Lessons from Marie Kondo: Does Your Business Spark Joy?

If you’re anything like us, you’ve been devouring every single episode of Netflix’s “Tidying Up” with organizational guru Marie Kondo. Some of you may be asking: “What does Marie Kondo’s shirt folding technique have to do with my business!?”

Both Marie’s theory of household objects and the way your audience interacts with your business have a whole heck of a lot in common! They both need to “spark joy” for the consumer. Marie explains the feeling of “spark joy” as something that makes your whole body go, for lack of a better phrase: “TING!” Here’s a GIF of the feeling in action:

via GIPHY

When you’re thinking about your business, think long and hard: is it truly making the lives of your consumers better? More full and satisfying? And how are you showcasing this through all of your marketing efforts?

FIRST, ASK YOURSELF: WHO ARE MY PEOPLE AND WHAT IS THEIR WISH?

Once you have a good idea of who your people are, you’ll be able to ask yourself the rest and fill in the pieces to the puzzle. Read through our guide for customer persona mapping and begin to build out representations of your dream clients/customers and their pain points.

THEN: WHAT ARE THEY RECEIVING BY HIRING / BUYING FROM ME?

It’s super important to have a vivid picture painted in your mind of what exactly your target audience receives when they decide to hire you or buy from you, AND what happens when they don’t! It may sound morbid, but it’s necessary - picture the absolute best and worst case scenarios.

This will help you correctly frame all of your text and imagery for a successful marketing strategy. Having the backstory that you can communicate to your brand designer, photographer and marketing manager is SO important, we cannot stress it enough. When everyone has a solid foundation to walk on, the possibilities are endless!

NEXT: HOW AM I MAKING THEIR LIFE BETTER?

This can be literal, but also should pertain to your marketing tactics - what types of meaningful content are you creating just for them - and how are they benefiting?

Can you share a funny GIF (like we did above) or go live and give them a peptalk or a helpful solution to an everyday problem? Can you write a guide dissecting something they’ve been wondering about but didn’t know where to turn to? All of these are great options for spreading the joy.

AND FINALLY: WHY DOES MY BUSINESS EXIST + WHAT IS THE PURPOSE?

You have to know the why behind your business - Simon Sinek details this in his TEDTalk beautifully. Not just the who, what and how, but the why. Once you dial in your why, you will be unstoppable. Make sure you’re clearly communicating this why through all of your marketing text and imagery, making it irresistibly impossible to buy from you when you are the ideal target customer/client.

When you focus on these four key, overlapping components of your business, it will be impossible not to spark joy among your loyal fans and new inquirers. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the logistics of business - be sure you take the time to slow down and ask yourself what you’re doing all this for. :)

more food for thought…