Using Humor in Your Pawnshop Marketing

If you have ever met me, even just once, you probably realized that I joke around… a lot.

It’s how I communicate the best. Laughter is an incredible tool to help bond a group of people – and it’s also an incredible tool to use in marketing.

But – how do you pull it off?

That’s what this article is designed to help you with. How to be funny in your pawnshop marketing. Well, I can’t make you funny. You either have it or you don’t.

I can help lead you in the right direction, though.

But, before we get into that, we need to figure out who your customer actually is…

Create Your Target Audience

Have you ever met Pawnshop Pete before? You’ll probably say no, but he’s actually one of your customers. In fact, he’s your best customer ever. That’s because Pawnshop Pete is what I call the ‘target audience’.

He is your ideal customer in a perfect world. He picks up his pawns. He has disposable income to buy your merchandise. He loves the pawnshop. He tells all of his buddies about you. He’s interested in guns, tools, electronics, and he has a wife who loves jewelry.

If you had 200 customers just like Pawnshop Pete, you’d be on a beach somewhere in Mexico sippin’ margaritas 200 days of the year. That’s how good Pawnshop Pete is.

Pawnshop Pete is the one person that you want to run all of your marketing ideas through. He’s a made up customer that is the combination of only your best customers.

In my pawnshop, he’s a 45 year old male, he has kids, and he may or may not be married. 

This is my target audience. The person that I run every piece of content I create through.
If I’m thinking about creating an event, I ask myself – would Pawnshop Pete attend this event?

If I’m making a meme to post on Instagram, I ask myself – would Pawnshop Pete laugh at this meme?

If I’m sending out an email newsletter, I’m tailoring it specifically for Pawnshop Pete – the 45 year old male.

If you want to have any success with your marketing at all – you must define your target audience first, then filter anything you do through that person.

Now that we know who we’re marketing to, let’s decide how we’re going to talk to them…

Create Your ‘Brand Voice’

Take a moment right now and think about how you talk in conversations.

Are you a little country? Are you more professional? Maybe you’re the one always cracking jokes. Whichever category you land in, the point is that your voice is unique to you. You do not sound or converse like anyone else.

You’re different. You have personality.

Now – if that’s true, why are you using such a boring and monotonous voice in your marketing? Why are you trying to copy every boring company out there and use their exact same marketing strategy?

You are different! Be different!

Find your voice and USE IT in your marketing. The pawnshop is one of the most interesting

places in their world. Make your marketing just as interesting!
Now that you’ve defined your target audience and found your voice, it’s time to get funny.

The Do’s and Don’ts

Like I said earlier, I can’t teach you to be funny. You either have it or you don’t. I can, however, give you some guidelines to keep you in check while you try out being funny.

Because here’s the deal – humor walks a fine line.

What’s funny to me, might not be funny to you.

What’s funny to you, might be insulting to someone else.

Here are a few rules I follow in marketing with humor to make sure that I stay within bounds:

DO: Joke About Current Topics

Let’s face it – the world we live in is funny.

There are so many things that we see and share on social media about current topics or headlines that are just downright hilarious.

For example:
The internet went crazy over Tiger King on Netflix in 2020. Which led to…. You guessed it—Tiger King memes.

Literally all day, everyday.

To stay current and funny in your marketing, you would have taken a popular Tiger King meme

and tweaked it to say something about pawnshops. Easy enough!

That’s how you stay current with your marketing while also adding humor. Find what everyone is talking about, put your store’s twist on it, and repost.

DON’T: Joke About Politics, Religion, or Divisive Issues

Do you play Fox News in your pawnshop on the TVs or CNN? I choose neither.

Do I have an opinion? Of course! But in business, I see one color.

Not red. Not blue.

But green.

Politics, religion, and if you’re in my state – Alabama and Auburn football, have no place in business, and no place in your marketing.

Don’t take sides. Don’t joke about one side. Simply don’t post anything that could divide your followers. It’s not worth the few laughs someone might get out of the joke.

DO: Poke Fun at Your Staff

Your staff can be a great resource for social media content, as long as they are on board with it. I use my staff often in social media posts and our fans love it!

We do a ‘Wall of Shame’ pretty regularly on our Facebook page where we highlight something dumb that one of our staff members took in on pawn.

Like I said before, just make sure your employee is ok with it. You could even pull them in on it and help you come up with some funny copy for the post.

DON’T: Make Fun of Your Customers

Never, ever, ever make fun of your customers.

Not on social media, not on camera, not on the phone. Never.

We are currently living in the world of Cancel Culture where if you do something like this – you run the risk of someone taking it the wrong way and ruining your business entirely.

Your business is not worth a social media post. Never do this.

DO: Think Like a 6th Grader

Remember 6th Grade? There’s a fine line between a 6th Grader and a 7th Grader.

The typical 6th Grader still has a little innocence left before they head to the next building for Junior High. Once they hit 7th Grade though, it’s all over.

With humor in marketing, it’s often best to think like you’re in 6th Grade – not 7th Grade. Keep your jokes clean, fun, and innocent.

Think like a 6th Grader. Keep your jokes funny, but clean.

DON’T: Be Obnoxious

Unlike the 6th Grader, the 7th Grader is downright obnoxious.

Dirty jokes and foul language fill the halls of Junior High School. Obnoxious jokes have no place in your marketing.

Here’s a good rule of thumb if you happen to be a church-goer: Would my Pastor laugh at this joke?

If the answer is yes, you’re probably good to go! If it’s a no, you might want to rethink it.

To Wrap Up

The best advice I can give now that you have the guidelines in place? Just go try something.

Using humor in marketing takes work. It doesn’t come easily.

I guarantee you that for the next 50 posts you make while trying something new – you’re going to get less than 10 likes on each post. Don’t let this stop you. 

10 is greater than 0. You have to keep pushing through.

No one nails it the first try. Or the 2nd try. Or the 3rd try.

Keep trying new things and keep pushing out content. Overnight success does not happen overnight.

 

 

 

Tyler owns Pocket Pawn in Ozark, Alabama. You can learn more about him and subscribe to his awesome emails at pocketpawn.com. Follow Pocket Pawn on Facebook and Instagram.