Writing a Letter to the Editor (LTE) or organizing a LTE campaign for your supporters can be an effective way to spread the message you want about your issue or your group. Additionally, with passionate volunteers or group leaders, LTEs cost your organization nothing apart from the time and energy it takes to write.
LTEs direct a comment to a news publication in response to articles, editorials, videos and op-eds published there. If an article is even tangentially about your issue—let’s say it has to do with the actions of a city council, for example, or an environmental issue that is relevant to you but maybe not directly on point—a well-crafted LTE can introduce readers to your issue and invite them to think more deeply about what needs to be done.
Many community leaders and political and elected figures are known to monitor letters to the editor, and since each LTE is usually word-limited to somewhere between 150-250 words, they are easily digestible for readers and can reach a very broad section of the engaged public.
