Is it time to apply the Japanese art of tidying up to your marketing?
Psychologists call it a national obsession. Thanks to an unlikely hit TV show, donations bins at Goodwill are overflowing with clothes, books and housewares. I can personally testify as I have been bringing bags of the stuff to my local Goodwill.
Is this just the result of typical New Year’s resolutions? Hardly. Thrift stores around the nation report double digit increases in donations in January 2019 compared with January of 2018, with credit going to the Netflix reality show “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” that debuted January 1.
Last year I read Kondo’s #1 New York Times bestselling book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. I was inspired to clean my personal possessions and keep only what brought me joy.
Her “KonMari” declutter system is simple but not easy: Keep only the things that “spark joy” in you. Everything else can be thanked and trashed. Haters are going to hate, and some critics decry her approach without fully understanding her minimalism approach.
At home I am all for less is more. The Netflix show has inspired my wife and family to hop on the spark joy or be gone bandwagon. Their enthusiasm sparked my idea to apply this to marketing.
My advice is to take Kondo’s declutter-the-home approach and go through your marketing tools and tactics. What sparks joy in you should be kept, and what does not spark joy in you should be thrown out. Here are some tactics to start with:
LinkedIn Profile. Are you at all-star status yet? What articles could be added? When was the last time you posted an article? Don’t forget to add videos.
YouTube Videos. Are there YouTube videos you should take down? As your brand goes to a next level, get rid of those older videos that might be sending the wrong image. What videos need to be added.
Workshop Offerings. Is it time to retire some seminar and workshop titles and offer something new? Maybe the time has come to retire some titles. What new titles would help you attract high-paying clients?
Speech Titles. Speaking of titles, what are the titles of the speeches you are making? Is it time to replace less popular titles with new titles that spark joy in you. Have you given a TEDx talk yet?
Blog Angles. Are you writing about the same old same old? If the blog topics are not bringing you joy, they are probably not attracting enough readers.
Brochures and Collateral Material. Do your printed pieces spark joy? If no, then file them in the circular file.
If you have not read Kondo’s book or seen her Netflix show, I highly recommend you check it out. At the very least, she is highly entertaining.
Enchanted with organizing since her childhood, Kondo began her tidying consultant business as a 19-year-old university student in Tokyo. According to her book publicity, she has been featured on more than 50 major television and radio programs as well as in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Times of London and Vogue. She has also been listed as one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people.
Today the decluttered home, tomorrow the decluttered marketing program.
