Op Ed
An op ed is an "op-inion ed-itorial" or sometimes it is called an "op-posite ed-itorial." It would be called an opposite editorial because it is usually located on the page opposite the editorial page in a newspaper.
People who are expressing personal viewpoints and opinions on different subjects write these editorials. They are usually written by guest authors or staff members of the paper and have a greater length than normal editorials.
There is not a lot of editing that goes into them because of their personal and opinionated nature. The people writing these articles could be considered experts in their fields. They are people who might be looked at as opinion leaders. People that the public look up to and value for their opinions on different subjects.
These people have a bigger influence than most editorial writers and have a stronger effect on the opinion of the public than other people do. People read them because they want to know what they think.
For a business seeking publicity, it would be great for them to be able to get these people to write about them in their articles; if it was good. Publicity means a great deal for businesses. Without good publicity people would not know who they are and would not purchase their products.
It is good for businesses when they pitch their stories and can get published, but it would be even better for them to be able to develop relationships with the writers of op eds and to get publicity in that way.
If a writer of an op ed were to write something good about your business people would probably listen better than if it were just any article. The writer of an op ed would be someone that they would feel more like they could trust. Because they trust them they would trust their opinion.
If the op ed writer said that yours was a good business then more people would probably respond to it and be interested in buying your products. On the other hand, if an op ed writer said something bad about your business that would not be good. It would mean that people would look down on your business rather than wanting to be a part of it.
Just like the multiplier effect can have an effect for good, it can also have a great effect for bad. If people started talking bad about your business then it would also spread until soon you would have a big group of people who were against you as well as a big group of people who were for you.
This is why it would be good to develop a good relationship with an op ed writer. If they liked you they would say good things about you. You could contact them and see if they are interested in you. If they are you could maybe pitch a story to them and they just might write about it in their next editorial.
Whether you try to develop a relationship with op ed writers or not, you would still try not to get on their bad side. Obviously there will always be people that do not like you because everyone has different opinions and viewpoints.
But the smaller the group that can be the better it is for you. Businesses want to try and get as much good publicity as they can and least amount of bad publicity as possible. If you would like to read more about op eds and public relations you can go to the following links and see what they have to say:
http://101publicrelations.com
http://www.publicrelationsideas.com
