Laughter is good for the soul. And it’s pretty good for your marketing efforts too.

There are many things I’m thankful for growing up in the family I did. One thing I’m particularly thankful for is the sense of humor and play instilled in me by my dad. We enjoyed a wonderful relationship, pranking each other, sharing new jokes and looking for the humor in everyday things in life.

That grainy picture is him in a happy moment - I miss him everyday.

I remember a cold, snowy Saturday morning in my hometown of Prineville, Oregon when he asked me to grab the newspaper off the front porch. Sitting on the couch, watching cartoons, I didn’t want to get up from comfort of the warm blanket. But I wanted to be helpful, so I did eventually get up – in my tighty-whities I might add. I opened the front door to get the paper when all of a sudden, he got up and pushed me outside right into the snow. Face down in the snow, I was shocked…then ticked! But then he followed right after me, dove in the snow and we started a snowball fight. Since it was so cold, and I was in my underwear, It didn’t last long. We then went inside, dripping wet, grabbed some towels and spent the next hour or so talking and laughing over a cup of hot chocolate in our little kitchen. He took a boring Saturday morning and turned it into a lifelong memory.

I’ve worked hard to pass this sense of humor and laughter on to my family too. From her pretending to be arrested to me staging the theft of her car as a teenager, my daughter and I have been exchanging ever-increasingly elaborate April Fool’s jokes on each other for years (I’m still waiting to see if she got yesterday’s prank). And, once we get the “gotcha!” moment, we are brought to our knees with laughter. We’ve created memories in those moments that will stay with us for the rest of our lives.

As professional marketers, I wonder if sometimes we take ourselves, and our profession, too seriously. Are we not looking for the humor and fun in what we do? It is marketing after all.  Yes, we are solving serious business objectives with creative marketing solutions. But, as my mentor told me years ago when I was a young advertising agency account executive, “no one dies in marketing, Timmy.” It’s an important profession but it doesn’t have to be a serious one.

So, as you explore your marketing efforts, take a little time to look for the humor in the day-to-day.

Engage your team in some fun.

Tell a “Dad joke” and listen to everyone groan.

Encourage a creative-only day for members of your team.

Or start a snowball fight that no one is expecting.

Whatever you do just might ignite a new way of thinking and produce a creative marketing solution to the serious business problem you’re trying to solve.

Have fun!