“Professional” is such an overused and subjective term.  What works for one market or business may be inappropriate for another.  Something funny to you might be offensive to someone else.  Nothing gives your company marketing director more heartburn than having to be the "taste police” and ask you to take down your video.

Still, with so much competition for your clients’ time and attention, it takes a strong creative effort to cut though the clutter to make a positive, memorable impression and generate a response.  Personally, I think its possible to have fun with it and still stay on point to position yourself as a trusted professional.  After all, people do business with people they like.  Most clients in your marketing database got there through a good past relationship  – they like you already.  So,  just be yourself.

A few words to the wise:  It’s always smart to first run your video past a few people that you trust to share an honest opinion.  Its also good to take a step back and ask yourself how your message may effect other people in your company and their marketing efforts.  After all, posting your video to most hosting platforms, like youtube, makes it available to the public.  Your video could be someone’s first impression of the the company -  and that someone could be a co-worker’s potential customer.   Of course, you should ask your manager and/or your company’s marketing officer for an ok before sending it out. 

I thought I’d share my thoughts on a few funny marketing videos…

I really like this one.  It’s witty and well executed.  She has a nice voice too:

I like this one too.  It’s funny and fits well to promote this type of fun event.

This one… not so much (although I suppose it might appeal to anyone that might like their realtor to throw themselves down the stairs):

OK, so what’s your opinion on this subject? 

The mortgage broker-share of home loan originations hit a new low of 12.9 percent in the third quarter, according to an exclusive survey from National Mortgage News.   The publication said loan originators funded a total of $443 billion in the third quarter, with retail lenders grabbing 48.3 percent of the market share and correspondent lenders accounting for 38.8 percent.    more…  

  THE WORD ON LOAN BROKERS: "A lot of firms have no interest in our broker research," said David Olson who runs Access Research of Columbia, Md. Earlier in the year Access was called Wholesale Access and you can pretty much figure out why he removed the word ‘Wholesale’ from the firm’s name. In an interview with National Mortgage News Mr. Olson said the only large bank wholesaler that still believes in brokers is Wells Fargo. "We’ve been having a debate with Wells," he said. "They think the channel is coming back."  more…  National Mortgage News Online