Between work, family, and regular adulting responsibilities, life goes by fast. Often, we get caught up in the ebb and flow of our routines, and we rarely stop to think of the ‘why’ for our focus.
Each action, person, and decision of the day are pieces of a whole being. With the changing currents around us, it’s important to take stock of all your pieces to make sure nothing is sinking in the waves.
The same principle applies to your business, which, like people, consists of hundreds of pieces to make up the whole. A business needs to understand their position in marketing, who they are trying to reach, and why.
The ‘why’ is particularly crucial because if a business doesn’t understand their purpose, what are they even doing?
Luckily for the business owners who may be adrift, Ryan Kutscher and his crew at Circus Maximus can help you find your brand’s Ikigai to get your plans and employees back on track.
Circus Maximus can bring out the successful, confident brand narrative that has been the foundation of the business all along.
What is Ikigai?
Ikigai is an eastern philosophy that contemplates one’s purpose in the world. While originally intended for the individual level, businesses must also understand their identity and who they are trying to be.
Ryan Kutscher says that businesses must work in their own unique space and he uses Ikigai to explain what sets a brand apart.
According to Ryan, Ikigai is ”the intersection of what you love, what you’re good at, what the world finds valuable, and what you could be paid for.”
Derived from Japan, Ikigai is considered a factor in the longevity of the citizens of Okinawa because they believe in participating in activities that help them feel fulfilled.
Westernized cultures have adapted the belief system to help Ikigai seekers find their perfect career choice.
While studying at an individual level, Circus Maximus notes that whole brands need to find their sense of purpose and satisfaction in their work as well.
Your Brand’s Purpose and Persuasion
Finding your brand’s purpose in the world sounds simple enough, right? Surely your passion was the reason you started the company in the first place.
However, when we remember all the pieces that makeup who we are as individuals and multiply those by hundreds to make up a business, meeting the distinct pillars of Ikigai can get muddled.
Every member of the team needs to understand the most basic questions about their company and their own role in the plans.
Circus Maximus believes that your brand “needs to get to a clear understanding that answers WHY, HOW, WHAT, and FOR WHOM you do what you do.”
Unfortunately, If a piece of the puzzle is misaligned, the results echo throughout the entire organization and its marketing. Imagine trying to sell a product with only a vague idea of what the business’s goals are.
Without a target audience, the content may not connect with anyone at all. And without passion and purpose behind the product, your business is just wasting time and money.
No one, be it a marketing team, the sales associates, or the customers, will be excited to work with a brand that doesn’t understand who it is. In other words, your brand and your advertising will be boring.
As the core values of Circus Maximus aptly state, “If it isn’t interesting, it doesn’t matter.” Your brand will not matter unless you can find its Ikigai and construct a brand narrative to align with it.
Businesses need a clear idea of their Ikigai to avoid addressing the wrong audience with the wrong tone.
Circus Maximus helps brands identify the key components of marketing so that the marketing campaigns connect with customers who will actually be interested in the product. “We make content that aligns with your brand narrative while engaging the right customers with the right message at the right time.”
Your brand’s Ikigai combines the purpose and mission with a little bit of personal flare. Circus Maximus understands the necessary ratio for each of the ingredients to create your brand’s “interesting”, which they believe sits at the heart of any successful advertising campaign. Once it’s thought out and articulated, that’s when the fun can really begin.
“A brand’s ‘interesting’ becomes very specific, and that specificity is what makes it appealing for the people that want to work there, for those who want to join that mission purpose, and the people that want to buy that product.”
Your Ikigai Calls You
Rediscovering the why of your business will reestablish what you are good at, what the world needs, what you love, and what you can be paid for. Perhaps your brand was created to lead the industry or save the earth. Regardless, Circus Maximus can help you find your Ikigai.