Every PR person knows that the opinion piece is one of our most important tools – it creates hype, “talkability”, exposure and thought leadership for our clients.
Cleverly written, a single opinion piece does much of the heavy lifting when it comes to reputation management:
- It can be placed as is in a print publication, most of which welcome quality writing that doesn’t stretch an already over-stretched newsroom
- It can be “content-aggregated” on a variety of different web-based publications
- It can be used on the client’s website and other owned media, and
- It can be repackaged as social media content
Instant, happy client, just add good writing. After all, in PR we always aim to please.
But there’s a new kid in town that I think just might be even cleverer, and that’s the open letter.
A controversial open letter, addressed to a controversial person, can do so much more heavy lifting. Take, for instance, the recent letter from reformed “baddie” Gayton McKenzie to EFF leader Julius Malema, titled “Thug to Thug”.
It was published, then republished numerous times by columnists who analysed, interpreted, speculated on and discussed the contents in detail. Twitter was abuzz, Facebook sharing intensified and, all in all, McKenzie’s message travelled far wider than most opinion pieces would have.
I think this is an opportunity waiting to be exploited. Imagine the following open letters:
- Karoo inhabitants to Shell on the subject of fracking
- South Africa to the International Monetary Fund
- Zimbabweans living in South Africa to the Department of Home Affairs
- Kaizer Chiefs to Orlando Pirates, and
- Tshediso Matona to Brian Molefe
When you create talkability, you have done your job – and open letters create talkability. A clever marketing and PR person can make the open letter sing. I can’t wait to hear its melody.
Caroline Smith is head of PR at Flow Communications
