Glass-Breaking and Myth-Busting in Business Blogs

So you’ve found some interesting material in a funky magazine called Mental Floss.  Question is, as a freelance blog content writer, what do you with it? After all, how could a brief history of people who worried that they were made of glass help in blog marketing for your – or your client’s – business or practice?  Gather round….

By way of background, awhile back I came up with a remedy for blog content writers when they get stuck thinking up new ideas to keep their business blog posts engaging. I advised leafing through popular magazines to spark ideas that can help business owners and practitioners explain what they do and how and why they do it.  OK, so how about those people who thought they were made of glass?

•  In the 1400s, King Charles VI of France, convinced he was made of glass, wore special clothes to avoid breaking into pieces.
  
• In the 1600s. a play (Thomas Tomkis’ Lingua) and a novel ( Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra’s Doctor Glass-Case) featured characters who were afraid to move or to be near people for fear they would break into pieces.
  
•  The History of Psychiatry chronicles a 1600’s man who wore a cushion on his derriere to prevent breakage.

One very important function of blog writing for business is to debunk common myths. Business owners can use their blog not only as a way to dispense information, but to address misinformation. All those now funny misapprehensions about glass were understandable when the technology was new.  After glass had become cheap enough for ordinary people to use it for windowpanes, the delusions, Mental Floss editors explain, began to “slide into obscurity”.

In the natural course of doing business, misunderstandings about a product or a serve may surface, especially if the technology behind the product or service is new.

Dentistry:
Do amalgams used for fillings cause mercury poisoning?

Beauty:
Does makeup cause acne?

Internet security:
If you don’t open an infected file, can you get infected?

Jewelry:
Have diamonds have always been the symbol for marriage?

Life expectancy:
In the past, didn’t 9 out of 10 people die before age 40?

Home décor:
Should small rooms be painted in pale neutral colors?

I explain to newbie content writers in Indianapolis that citing statistics to disprove popular myths gives business owners the chance to showcase their own knowledge and expertise. Myth-busting comes with a caveat, however.  The trick is to engage interest, but not in “Gotcha!” style. Business owners and professional practitioners blogging for business can showcase their own expertise without putting readers “in the wrong”.

What myths need busting in your business or practice?