An elevator speech helps people understand you. A manifesto can make them believe.

Creating an elevator speech is a great exercise. It forces you to condense and crystalize what you do, how it is unique and how that helps your constituents. Do this with skill, and you can improve your chances of capturing a prospect’s attention.

But what if you want more than their attention? What if you want them to become believers in what you stand for and the larger purpose that fuels your passion? That’s the kind of stuff that turns prospects into evangelists.

This is a job for your manifesto.

A manifesto helps you define and articulate your brand purpose. It’s the “why” behind what you do. It’s the thing that gets you up every day. And it’s the very thing your good prospects will be drawn to.

How Do I Write My Manifesto?

There is no right or wrong way to write a manifesto. It just needs to capture your passion. That said, I’ve found that a clearly articulated manifesto tends to have three things:

 1.  It states what you believe.

 2.  It states how you will take action.

  3. It states the impact you hope to have.

A Sample Manifesto

To illustrate, let me share a manifesto of ours regarding why we do what we do in financial services marketing. It goes like this:

We do what we do in financial services marketing for one very simple reason. We believe that no one should have to feel intimidated by money.

We believe your financial life should be easier to understand. It should be accessible, when and where you choose. And it should help you feel more in control, so you feel like you can make good decisions.

We are on a mission to help create that invaluable confidence. Because nobody should have to feel intimidated by something they work so hard to get.

Here’s how it breaks down:

»  It states what you believe: “We believe that no one should have to feel intimidated by money.”

»  It states how you will take action: “We believe your financial life should be easier to understand. It should be accessible, when and where you choose. And it should help you feel more in control, so you feel like you can make good decisions.”

»  It states the impact you hope to have: “We are on a mission to help create that invaluable confidence. Because nobody should have to feel intimidated by something they work so hard to get.”

The Head vs. the Heart

A manifesto is powerful because it reaches beyond all the rational thinking and taps into something that everyone longs for—the chance to be part of something larger than themselves. Here’s another way to put it:

Tell someone what you do, and they may give you their time. Tell someone why you do what you do, and they will give you their hearts.