Young man taking photo with professional digital camera, focus on hand and lens
What type of photos do I send with my PR campaign?
SOME of my clients ask me, ‘Which image will journalists want with my story?’ ‘What types of photo does the media use?’ ‘What’s the best photo to send with my PR campaign?’ And even, ‘Should I send photos with my press release?’
It’s easy to send photos that fail to inspire editors and result in a PR campaign being spiked.
So, in this short article I answer these queries that I hear from clients and reveal five important elements of a good PR image.
I hope this advice will help you secure the media coverage you need.
ADVERTISING executive Fred Barnard was the first person to coin the phrase, “a picture is worth a thousand words”.
The fact it was an ‘ad man’ who first said these immortal words tells us plenty about the value of images to marketing and PR work.
All media output – whether on social media feeds or magazine pages, in TV segments or bloggers’ review posts – ultimately comes down to a balance of words and pictures.
So crisp images are just as informative and important as compelling copy when submitting a PR campaign or news release to print, broadcast or online media.
Good images bring copy to life. They attract readers and viewers to news reports and feature pieces, grabbing audience attention before written or spoken content can. They also often include additional information not contained in associated written content.
Journalists, editors and publishers often weigh up the merit of a story based on the existence, and quality, of accompanying images too.
In print media, a strong image can make the difference between seeing your PR news presented as a text-only ‘nib’, ‘stick’, ‘leg’ or ‘anchor’ piece, or as a page lead story or double page spread (DPS).
Good images also generate picture credits and picture captions containing mentions of your business and brand.
With digital media, audiences struggle to absorb written content online with the same ease they do with printed material. More images are needed to break up less copy online, so audiences remain engaged with the pages they’re reading.
In turn, this allows media outlets to sell more advertising space on those website pages.
For all of these reasons, submitting good images is utterly vital to the success of PR campaigns.
And opportunities to provide images to journalists, editors and producers should be embraced.
STORYTELLING WITH PHOTOGRAPHS
Photos needed by the media differ significantly from those taken for advertising and other commercial purposes. This is especially important to remember when generating images for public relations campaigns.
Public relations photos must reflect and illustrate the story you are submitting to media. They must contain and depict a narrative that corresponds the one contained in the words of your news release, pitch or PR campaign.
Gaining an understanding and appreciation of how to tell stories in images, and what constitutes news and feature photography, will improve your chances of submitting a successful PR campaign.
Images created for PR must do the following five things:
1. Grab audience attention
Images play a huge role in drawing audience attention to a story. They’re what stop readers in their tracks while moving from one page to another. Therefore, images must be sufficiently arresting so as to compel readers to take a closer look at them. Providing striking images to editors helps to secure media coverage.
2. Spur engagement with written content
Either images or a headline are responsible for encouraging readers to delve into the greater detail of written copy. Therefore, images must present an element of intrigue that piques audience curiosity to learn more about them. This increases their appeal to writers and editors working with their associated content too.
3. Bring key story elements together
A PR image must be useful in a journalistic context. This is what will make it appeal to editors. It cannot be too promotional. Instead, it should observe the nature of the media’s work which is, largely, storytelling. An image for PR should tell a story too and in doing so it should substantiate and endorse its accompanying content.
4. Depict the story in an active way
Campaign images are more likely to be used if they depict actions and movement. The founding principle of journalism is to record events and moments in time. Therefore, images which reveal a snapshot of authentic activity appeal to editors and producers more than ones showing staged and static conduct.
5. Connect story to brand in an uncontrived way
Too much branding in a photo will almost certainly be rejected by the media. Journalists pride themselves on their impartiality, integrity and incorruptibility. They like to deal in stories, not publicity. Let brand mentions come through copy. Or include business names and logos covertly, subtly, naturally and tastefully – if at all.
If you’d like to know more about securing media coverage for your brand, feel free to get in touch with me for a free 20 minute consultation at no cost. Telephone 07460644844 or please use this contact page.
