Two doctors walk into a bar… oh, no, that’s not where we’re going.
We often say humor is the best medicine. Stand-up comics say humor is a coping mechanism or, if you will, a trauma response. The Ancient Greeks believed that their Gods spent days laughing on Olympus. Funny, huh?
Doctors say: don’t joke about health! But does that mean doctors should always keep a serious face? Well, while you certainly don’t want to laugh at your patients, there’s nothing wrong in trying to make them laugh and cheer them up a bit when you sense the circumstances allow it. And this goes beyond the walls of your clinic: humor can be a great tool in attracting new patients and building relationships.
In healthcare marketing, humor helps humanize your brand, build your voice, connect with the audience, and encourage people to approach their health without fear and anxiety. So let’s explore its further benefits and see how you can make humor part of your healthcare content approach!
How Humor in Healthcare Marketing Benefits You
Humor can capture attention and make healthcare content more relatable and memorable.
It’s Attention-Grabbing!
Humor naturally draws in the audience, making them more likely to pay attention to the content itself. For instance, a funny cartoon or a witty headline can spark curiosity and encourage patients to delve deeper into the topic.
It’s Relatable!
By incorporating humor, healthcare content can resonate more with patients, making it feel more personal and less clinical. Relatable humor can bridge the gap between medical professionals and patients and help demystify complex or intimidating topics.
It’s Memorable!
Content with a humorous twist is often easier to recall. The brain tends to recall positive and entertaining experiences more vividly, which can help retain important health information.
It’s Engaging!
Humorous content is more engaging and enjoyable, leading to higher readership rates. Patients are more likely to read through an entire article or watch a full video if it is entertaining.
How Humor in Healthcare Marketing Benefits Patients
Humor in healthcare marketing can alleviate fear and anxiety caused by health conditions and medical procedures.
It’s Relieves Stress!
Humor can serve as a coping mechanism (those comics aren’t all that wrong, huh?), helping patients manage the stress and fear associated with medical diagnoses and treatments. A light-hearted joke or a funny anecdote can diffuse tension and create a more relaxed environment.
It’s Distracting!
Laughter and humor can divert attention from pain and discomfort, providing a mental break from anxiety. Whether a patient is scared of needles or anxious about the upcoming test results, distraction is very welcome when dealing with the issue at hand.
It’s Joyful!
We don’t have to tell you this, but laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals (that’s what we like to call them!). What’s more, humor can decrease levels of cortisol and adrenaline too! (Again, we know you know.) Consequently, this helps improve mood and the immune response, create a sense of well-being, and promote healing.
How Humor in Healthcare Marketing Improves Communication
A little bit of humor has a lot of power: it can break down barriers between doctors and patients and encourage a more open dialogue. It can also make complex medical information more accessible and easier to understand.
Case in point: a few years ago, I had to have my wisdom tooth taken out. Now, I’ve never had a tooth taken out before, so, naturally, I was a bit nervous. My dentist seemed a bit annoyed as I’d tilt my head away every time he’d try to approach the tooth. Finally, he said: “Honestly, you act as if you’ve never had your tooth taken out!” In return, I said: “Well, doc, you’ve seen my jaw, can’t you see they’re all still there?!” And so, we shared a laugh, he became more understanding of my situation, and approached it differently to accommodate my anxiety.
Main takeaways from this exciting moment of my life? If a patient makes an “I’m scared” joke, go with it! Or, if you’re inspired, go for it first. Oh, and if at all possible, do tell your patients that they can go for as much ice cream as they want after the procedure!
Building Trust with Humor
Using humor in your content marketing can make you appear more approachable and human, differentiate you from the competition, and help you foster trust with potential patients. Humorous explanations or anecdotes can turn dry, technical information into engaging and easy-to-understand content, improving patient education and interaction.
Ultimately, this will encourage your patients to share their concerns and ask questions they might otherwise be too anxious or shy to bring up.
How to Use Humor in Healthcare Content
While the best strategy to use humor in content is to be creative and act on inspiration, we know that it’s not an approach that works on command. On the other hand, ensuring that humorous elements are proper and respectful towards your audience requires some strategizing.
So let’s explore some tips and tricks that’ll help you dip your toes into the online sea of funny!
Humor Doesn’t Always Equal Jokes
Rest assured, we’re not asking you to become the next George Carlin. Humor in healthcare content doesn’t always rely on traditional jokes, and there’s no need for a punchline. You can integrate humor into your tone of voice by using informal language on social media, playing with hashtags, or including a pun when and where appropriate (we’re #TeamPuns over here!).
Think of humor as a way to make your content more engaging and approachable, rather than aiming for laughs. A light-hearted comment or a witty observation can make your content feel more human and relatable.
Add A Bit Of Spice to Your Content Headlines
You can still create a very informative content piece and make it fun (or funny!) for the audience. Crafting a playful title and subheadings can transform an otherwise dry topic into something intriguing and entertaining.
For example, instead of a plain title like “The Importance of Regular Exercise”, you could go with “Get Moving: Your Couch is Not Your Best Friend”. This approach captures attention and sets a friendly, approachable tone right from the start.
Include Personal Anecdotes into Your Storytelling
Personalized content always performs well because of its ability to invoke relatability. To draw your audience into the story, you can start by telling a funny anecdote that fits the topic (see: the dentist story featured above!) or embed it throughout the story to keep the interest alive.
For instance, sharing a humorous story about a common health mishap can make your content more engaging and memorable. When doing so, make sure not to reveal any Personal Health Information (PHI) or make fun of your past and current patients. Keeping the stories light-hearted and respectful ensures they’re both entertaining and appropriate.
Try Your Luck with Memes
Are memes a thing of the past? No, they’re really not. Memes are still one of the most viral and memorable online formats. You can make custom ones or visit one of the many meme template directories online and try creating some funny content following the template style.
Memes can be a great way to convey health tips or highlight common patient experiences in a humorous way. For example, using a popular meme format to illustrate the importance of vaccination or the common struggle of trying to eat healthily can resonate well with your audience and encourage sharing.
And for the orthopedics out there, while knee pain can cause serious issues, people are known to alleviate the symptoms with a pain-related joke. How do we know that? Well, just google “knee pain meme” and see for yourself! And here’s a fine example from a doctor’s perspective:
Include Cartoons and Animation
Cartoons and animation are a helpful tool in simplifying complex medical information and presenting it in an entertaining manner. Animated characters or cartoon strips can guide patients through a process or explain a medical concept in a way that’s easy to understand and visually appealing.
One of our all-time favorite animated accounts is Natural Habitat Shorts, a great account that uses illustrated animations, great storytelling, and humor to educate us about wild animals and their interesting traits. It’s no healthcare, but we can all take away some great marketing and storytelling lessons from it!
When You See An Opportunity, Take It!
In the world wide web of humorous healthcare content, this tweet takes the crown:
Follow this fellow doctor’s example! When you see an opportunity to inject humor into your content, take it. Whether it’s a tweet, a blog post, or a video, a well-placed joke or humorous remark can make your content stand out and connect with your audience on a deeper level.
Mistakes to Avoid in Healthcare Marketing Humor
While humor can be a powerful tool in healthcare marketing, you must tread carefully to avoid missteps that can alienate or offend your audience. While these may sound obvious, we couldn’t sleep if we didn’t underline them, so here are key areas to steer clear of:
Don’t Joke About Serious Patient Conditions
Humor should never come at the expense of patients’ conditions or experiences. Making light of serious illnesses, patient behaviors, or common phobias and anxieties can be deeply insensitive and damaging. These topics are often sources of significant distress for patients and their families, and jokes about them can undermine trust and compassion. Instead, focus on humor that uplifts and reassures patients, making them feel understood and supported.
Don’t Joke About Doctors’ Competency
The competency and reliability of healthcare professionals are paramount. Jokes about doctors being tired, not getting enough sleep, or making mistakes can erode patient confidence in their care providers. Such humor can inadvertently suggest a lack of professionalism or diligence, which can be particularly harmful in a field where trust and impeccable focus are essential. Instead, highlight the dedication and hard work of healthcare providers in a way that respects their professionalism while still being approachable and relatable.
Don’t Run Away from Giggles
Using humor in healthcare content, when done thoughtfully and sensitively, can significantly improve patient engagement, reduce anxiety, and improve communication. Nonetheless: it requires a careful balance to ensure that humor is appropriate and effective in conveying important medical information.
Will it work for your healthcare business? You’ll never know until you try! If this area is new to you, take it one step at a time. Include your witty team members into the brainstorming conversation, consider ideas, and try some of them out, see what happens. Finally, a good lesson to keep in mind is: not all content is supposed to have a funny twist.
And there you have it: now go, test, track, analyze and optimize!
By understanding your audience and applying best practices, humor can help attract more patients, build trustworthy relationships, and create a more positive and impactful patient experience.
Need a sidekick in measuring your healthcare marketing efforts? SocialClimb’s healthcare marketing analytics platform helps you centralize tracking and reporting of all crucial KPIs in a HIPAA-compliant way. From conversion tracking to patient acquisition cost and healthcare marketing ROI, you finally have an opportunity to truly understand your marketing investment and make data-informed decisions that help yield better results and higher profitability.
