The Joy Points Exercise: Let Me Walk You Through It

Most marketing starts with what your customer is struggling with. What they fear. What keeps them up at night.

But what if you started with what genuinely delights them instead?

In this episode Kirsten walks you through the Joy Points exercise, the tool she uses with every client to shift marketing away from pain and toward what actually lights people up. All you need is twenty minutes, something to write with, and one specific person in mind.

This one is worth doing, not just listening to.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to Field Trip Marketing, the podcast, a podcast which is all about looking at marketing differently. I'm Kirsten, a marketing coach and consultant, the host, and the idea behind this show is simple. Each season I'm gonna pick something worth exploring, and we'll go on a field trip together. Different angles, interesting conversations, and one big question. What does this mean for how you build your business and show up in your marketing? This season, our field trip is all about joy, and I think it's gonna change how you see everything. I can't wait to get started. Thank you for being here. And does joyful marketing exist? So, the last few episodes, I've been doing a lot of talking at you, which makes sense because it is a podcast. I am gonna talk a lot, but today I actually want to work through something with you. It's an exercise that I've been sketching out in my mind. I've been using it a little bit in some of the work that I do one-on-one with the clients that I have in the marketing coaching world. And it's called the Joy Points exercise. And what I've noticed is each time that I've done it with somebody or andor given even a little tidbit of it, it's really shifted something for them. And so I'm gonna walk you through it. And at the end of this episode, I would actually love for you to reach out to me and let me know what you think about this exercise. Is it something that you think I should keep exploring and doing with my clients? You let me know. So I'm not gonna be talking at you. And what does that actually mean? It means that I would love for you to grab a notebook and a pen so that you have something by your side as you listen to this podcast that you can write down some ideas or notes as we go through things. But you know what? I also know a lot of times people listen to podcasts on the go. Maybe you're outside enjoying the weather as I'm recording this. It's beautiful outside here in Toronto. You might be out enjoying the sunshine, and that is completely fine. You can come back to this later. You do you. But if you happen to be sitting down in your home, or maybe you're doing some dishes and you have it playing out loud, you know, take a moment, grab a notebook, grab a pen, write down a few ideas. So the last few episodes, we've been really digging into the a lot around what actually is this podcast. I've been sharing some of the research that I've been doing around joy, talking about, you know, what I'm seeing online when it comes to joy. And that really sparked this exercise. And I am gonna talk a little bit more at you for the next couple of minutes, and then I promise we're gonna get into things. So a little bit of context. You know, where this exercise really comes from is, you know, oftentimes, and I see this online a lot from a lot of my peers, a lot of the marketing advice tells you to start with your customers' pain points. Really figure out what they're struggling with, what they fear, what keeps them up at night, build your messaging around that. And here's the thing: here's maybe my hot take. Pain points are not wrong. You know, oftentimes it really works to dig into people's pain points because that is going to convert them into a sale. But I feel like when you lead with pain points and you really tap into that, you know, into someone's brain, it kind of feels heavy. It feels kind of icky. And it feels like a lot of the marketing that's out there in the world at the moment is about trying to fix something that is broken or trying to fix someone who is broken or is fearful of something. And it doesn't feel good to see that type of content. And I can tell you, whenever I've leaned into more of the pain point exercises, it doesn't feel great to write. It doesn't feel like me. And I have a theory. That's often when we start to avoid marketing content as small business owners, as entrepreneurs. And, you know, when people book their first discovery call with me, that's something that I hear a lot. People tell me they're not good at marketing. But when we start to dig a little bit into why they think they're not good at marketing, a lot of times they feel marketing feels icky. So I want to flip it around. I want to try to approach this from a different perspective. So let's try to approach this from a joyful marketing perspective. And I think that when you do that, you know, joy points flip that around. So instead of starting with what hurts, you start with what lights up your customer or your client, what makes her feel more like herself. What would she say yes to if she stopped thinking that the joyful choice was the selfish one? And I think when you write your marketing from that place, the whole thing changes. Everything feels more human. It sounds warmer, it sounds more real. And I think you enjoy creating that type of marketing more. And the person who's on the receiving end of it enjoys seeing that more. It feels more relatable and it brings a smile to their face, right? So let's get into this. Let's get into the exercise. So the first thing that I want you to do is I want you to think of one specific person, your best client or customer, not a type of person, an actual human being. Name them. Think about someone you've worked with or served who felt like the best possible fit. Someone who is your dream client. That's something that a term that we hear a lot of. And if you haven't had that type of client or customer yet, think about the person you would love to be working with the most. Someone who maybe is real to you that you dream of. One day them picking up the phone or sending you an email saying, I love what you do. I want to work with you. And you know, picture this person, whether it's someone you worked with or someone you dream of working with, where does she live? What does her week look like? What does she truly care about? Okay, so have you got the person locked in? Okay, let's go from there. Now I'm gonna ask you three questions. And this is where the notebook comes in handy, or as I said, come back to this. Write these answers down, not in not in your head. Physically write things down because I do think that when we take the time to write things down in our own handwriting, it actually solidifies things more. And this is what makes things work. So the first question is what does this person love about her life? Not what stresses her out. What does she genuinely love? The small things and the big things. What makes her feel like herself? So a few ideas as you start to have some ideas swirl around in your own head. Maybe it's the Sunday morning that she has nowhere to be. Maybe it's being able to take time on a Sunday morning to go to a Pilates class with a friend. That's something that I've been doing recently. The feeling of finishing something she is really proud of, the friend she's had for 20 plus years, her garden, her dog, a morning coffee that she can have in peace and quiet before the kids get up. And, you know, this is where I want you to get really specific because the more specific you are, I think the more useful this exercise becomes. So the second question is what does she love about what you do specifically? Not your process or your deliverables. What does she love about the experience of being in your world? What does she say when she tells a friend about you? And I know this one is a little bit harder, especially if you haven't had a dream client and you're imagining that perfect person that you want to be working with. But really go with me on this is, you know, what can you deliver that in a way that no one else can? And that's what people are singing your praises from the rooftops from. And I think, you know, it is a harder question because most of us are not used to sitting with what makes us specifically wonderful. I wrote in actually my field trip marketing newsletter a while ago. I talked about this idea of compliments, and a friend of mine asked me, why do I have a hard time taking compliments? And I and I know I'm not alone in this. I think a lot of women do have a hard time receiving compliments and just saying thank you. You are good at what you do. You are amazing at what you do. I know you are. Why does this one person love working with you so much? What can you deliver that no one else can in your field or your industry? Now, the third question: What is the moment in her experience with your business where she feels most like herself? Not the outcome, the moment, the feeling. Is it when she first finds you and thinks, finally, someone who gets it? Is it when something clicks halfway through a piece of work that you're doing together, a strategy, a coaching package, the moment when she realizes what you made or did was exactly right and tailored for you? You know, one of the things from my own experience that, you know, when I get on coaching calls with clients, at some point during a session, someone will say, I'm so glad. It always feels so good to talk to you. And I needed this. And that's something I've written down about myself. I'm going to take that compliment. I know I can provide that for people. And I think a lot of people in my industry can't. So, what is that for you? And I guess I should put a little bit of a disclaimer here. Often, you know, I tend to skew more to service-based businesses. But if you if you're a more product-based business, think about it from the product side. How is your product delighting that person? How is it helping her? How is it helping bring joy to her life? And so you've got probably, I'm hoping, some rough notes at this point. And even half-formed ideas that you might have written down, those are your joy points. I truly believe that. Those are your joy points to work with in your marketing. Now, here's what you do now with what you just wrote down and what you found. I want you to go and look at your current marketing, your newsletters, the emails that you send, your social media, your website, your bio, whatever it is, wherever you are putting yourself out in the world, your visibility channels, your marketing, and ask yourself honestly does this sound like someone who knows the answers to those three questions? Does your current marketing reflect what the person you're trying to reach really loves about her life? Does it feel like it was written for someone who feels the specific things she feels? Does it create that moment where she thinks, finally, someone gets me, I need to work with this person or I need to purchase something from this business? And if the answer is yes, that is amazing. I want to know. I would love to do a case study. Maybe you can be on the podcast. You are already doing this. But if there's a gap, that's where I think there's a problem. That kind of data is information. And now you might know where you need to hone in on, where you might need to rethink some things and do something differently. So the person, your ideal customer or client that you're trying to reach, I don't think people want to feel like they're a problem that needs fixing. People want to feel like someone actually gets what matters to them. And the only way your marketing can do that is if you know truly what matters to that person, really specific. So this week, I want you to really think about those three questions we just went through. Redo the exercise, come back to this, really flesh out or build out the person that you're trying to reach, build out that joyful the life that she loves, and write some more things down. Some of you might have heard about the author slips my mind. I think it's Julia's something other morning pages. You know, the more we come back to the stories and the writing that we do, I think the stronger they get. So what we've just done together is just a little bit of a snapshot. Build on this, come back to it, because that's where I think the magic is going to happen. And speaking of magic, in next week's episode, you're going to meet someone who is truly magical to me and who has been a big influence in terms of the field trip marketing that I've been building out. And she is also an amazing marketer herself in such a creative way. I'm not going to spoil who it is, but I hope you tune in for next week. In the meantime, I'd love for you to let me know what you thought. As I said, this podcast is a journey. I don't have all the right answers. This exercise isn't perfect, but I wanted to share it with you today. And I would love to know what you think or if it sparked anything. So come find me over on Instagram at Kirsten J Marketing or send me an email. I'd love to hear what came up for you. So see you next time. And that's a wrap on today's episode. Thank you so much for joining me. Come find me over at fieldtripmarketing.ca or on Instagram at Kirsten J Marketing. I'd love to hear what you thought, and if you have any ideas on where we should take this field trip next. See you next time.