In the cinematic classic, Man of the House, the title character Ben (played by none other than Jonathan Taylor Thomas), and his mom (the iconic Farrah Fawcett) collect beach trash, I mean, “found objects” for their evolving art collage. If you’re yelling GUYS, WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH HUMOR MARKETING? Thanks for the segue.

This hodgepodge approach is really common when it comes to brands and their messaging  voice. Due to rotating team members, one-off campaigns, contractors, objectives, trials and errors, and “rebrands,” many businesses have a persona that is inconsistent, chaotic, drunk. Over on their Twitter, you see a few cheeky tweets, but then their emails are super serious. Four different employees wrote their website over several years, so it has multiple personality disorder. That new product launch has a completely different tone of voice than their blog. What does all of this mean? Your consumer is confused and put-off. They don’t know what to expect from you, therefore they don’t trust you therefore they won’t buy from you.

Unlike a cool beach collage you make with your mom until she starts dating Chevy Chase, your brand can’t be made up of disjointed, opposing pieces and still be appealing.

The good news: a glorious side effect of humor marketing is that you’re creating a messaging foundation (wait, FUNdation! Not sorry for that) for your brand so that everything you do—everywhere you do it—is broadcast in a consistent, compelling voice; one your people will not just feel entertained by but endeared to.

And THAT’S when you achieve that sought-after holy grail of mofuggen brand loyalty.

Are you saying something as wild and fun as humor is the gateway drug to being seen as a strong, trusted, primo brand?

Does us doing the rain dance from Man of the House answer that? (Yes, the answer is yes.)

So, stop being inconsistent in your messaging. Pick a voice (a fun one) and ride that puppy into the sunset. You’ll have hordes of loyal customers to show for it.