STORYTELLING WITH PHOTOGRAPHS
Photos needed by the media differ significantly from those taken for advertising and other commercial purposes. Keep this to the front of your mind when generating images for public relations campaigns.
Public relations photos must illustrate the story you’re submitting to media. They must depict a narrative that corresponds the one contained in the words of your news release, story, pitch or PR campaign.
Learning how to tell stories in images, and what constitutes ideal news and feature photography, will improve your chances of successfully submitting PR work to journalists.
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.