You’re Right to Reply

Someone said something to hack you off in the press? An opinion you disagree with or even just something you think it wrong? You do have a right to reply, of course. These days, sadly I would say, the comment boxes are chocker blocked by vitriolic commentators venting more spleen than sense, people who must spend their lives with bright scarlet faces and high blood pressure which shoots up as soon as they see the words immigrant, Brexit or socialism.

Naturally you want to avoid these people and the places where they congregate. They are not places where rational argument holds sway. But that said, there are still plenty of destinations which are worth seeking out to put across your opinion or voice your concern…and if you do find them and decide to venture forth, here are some simply rules to follow which might help you get into print or online.

Keep it Simple. Don’t go on and on. Make your points quickly and efficiently. If you can’t sum it up in three short paragraphs, you shouldn’t be saying it at all.

Write as you speak. Don’t, for goodness sake, resort to jargon or clichéd business-speak. It’s far too easy to fall into the trap of long winded words and phrases which sounds good but mean nothing whatsoever. Just say what you mean.

Be funny if you can. Being a little bit self depreciating will win you readers and friends. As with the above, nobody wants to read a long screed of heavy, lumbering phrases and meaningless – and witless – self absorbed twaddle. Keep a spring in your step and a light in your heart and people are more likely to read on.

It isn’t about you. Whatever you do, don’t treat it as an opportunity to gabble on for several hundred words about how brilliantly your business handles this kind of issue or about the latest gadget you’ve just this minute launched which cures all known ills – and then some. This isn’t a pitch for business, but a chance to pitch your ideas, thinking and all around verbal brilliance. Otherwise it’s the comment equivalent of a Christmas Round Robin. And we all know how utterly dull they are.

Because above all this is a chance to make friends and influence. You want to grab a bit of limelight and turn it on yourself – and by connection, your business. Note well those words ‘by connection’. Keep it subjective and you’re more likely to hold your reader’s attention.

Above all ‘to your own self be true’ as someone once said. It’s only worth sounding off if you genuinely have something substantial to add to the argument. Comment for the sake of it just isn’t good enough – and the fact that you’re forcing it will show. You have to mean it – and if you do the chances are those words will flow and your argument will carry far greater validity.

One final caveat: opinions, it has been said, are like arseholes: everyone’s got one. Keep that dark thought it mind and you’ll never go far wrong.

Nigel Lawrence