by Peter Keers

Shakespeare’s famous “To Be, Or Not to Be” speech in Hamlet may well be applied to the question of whether a business should attempt to publish an “Op/Ed” or a “Business Commentary.”

What is an “Op/Ed” or business commentary? Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines them as "an essay in a newspaper or magazine that gives the opinion of the writer and that is written by someone who is not employed by the newspaper or magazine.”

Fewer Readers but Huge Impact

Like an ironic twist in a Shakespearean play, Op/Eds have an interesting twist of their own. Op/Eds may be one of the least read sections of a newspaper or magazine, yet Op/Eds are among the most influential pieces published in a newspapers or magazines.

The majority of newspaper readers check the paper daily (online or in print) to see sports scores, the stock market, and local news headlines that have relevance to their busy lives, and then they move on to their busy days. But community stakeholders — the people who make important business decisions that affect the infrastructure of the community where you do business — read the Op/Eds closely and sometimes use Op/Eds to stimulate discussion on critical decisions regarding capital improvements in their communities. Politicians sometimes use Op/Eds to stimulate discussions on passing new state laws.

Can You Do It? A Successful Example

How can your business publish an influential Op/Ed or a Business Commentary? The criteria is very narrow. Your product must have relevance to breaking news in your community. In other words, your promotional piece must make news itself.

A successful example of this is an Op/Ed published by Paul Jaeb, founder of Heartland Investigative Group, who took a tragic story in his community of Minneapolis/St. Paul and turned it into an excellent promotional opportunity for his business. Mr. Jaeb prepared his Op/Ed with the assistance of a freelance media consultant and writer who is now an Associate of Concision Communications.

Here’s what happened: a young woman was kidnapped and murdered by an employee of a state nursing home. The convicted murderer somehow passed a Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension background check, despite having a seven page record of criminal activity. It was a story that gripped the community for months and dominated headlines on an almost daily basis.

Mr. Jaeb demonstrated how a simple background check by Heartland Investigative Group would have prevented the murderer from being hired by the state and perhaps led to his arrest, potentially ending his murderous spree. You can read Mr. Jaeb’s Op/Ed here.

Your Message Must Have Meaning

Key to this was that the promotional opportunity for Mr. Jaeb’s business provided a community service, which appealed to the newspaper editors who decided to publish the Op/Ed. Initially, you write an Op/Ed to an audience of one : the editor who decides whether or not to publish your story. That’s the first test. The second test is when the editor decides if your Op/Ed is relevant to his readers (numbering in the hundreds of thousands, including important community stakeholders).

Op/Eds are a high risk/high reward strategy and they are not for the faint of heart. You could swing and miss, spending several thousand dollars to prepare an Op/Ed only to have it rejected by editors. But, as baseball fans say, if you hit your Op/Ed with the “sweet spot” of the bat, you could hit your Op/Ed out of the park, a bases-clearing home run that helps your community and helps your own bottom line.

Ask Concision Communications for advice on if you have an Op/Ed-worthy business opportunity.