I recently saw an ad on Facebook from a marketing coach who was marketing to marketers. He used a clickbait headline about how content marketing and funnels are dead. I immediately saw the irony, and so did a good percentage of his audience. The comments were a real grab bag, with some advocates and some who called him out. This got me thinking about the fine line marketers walk with irony. In this Marketing Tip of the Week, let’s talk about where we draw the line with irony – when it works and when it looks like you’re trying to trick your audience.
Let’s be honest. Marketing and sales have everything to do with psychology. We need to introduce people to our products and services, warm them up to the idea, and help them understand if they want or need what we are selling. As with any impression you make in life, how you make an impression with potential customers does matter.
As with any impression you make in life, how you make an impression with potential customers does matter. #business #smallbusiness #smallbiz #smb #biztips #marketing Share on XI am a believer in taking a service-based approach to this process. At the end of the day, when you are speaking with the right audience, your offerings are helping them. However, in order to cut through the noise and the distractions, in order to build the trust and exposure they need to feel comfortable with you, a whole lot of psychological principles are at play. As marketers, we are smart to tap into them.
In all of the decisions we make, we are trying to get attention, hold attention, and nurture. Every message and element of a message we put out there is part of that process.
So, the fine line that gets drawn with respect to the specific tactic of irony is certainly a debatable one. We all have different personal preferences. That said, of all marketing tactics, taking an ironic approach seems to be one that causes a visceral reaction.
Let’s go back to the opening example. This marketer used a bold headline about how content and funnels are not the way to go. Where was the irony here? Well, he was using a paid ad to get people to click through to a landing page that would likely try to get them to opt in…to some sort of content and his funnel. We all knew it. He was marketing to marketers. Most of us had clocked him already.
But he pretended we didn’t. He pretended we had it all wrong. There wasn’t a wink and a nudge. Whenever someone pointed out the irony in the comments, he would respond noting that his ad wasn’t content, it was a paid ad. He was arguing semantics, but the point was moot anyway. Because where do those people go who click on the link? Into his funnel.
The lack of transparency rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, and they were vocal about it in the comments.
People are smart. Yes, we are all susceptible to psychological triggers, the kind that are loaded into any design, word choice, tone, or even the body language we use. But if your audience finds out that you are tricking them, how will they feel about that?
Does irony always have to be bad? Of course not! It’s all about how you use it.
I have seen others use irony and have it work beautifully! Someone I enjoy following – the savvy Amy Porterfield – has an online course about how to create an online course. It’s brilliant. She doesn’t taunt you, she teaches you. Those who spot the irony can simultaneously learn and appreciate what she is doing on a meta level.
As another example, I once saw a video from a speaker named Jim Francis who delivered a speaker training on how to sell from the stage (watch here). It was an educational talk showing professional speakers how to be better speakers. Throughout the talk, Jim used psychological selling tricks on the audience while explaining honestly what he was doing in teachable moments…and the tricks still worked. Every time he used one of the tricks, when the audience caught on you would hear a revelatory, “Ooooohhhhhhhhhhhh!!!” and they would applaud him.
Irony is a complex tactic to use. You can insult your audience and drive them away or amaze them and make them respect you.
Irony is a complex tactic to use. You can insult your audience and drive them away or amaze them and make them respect you. #business #smallbusiness #smallbiz #biztips #marketing Share on XLet’s go back again to the first example. Did the guy who refused to acknowledge his approach with the clickbait headline get a lot of comments on the ad? Yes, he did. It was controversial, and the controversy certainly led to significant engagement on the ad. And yes, the more comments and engagement, the more reach he was going to get. So, yes, his approach may have given him more visibility as is often what happens when we use controversy.
But as with any controversial approach, a significant portion of those who commented were unmasking him publicly, using explanations that were educated enough to make me want to learn from THE COMMENTERS instead!
At the end of the day, psychology is a factor in marketing and sales. There’s no shame in that. There’s nothing inherently wrong with it. It’s a factor in our everyday conversations, too. We naturally look for best practices and the ways to produce best results whenever we are communicating with people.
But when you use irony, watch out for what side of the line you are on! If it looks like you are trying to trick your audience, you may be driving people away.