Tips From Our Experts

Increase your chance of publication – use press photos in your PR work

Press image from bike manufacturer Abici

Picture editors are increasingly having their budget’s slashed. This means they’re often on the look out for great photo material. Even bloggers like photos as they strengthen the content of their blog and they often don’t have any budget for pictures. This means that there’s more chance of your news being picked up on and published if you include good photos that the media can use.

Here are a few tips to bear in mind when you’re building an archive of press photos.

The right photographer for the right emotion

Your company has a unique product or key value proposition which you want to convey in the right way. Each great photographer has his or her own style and vision. Shop around and fight the right photographer for your business.

The photographer’s network

This point is often overlooked and undervalued, but if you have the budget for a really great photographer it’s well worth spending. If you’re planning to hire a photographer you’re purchasing just more than the pictures themselves; you’re also potentially tapping into a network of great picture editors. A well-established professional photographer often has a strong connection to picture editors in a variety of different media outlets. Via a photographer’s network you can indirectly come into contact with picture editors because photographers regularly send their contacts their latest material.

A broad spectrum of pictures

Different types of media require different types of pictures. It’s vital, therefore, that you vary the types of press photos that you use. Ensure that you photograph your products in a studio and, if possible, outside. It’s also a good idea to photograph them in a completely unusal environment to help them stand out.

Press images from Gant

Put your effort into the cover picture

Put your effort into a couple of pictures that could be used on the front cover of a magazine in your industry. For example, you could use a really excellent close up of the engineer or entrepreneur who invented the product, or a really fantastic picture of an individual part of a product.

Pictures for publication

Because editorial desks are tending to have increasingly limited picture budgets it’s vital to provide pictures that could be used for publication. It’s important that your pictures show the product or person in question, but it’s essential that the photographer understands the brief – that the picture must be optimized for layout. It’s important, then, to aim to get great pictures that have a simple background so you can include text on them.

Captions

The caption is everything. Every picture and illustration should have a great caption. The caption should tell its own story, illustrating the image. Great captions aren’t just popular amongst journalists and bloggers; search engines and social media channels love them too!

All the pictures in this article are taken from Mynewsdesk’s customer news rooms.

Share

Tweet

Share

Email