How we leverage the content we create is critical to any marketing strategy. If your strategy involves multi-channel media, you’ll be using a range of traditional and digital platforms to reach specific audiences. For influence and Google juice, one of the most powerful and persuasive tools is an opinion editorial.
Although we value the information shared in 140-character tweets and depend on “first knowledge” found in social media, the earned media value of 800 words of original content is still an extremely potent currency.
To illustrate how an opinion editorial can be used to tell a business story, follow the Ground Truth in Harrisburg infographic below. The capital city of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, has experienced a cloud of negativity stemming from the city’s fiscal paralysis. Local media, The Wall Street Journal, and even foreign TV stations have covered the distress in depth. The business community was challenged to tell its story to offset the negative branding effects.
Using an op-ed as their workhorse piece, three business men shared Ground Truth in Harrisburg and leveraged the story for positive regional and statewide mentions in print, blogs, a digital magazine, two radio shows, social media channels, and two in-person presentations—all from 800 words in print.
