By Scot Kersgaard, JVA
Whether you have had success with earned media or not, often a faster and more effective route to getting your organization some ink in the press is through the submission of an op/ed, short for opinion or editorial.
If your nonprofit work lends itself to the writing of an opinion piece, and almost all nonprofit work does, then this can be a way to cut through the clutter. The typical reporter may get dozens of press releases every day, but the typical opinion page editor probably gets only a few op/ed submissions a week.
If you can write—or have someone who can—and have a compelling opinion about an important issue, then you can almost always find a publication willing to publish your work.
Back opinions with facts
The fact that these pieces are called opinion pieces does not mean that all you need is an opinion. What you do need is an opinion backed by research, or an opinion proven by results and outcomes. It doesn’t have to—and shouldn’t—be wonky, but it needs to have a basis beyond your opinion.
For instance, if you work at a nonprofit or other agency that works in early childhood, you could write about the importance of playing with, reading to, or talking to infants. If all you have to say, though, is that doing these things is good, you have nothing.
Instead, you need to quote research and/or experts who say this, and if you can also use your personal experience to recount anecdotal evidence that talking to babies (as opposed to parking them in front of the TV) helps children develop language skills sooner—and makes them happy, then you have an op/ed that has a chance of getting published.
Become a go-to source
Just as important, getting such a piece published will establish you and your organization as experts. The next time a reporter, not just at the paper that published the op/ed, but anywhere, needs to interview an early childhood expert, you could be among the people they call.
Obviously, you will post the piece on your website, include a link to it in your next e-newsletter, point it out to your funders, send it to anyone you quoted, etc.
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