In a crowded market, it’s incredibly important that your brand stands out and shows personality, which means April Fools' Day is a prime opportunity to do just that.
However, it comes with a degree of caution – and common sense.
When ideas are being thrown around the boardroom, it’s easy to get caught up in the camaraderie of a good laugh. However, it’s hugely important to keep your head screwed on when considering what’s funny, and what’s not.
Your List of Do’s and Don’ts of April Fools' Day Marketing Ideas
Do Make Fun of Yourself – If you can’t laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at, right? When done correctly, brands that show humility are seen as more honest and trustworthy. It humanizes your brand and shows that you’re real people behind the logo.
Don’t Make Fun of Your Customers – While it’s okay to point the finger at yourself, don’t do it at the expense of your customers. Similarly, don’t make fun of your competitors, either. If you do want to create some banter between yourself and another brand (think of the fun Twitter feuds between fast-food chain Wendy’s.), it’s something that needs to be planned and prepared ahead of time. Reach out to the marketing department and Social Media Managers at the other company and discuss this fun approach and set some ground rules!
Do Embrace Recent Trends – There are enough new internet trends each week for your brand to jump on, so take advantage of the ones that resonate with your target audience. Sound bites, dance trends, in-jokes – take your pick.
Don’t Joke About Controversial Topics – It may be obvious, but any April Fools' Day marketing efforts linked to politics, legal cases or recent warfare, are not going to end well. Just don’t do it.
Do Have Fun – Have fun with your April Fools' Day marketing! Humour is a very powerful marketing tool.
Don’t Push Sales – Urgh, there’s nothing worse than a poorly disguised sales push. Of course, you should add a gentle call-to-action (CTA) to your website or real products, but don’t use this opportunity to be too gimmicky.
April Fools' Day Content Ideas
Launch A New (Ridiculous) Product
This is where you can get creative. What would be an absurd product for your company to sell? Take examples from Google announcing its newest addition to search technology – Google Nose. or Open Table’s App introducing ‘Lickable Photos’ to taste restaurants prior to booking.
Make a Fake Announcement
Like the time ski website snowsbest.com announced that resorts in the USA will enforce skiing limits.
Surprise Your Customers in a Good Way
Offer an incredible discount on or around April Fools' Day and insist that ‘this is no joke’. Provide a free gift at checkout or an impromptu sale on select items. It’s a fun twist within the genre of April Fools' Day marketing.
So tell me, which one will you try?
Birdsong Marketing provides marketing services to businesses of all sizes in Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney, and beyond.
From hyper-local clients to multi-million-dollar operations, Marketing Strategist & Founder, Alison Jones leads the creation of marketing strategies based on the goals and objectives of your business, as well as the facilitation of the tactical parts of putting your plans into action. Learn More >
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