Get to know kids’ jokes. This is good advice for marketers because kids’ jokes clearly demonstrate the process of creating interest, delivering a payoff and being remembered. It’s good advice for parents too, because they give your children something to laugh about other than poo.

What marketers can learn from kids’ jokes

Talking to children is not that different from talking to adults. They both want something simple they can relate to emotionally and rationally.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

You’re a kid. You’ve been crossing the road since your stroller days. So when someone asks you why the chicken crossed the road, you can clearly picture what a chicken crossing the road looks like. You get the premise. That makes you far more likely to take interest.

Imagine the joke was, “Why did the chicken cross the Bering Strait?” The punchline’s the same and works just as well, but you don’t know what the Bering Strat is so the premise has no meaning to you.

As a kid, you may say something like “I don’t care.”As an adult, you’ll think it instead and move on.The advice for marketers: Simplify your story. Make it relatable.

Knock, knock…?

A knock, knock joke is the perfect example of how to encourage and curate user-generated content. It’s a simple, repeatable con-struct that gives clear space for the storyteller to contribute to the continuing narrative.

Here are four different directions for four different types of kids.

The bookworm

Knock knock…?
Who’s there?
Spell.Spell who?
Okay, okay: W. H. O.

The hopeless romantic

Knock knock…?
Who’s there?
Olive.Olive who?
Olive you. Do you love me, too?

The kid who still wants to joke about poo

Knock knock…?
Who’s there?
I smell mop.
I smell mop who?
Ewwwww.

The future editor

Knock knock…?
Who’s there?
To.
To who?
It’s to whom.

The advice for marketers is to make sure the content creation parameters you set are equally clear, easy and well-designed to let creativity shine. The right concept could go on for years.

What did the big flower say to the little flower?

You can see the little flower with its cute green stem and little white petals standing next to the hairy-stemmed flower with brilliant yellow plumage. And you’re thinking “is there some mind-blowing wisdom this older flower has that I don’t?”

You want to know, don’t you? You have to know. Marketers call this FOMO. It stands for “fear of missing out,” and if you can create it for your brand or product, you’ll have won at marketing.

FOMO starts with need.

In the joke’s case, it’s the need for wisdom from the older flower so you can better understand your future as an up-and-coming flower.

In your case, it might be the most secluded beach in the Caribbean because you need to know what it feels like to truly unplug. Or it’s a data package with the most overage flexibility because you need to never worry about cutting an important conversation short.

Here’s he advice for marketers is to figure out what keeps an audience up at night and give them a way to sleep easier. No one’s gonna want to miss out on that.

Oh, and the big flower said, “Hey, bud.”