What Winston Churchill The Writer Can Teach You About The Power Of Words
Curt Mercadante
Helping our clients create impactful influence in their target markets
As I’ve written before, there are number of proven reasons that entrepreneurs and business owners should be producing consistent, unique content about their company.
But content is only part of the equation. As marketer/best-selling author Ryan Holiday writes in his book, Perennial Seller: The Art of Making and Marketing Work that Lasts, it is also vital to build your platform.
To make his point, Holiday shares the example of Winston Churchill:
Most people are unaware that Churchill made his living as a writer, publishing some ten million words in his lifetime in hundreds of publications and published works. In fact, it was his enormous worldwide readership that Churchill cultivated through books, newspaper columns, and radio appearances that allowed him to survive the periods in which he did not have the ability to directly shape policy. Instead, he was able to reach directly to the people about the rising threat of world war, not just in Britain but worldwide, including in America.
During his infamous time in the so-called political wilderness between 1931 and 1939, Churchill published 11 volumes and more than 400 articles, and delivered more than 350 speeches. His enormous platform — based on his editorial contacts, his extraordinary gift with words, and his relentless energy — allowed him not only to be relevant but also to guide policy and opinion across the globe until he was eventually brought back in to save Britain and eventually and in many ways, the world.
I read Holiday’s book only a few weeks ago and, coincidentally, found myself last week at the Imperial War Rooms/Churchill Museum in London.
Holiday was absolutely correct. A main thrust of the museum was the words and content of Churchill. In fact, much earlier than Holiday describes, between 1855-1900, Churchill built his path to political prominence by writing and publishing articles from the front lines of the British Empire’s wars in Cuba, India, the Sudan, and South Africa.
Churchill knew that words matter, and he used his strength as a writer to create those words and build a platform that carried him to 10 Downing Street.
During World War II, working with his cabinet and generals from a converted bunker below the government offices at Whitehall in London, he took to the radio airwaves to deliver his content with words that strengthened the resolve of the British people, motivated the British military, helped solidify the British relationship with the U.S., and flummoxed the Nazis.
As a plaque at the Churchill Museum reads:
In the dark days of the war Churchill had few real weapons. He attacked with words instead.
Business owners and entrepreneurs can learn much from Churchill’s example. Limited resources and marketing budgets can be overcome by attacking with your words, and building your platform so that your audience is motivated by those words.
Through that content, you can help build your thought leadership, convert new leads, and grow your business.