I have been in many meetings in my marketing career, and when I really think about it, I don’t hear the word “joy” come around very often. Maybe I have been listening to too much Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday podcasts, but maybe this is just on my mind, but joy is something I’m curious about and how it plays in marketing. Again, maybe it’s my love of mindfulness, I don’t know. But it is worth thinking about joy and how much can do to lift your marketing.

Joy and marketing

I think joy needs to be roped into marketing. Joy is the result of all these things happening to the reader, to the viewer, or to the audience member. But then, if we know this, and let’s say we do, why does it not come up in enough in marketing. When I ask clients what do they want out of their marketing, I hear more views, strong KPIs; what I do hear is “I want people to love what I’m putting out.” I don’t hear “I want them to experience joy when they see the content we create.”

What is joy?

What is joy? I think in the sense of creating content, it’s about making people happy.

How is your video making them happy?

How is it putting a smile on their faces?

How is your event bringing them a sense of wonder, which is inextricably tired to joy?

Joy in marketing is about connection and feeling. Maybe it’s time we start thinking about our clients in terms of the joy principle. Because isn’t that what it’s about? You ask people what they thought of the event, and you want them to say I really enjoyed it. You ask them if they loved that ad campaign, and shouldn’t it bring them some amount of joy? Joy brings about interest, it shows you touched them, it shows you met them on a personal and intimate level.

Bringing joy into business

As I write this, I know I need to bring this mindset into my marketing.

Even right now, I am working on an edit for a video. I must admit, the idea of joy hasn’t come. All I’ve been thinking about it how I can get this done for the client and make them happy. But I guess, if I dug deep, I need to bring joy into it. What is this video going to do for the audience that sees it? How is this video going to connect with them? What do I want them to feel after watching it? 

If I have to think about it, I know the answer. I want them to watch this and be proud of their profession and proud of their community. They should see this and say, “that’s my friend up there. She is speaking for me. She gets it.” 

Joy doesn’t play enough of a role in corporate marketing. We think of numbers, analytics, impressions, and reach. But again, none of that goes anywhere if people don’t feel good about what they are witnessing. Think about what happens for nonprofits.

Whether it’s a Facebook Live video, or a small gathering for donors; whether it’s a conference about dry cleaner chemicals or roundtable discussion about furniture. Think about how you can make it a joyful experience for your client. Think about how you want people to feel.

We all have the capacity to create content that brings joy into people’s lives. We watch house hunting shows because we love seeing the joy they have when they get the house they want. We watch reality music competitions because the joy of those singers is just too infectious for words. The clothes on our very backs are there because they give us joy, hopefully. Joy should be tired into everything we do. And it needs to be in your marketing.

Capacity to create

We all have the capacity to create content that brings joy into people’s lives. We watch house hunting shows because we love seeing the joy they have when they get the house they want. We watch reality music competitions because the joy of those singers is just too infectious for words. The clothes on our very backs are there because they give us joy, hopefully. Joy should be tired into everything we do. And it needs to be in your marketing.

Think about how joy can play into your strategy. Joy is that thing that customers love, but they don’t recognize it’s happening to them. Why do you think people collect stuff?

Because it brings them joy.

Sure, some do it just for them money, but it’s really about joy. Joy is that emotion that huts to your very core.