“In the greatest crisis, you can find the greatest opportunities.” – Jonathan Fields
Jonathan Fields has used manifestos as a way to create a sales funnel, which is a completely different type of product launch tool. At BlogWorld 2010, he spoke about what a manifesto is, why this is a good way to launch a product, and how you can go about doing it. Let’s take a quick look at his steps to create a manifesto:
- Manifestos need to be heavily designed, both outside so the readers pick it up and inside so it remains attractive and easy-to read.
- Pick a a killer headline.
- Give it heft. A manifesto isn’t a glorified blog post – some of the most popular manifestos are 20, 30, even 100 pages. Says Jonathan, “”There’s such thing as too long. There’s only such a thing as too damn boring.”
- Make it a pattern interrupt. You want to disrupt a person’s mindset, give them something new and perhaps even shocking.
- Tell stories. A manifesto is all about connecting to tell people about your ideas and stir up emotions, and the best way to do that is with personal stories.
- Highlight a big problem in the lives of your community members.
- Agitate the problem. Again, you want to stir things up.
- Share high-value resources and action steps. You showed people the pain, and now you want to relieve it.
- Hold back the hardcore “how.” If you intend to launch another product, like a source or book, using your manifesto, you need to give them 75% or even 90%…but also give them something to buy later.
- Include a call to action. At the end, while someone is emotionally attached, give them a call to action – subscribe to your list, buy your product, whatever. Don’t lose them.
This was one of the best speakers I saw so far at BlogWorld Expo, so I highly recommend checking out Jonathan’s site to learn more.
