How to Apply Creative Writing Techniques to Your Business

Everybody’s got a story to tell. In fact, there’s an old saying that everyone has at least one book in them itching to get out (yes, that means you).

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the world of business, especially when it comes to entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small business owners. The key to their success lies in writing their own story and hoping for the happiest of endings.

Even if you aren’t a creative writer, there are things you can do that can help you find success when it comes to crafting a business strategy, creating great produces, and making hiring decisions. Here are a few ways you can use creative writing techniques to create a stronger, better business.

2 | How to Apply Creative Writing Techniques to Your Business

Creative Writing Techniques

Big ideas are the keys to a company’s success. Whether you’re a team of creatives looking to craft a marketing campaign, or a wedding planning trying to figure out how to seat 200 people in a 300 capacity room, you need to think outside the box to impress and dazzle your clients.

Thinking like a creative writer can help you solve problems and find interesting solutions. Writers hit roadblocks all the time, and they sometimes get around them through various writing exercises.

One of the most popular writing exercises is free writing. It’s where you sit down with a pen and paper, or at your laptop, and just write for a set amount of time. That’s it. It’s obviously most helpful if you use your problem as a starting off point, but from there on out, there are no rules.

Using Creative Writing Prompts to Kick Off a Brainstorm

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So for instance, if you’re an art director looking to come up with a big idea for a travel campaign, start writing about your feelings on travel. What’s the best hotel you ever stayed at? How does it feel to be on an airplane? What do you do while traveling that you don’t do any other time in your life? Writing about these things that feel only tangentially related can almost always unlock big ideas and bring about creative solutions.

Using Creative Writing Prompts to Kick Off a Brainstorm

4 | How to Apply Creative Writing Techniques to Your Business

Novelists know the importance of crafting strong characters. After all, that’s what people fall in love with when they read a novel or short story. They’re generally likeable, have easily recognizable voices and personalities, and make the audience root for them.

There are so many characters to take into consideration when you’re an entrepreneur or running a small business. For instance, you need to establish a brand voice and personality that will endear you to your customers. You need to ask yourself questions like: How will my brand talk to people? What is my brand’s personality? What does my brand look like? What kind of journey do I want to take my customers on? The answer to these questions will define so much about your brand or business, from the look of its logo, to the tone of your overall marketing messaging.

Everyone (and Everything) is a Character

5 | How to Apply Creative Writing Techniques to Your Business

Everyone (and Everything) is a Character

6 | How to Apply Creative Writing Techniques to Your Business

If you’re a small business owner, don’t forget that your employees and prospective employees are characters, too. You need to be able to read their personalities, moods, and backgrounds in order to decide how they fit in with your overall vision. You need to be aware that the young, hungry college student working at reception wants to someday become a copywriter; and that the recent applicant who had nothing but negative things to say about how past boss and clients is probably not the best fit for that open position you have.

Writers find inspiration and growth through reading. And the world of literary has classic books - Catcher in the Rye, Moby Dick, Great Expectations, The Bell Jar - that make up a foundation that everyone needs to be aware of.

Similarly, the world of business has books that definite it and are touchstones of many people in your industry. Seek these books out, read them, and see how they’ve informed your industry. Even if the books are outdated, it’s still important to read them to see your industry’s journey and be aware of what came before you. Also, be sure to ask people you respect in your industry what they’re reading and what books changed their perception of the way they do work. Almost everyone you meet can recommend at least one or two books that will apply to what you do at work.

Writer Read, and You Should, Too

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Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, and Stephen King are all great writers, but like all great writers they have a key person who helps them make great art. This person is their editor.

In the world of literature, everyone needs an editor. An editor might be an early reader who tells you what about a story is or isn’t working, or they can be an advocate that helps sell your idea to other people. In the world of business, having someone who can act as your “editor” is crucial.

In the world of business, an “editor” might be very much like a book editor.

They might read presentations or emails and give you feedback on what is and isn’t working. But an editor might also be a trusted person in your office that helps you guide your overall vision. Maybe you’re trying to think of a new marketing campaign, or a new product feature that you hope will attract new customers. Having someone close to you that will listen to your ideas and give constructive feedback is crucial.

And remember, everybody needs an editor! It doesn’t matter how much of a genius you are, literary or otherwise, a fresh perspective can help you harness your vision and bring it to the masses.

Everybody Needs an Editor

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Keep Writing

9 | How to Apply Creative Writing Techniques to Your Business

Successful writers become successful by never giving up. They all started out as amateurs in need of growth, but eventually their hard work and dedication results in a book or short story, sometimes even one that makes a bit of money.

As a small business owner or entrepreneur, you have to do the same thing. Keeping working at your story and never let it out of your sight. It may be a work in progress for a months, or even years, but when it’s done, it lives on forever.

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