Specific Questions Your Sales Letters Must Answer To Achieve The Best Results

Here's a surefire method to guarantee you achieve the best... Read More

Close More Sales With This Very Simple 3 Step Sales Process.

As Financial Services Sales Professional you need to build trust... Read More

Three Secret Keys to Persuasion Magic

Just a few critical distinctions can supercharge your communication skills:1... Read More

Qualifying vs closing

The art of effective question asking (qualifying) determines the effectiveness... Read More

Hello! I Cant Sell!

What's that you say? You can't sell?Oh, you must be... Read More

Say What?!? Sales is a Profession?

What exactly is the sales profession? Without a common dialogue... Read More

Order Takers vs. Sales Professionals

As business owners we all know that in a ideal... Read More

A Sale in 30 Seconds? Its all in the Greeting

It has been said that a customer makes a decision... Read More

3 Tips to Get Clients Now

"I need more clients!" wails Steve, a 32 year old... Read More

Sales Marketing: 10 Amazing Secrets To Sell Any Product Fast.

Implement these smart sales marketing secrets and you'll be capable... Read More

Are You Deaf? Dumb? Blind at Trade Shows?

I'm constantly amazed how otherwise smart marketeers become deaf, dumb... Read More

How A Dancing Horse Can Increase Your Sales

"Yeah right!" I thought to myself as I started to... Read More

Customers For Life

Who's talking to your customers? Is it your competition? Why... Read More

Sales Language: Whats Wrong with But?

Language is one of the most important tools you have... Read More