Writing for business can be tricky. It’s a refrain often heard … What shall I write about in my blog today? How can I make that article interesting, yet still make it appropriate for my business?
One of the ways I encourage people to write is to tell a story. We all love stories. It is the pictures our minds conjure up that remain with us and anchor the messages we write about. The narratives draw us in and create desire. Desire is what sells. The emotion connected to the product or service has the power to increase sales.
It is this emotion we want to recreate in our business each time we write. Read on to find out how I use writing for business in a story to create a narrative that will lead to increased sales and engagement.
The Legend of St George & The Promise of Writing for Business Marketing Success
Today is St Georges Day – 23rd April 2020. The day dawns bright and fresh with the sunlight of spring creeping over the valleys and hills of England. It is a day not much celebrated in England, so it almost slipped my mind, but for the remembrance of little Prince Louis’s birthday falling on the same day. Gorgeous photos have been released by the Palace to mark his second birthday today.
But What of St George?
Like all great legends, St George’s involves a princess. This time though, a fire breathing dragon also gets in on the act! It is this iconic picture that forms our most memorable image of St George; the white horse rearing up over the cowering dragon, St George wielding his sword, ready to plunge it into the heart of the dragon.
The story goes that the princess has been sacrificed to save the village from the menace of the dragon. The knight, however, has different ideas and rides to the rescue of the fair maiden, slaying the dragon, saving the princess and the village.
So, how did this legend begin?
It is thought that St George was a Roman officer in the time of Emperor Diocletian around the year 300 AD. He was young, handsome, and strong, quickly establishing himself within the army
Amid much high inflation and civil unrest in Rome, the Emperor decided that he would revive morale by returning to the traditions of paganism in a bid to control the masses.
Consequences of Valour?
One consequence of this decree was that anyone admitting to being a Christian was in danger of losing his life. And many did.
Emperor Diocletian swiftly gained the unedifying reputation of being the cruellest persecutor of Christianity.
St George, being a man of integrity and valour hated the regime of violence, doing all he could to avert the worst excess of these savage times. News spread of his rebellion, reaching the ears of the Emperor. An example had to be made to quash the uprising – St George was consigned to prison and was to be tortured until he denied his faith in Christ. Needless to say, St George failed to deny his faith.
The gruesome death gets worse, St George was beheaded. His body remained in Palestine; his head sent to Rome, where it is said to be interred in the Basilica of San Giorgio in Velabro.
The church is still there, dedicated to the hero that was St George.
From Palestine To England and Beyond!
Many centuries later in the time of the Crusades, St George’s hideous death from torture for his religious beliefs led to knights adopting the famous white with a red cross on their pennants.
Here, once again, the spirit of courage displayed by our hero on his white charger was embraced by those fighting.
Knights came from countries that today still celebrate the day St George died, commemorating the man as a patron saint. England has adopted the white with a red cross on it for its flag among other ways to honour the spirit of the man.
Countries as seemingly diverse as Portugal, Georgia, and Ethiopia, as well as Catalunya in Spain, celebrate this day in memory of that once brave young soldier who stood up for what he believed in.
Writing For Business: How Shakespeare & Cervantes Drive Sales
In Catalunya however, they have several other reasons to observe this special day
Remember I told you the legend of the princess set to die as a peace offering to the dragon? In the way of all good stories, it has several different endings. It’s a bit like the game of Chinese Whispers – the endings are dependent on who whispers the story – they can all end up being a far cry from the original!
The story ends, of course, with the knight saving the princess, as in the other tale I’ve told. However, it is said that a rose bush sprang into life as soon as the dragon’s blood hit the soil. The knight picked one of the bright red blooms and presented it to the princess.
So grateful was the king that his beautiful daughter had been saved, he offered St George all the riches in his kingdom. St George declined the reward for himself. Instead, a church was built in St George’s name, from where it is said water from the well healed the sick.
Today, in remembrance, men give women a red rose. In return, women give men a book. It would seem a rather curious stretch of the imagination to get from the slaying of a dragon to the gifting of a book, but stick with me, my storytelling is nearing its end!
One particular St George’s Day, a bookseller in Barcelona was getting ready to celebrate by handing roses to the ladies coming into his shop when he realised that the deaths of William Shakespeare and Miguel Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote, Spain’s most famous writer, coincided with the saints day.
Linking the rose giving with a reciprocal present of a book meant more business!
The idea of love and literacy took off, so much so that in 1995 UNESCO adopted the day as World Book Day. Spain created a new fiesta!
I love how writing for business can incorporate more of an expression of you into your business. It will most definitely draw customers and clients to you, as you show more of your playful side.
Find your writing voice to explore more of this idea. It takes practice, but you will be glad you did! Writing for business doesn’t have to be dry and stilted.
If you’d like to explore more ideas to grow your writing marketing muscles, click here to get content creation marketing freebies.
Today in Barcelona
Today, of course, the streets of Barcelona will be empty. No rose or book giving. The world is in lock-down, pretty much, and travel has all but stopped.
In a normal year, more than half the total of yearly book sales take place on this day. How’s that as an example of marketing mastery?
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