If you’re anything like us at Sixth Story, you’ve probably become a little obsessed with the new Marie Kondo show on Netflix.
If you’ve not seen it yet, the premise is simple. Marie wants you to declutter your home and simplify your life by freeing yourself from anything and everything that doesn’t spark joy.
To the cynical and cold hearted, it’s just another TV show about tidying up. But for the rest of us, it’s compelling viewing that, even just among the team in our office, has led to some serious cases of sock-drawer envy and lots of contemplating of how we fold our bed sheets.
So why is it so gripping when tidying is so dull?
I think it’s because Marie introduces a fresh and interesting philosophy to a task we’d usually struggle to get inspired by.
The KonMari Method encourages sorting our possessions by category rather than location. This focuses our minds and stops us from simply moving the mess to another location to deal with ‘later on’. She also tells us to possess only the things that are useful and that bring us joy – which means our possessions should have meaning, we should only hold on to things if there’s good reason.
It’s pretty deep and useful stuff. Which got us thinking. Could a similar approach work for sprucing up your website? And do you know what? It does.
In the show, Marie encourages her clients to begin by sorting clothes. But you could start with images. Ask yourself, do all of the graphics and photographs on your site truly reflect who you are? Do you actually like them? Do they still fit you? If not, let them go.
Next look at the words. Do they spark joy when you read them? Do they tell the story of what you are, or the story of who you were? Is your message simple and clear? Are you repeating yourself?
What about all the downloads and various links you’ve collected over the years? Is that whitepaper you’re offering still relevant? Are you still active on all those social channels?
By making conscious decisions to say ‘thank you and goodbye’ to all the content that’s become irrelevant and joyless, you’ll actually make everything that’s left on your website more powerful and much more meaningful. It will become a much better reflection of who you are.
And once you’ve done that, why just stop at your website? Take a look around at the rest of your brand and all of your communications. Do they spark joy – in you and in your customers? If not, perhaps it’s time to let those elements go too and move forward with something new, a rebrand perhaps.
If you need any help, give us a call. We’ll show you our neatly arranged kitchen cupboards and you’ll immediately be able to tell we’re on the same wavelength.