Why Publishing an Angry Declaration Will Attract Your Ideal Clients

"People like us do things like this." - Seth Godin

Steve Larsen recently stressed the importance of telling your people one simple thing: what you fight for and what you fight against. He said:

"You just need to answer the questions:

I'm fighting for - - #Blank?!

I'm fighting against - - #Blank?!

... and if you can fill out that sentence, suddenly there begins to be purpose behind everything you do."

Why is this important?

When you clearly define the boundaries of what you stand for, you're able to serve the people also invested in that thing much better than anybody else.

People want to be part of something.

They want in.

They want a tribe.

They want to associate with people and marketers who understand them.

People buy when they feel understood. When they feel noticed. When they feel the marketer telling them, "I see you. I care about you. I want to help you get XYZ. I'm ready to catch you and assist you on your journey."

Be their Yoda. You do this in a few ways:

• Any attention you draw to yourself is only to highlight how you can help them and why you want to serve them.
• Ask what you are for and against. Yoda was for the force. Yoda was for mindfulness. Yoda was for mastery. He was against almost everything else and was a quality teacher because of it.

Give a clear message. Don't hold anything back. How do you really feel?

Authenticity attracts.

What Angers You?

With this for-against exercise, you could go many different directions.

However, you probably already know what you're for. It's the thing you're always blogging, podcasting, writing, talking, selling, and teaching about.

That part is easy.

Where most people go wrong, because they're scared to repulse or offend potential buyers, is clearly defining what they're against.

What do you hate?

What do you despise?

What do you want to utterly destroy and eliminate off the face of this planet?

Get real with this.

You stand out because everyone else is always talking about what they love, the amazing solution they have, and the results they can deliver.

That's great and all, but you're trying to move your customers on a journey.

If you opened up your phone right now, typed in the destination, but you had location turned off and you didn't know where you were, how would you be able to get there?

Right. Didn't think so.

You need to move your customer from A to B. Both points need to be clearly defined. A stands for Absolutely Hate It. B stands for Better Future.

Are you courageous enough to share the A?

When you create polarity, you create boundaries. When you create boundaries, your people know exactly how you can help them and there's no confusion.

So... Time To Act

Tell your audience how you really feel.

This isn't just because negative headlines perform better psychologically or people can respond and react to negative words faster. This isn't because your message is doom-and-gloom. This is, quite simply, because it gives your brand clarity.

Want to see an example of this?

Below is a manifesto I wrote out a few months ago about a topic I was feeling frustrated with at the time.

Read the example, and then notice how I tie it back into my core messaging at the end.

Model your messages in the same way and you'll be on the path to growth.

Example

There's a stone floor. Everywhere.

There's a big wire fence. Not to keep people out. To keep people in.

There's bright lights, so all the residents can be closely observed.

The social hierarchy is very, very clear as soon as you enter.

Large facility. Residents are sorted into small rooms based on what the admin thinks.

You spend the majority of your time here if you go.

The government decides who goes here. Then compels, forces, them to go. No questions asked.

Bells go off. Alarms. Schedule is drill, drill, drill. Then the people move like sheep to the next place.

Meal-times decided and structured by the administration.

Guards patrol the halls, and punish those who aren't where they should be.

Many people reside here with untapped potential. People who are stuck. People who are behaving at a lower level than they could and should be.

Some of the employees here hate the residents. Why don't they find a different job?

The conditions here make it so the residents need counseling services.

What am I talking about?

You might assume... jail?

No.

I'm talking about school. Except the main difference here is that those in jail are required to be there because they did something wrong. You're required to be in school because you exist. This is the system invented to train more factory workers to do their jobs more efficiently.

"Large-scale education was not developed to motivate kids or to create scholars. It was invented to churn out adults who worked well within the system. Scale was more important than quality, just as it was for most industrialists.

Of course, it worked. Several generations of productive, fully employed workers followed. But now?" - Seth Godin

Maybe, we should stop a couple of things. And start something different.

This is the 21st Century, after all. The industrial revolution happened in the 19th Century.

Our system is slightly out of date, to say the least.

Join the conversation. Make a ruckus.

Align Your Message

What did I just do?

I didn't just publish an angry declaration about the things in school I want to see fixed. I didn't just rant and fill up an article with arguments that led nowhere. It was very strategic. It was aligned with my marketing strategies and the things that I care about.

As a creativity coach, I teach writers, programmers, and other creative people how to 10X their output; how to do things faster and better. Thus, given my background, I want to attract people excited and riled by the notion of creativity.

Thus, I'm fighting against systems, ideas, and practices that destroy creativity. I fight against the orders, the compliance, and the bureaucracy of places that oppose deep learning, deep intelligence, and deep creation.

So when I publish a manifesto like that, I'm not just ranting with no purpose. I'm inviting people to join a cause. They have a journey and a destination they're able to move towards. This brings those people into my tribe so I can start serving them.

Branching

This is a tactic I like to call branching.

Pick one central flag, for me it's creativity, and then structure all of your other messages around that.

Thus, I can talk about marketing, education, courage, learning, and all sorts of other things, but they're always tied back into the central message.

You probably have multiple things you're excited about. If you're trying to go into the info/coaching product space, you've been told by many that you need to niche down and pick only one thing to be known by.

However, you don't really need to change the content of your business, just the positioning. Create a hub-and-spoke model with the auxiliary services to complement the main idea.

Then plant your flag as the one person who's an expert in a very specific thing.

Create a better alignment and you'll find you have a better business.

Where could you align your messages with your people?

Make interesting ideas for the people who want them.

Conclusion: The Most Famous Of Them All

"People are silently begging to be led." - Jay Abraham

Only with a cause and a movement could this work.

Inside a secret, hot, stuffy room, 56 people signed a document to change history. That document is known today as the Declaration of Independence.

This wasn't easy. This wasn't fun. At times the Continental army struggled to recruit. They had no business fighting the much greater military power of England.

The thing that kept the fight alive was the cause, the movement.

There's a story in the wintertime of the Revolutionary War. Many of the soldiers had had it, missed their families, kept losing and starving, and were about to go home.

And then George Washington stood up and talked with them. Explained the movement. He explained to them not how important he was to the cause, but how important they were. About how they were changing the country, history, and why they were needed.

The American people had a message to stand behind which gave them clarity and focus.

What is your message?

Why is it not more powerful?

What are you fighting for?

What do you seek to destroy?

What will attract your people?

What excites your people?

Who are those people?

How will you deliver that message?