We all know the saying, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” and as an amateur photographer I firmly believe in this. So in Public Relations why should this be any different?
How often do you flick through a newspaper or magazine and a photograph catches your eye? Or how often does the photograph encourage you to read the article? So why submit a good story with a low quality photograph and limit the potential coverage your story could achieve?
Within an article or advert photos tend to stand out as they often consume more space; if this fails to capture the public’s attention they will often move on without reading the text, as articles with images gain 94% more views. Often the power of photographs is under estimated, so here are some guidelines on using photographs within your work:
- Preparation
Plan and prepare (1) what you intend to photograph; (2) why you intend to photograph it; and (3) how you will capture the photograph. Through preparation it will help you capture a range of photographs for different purposes that may be appropriate for future uses.
- Invest in a Photographer
A photographer will have the knowledge to know what type of photographs will be of an advantage to your company as well as being creative to capture unique photos that portray the company’s message. A professional will also have the correct equipment and skills to capture and edit photographs so that they best represent your message.
- Tell a Story
Quality photographs have the power to tell the client’s story and deliver a message to those who view it. Well-written stories accompanied by high quality photographs will grab both the editor’s and target public’s attention; therefore increasing the likeliness that the editor will publish your story as the photographs will increase the story’s appeal.
If people hear information they are likely to recall 10% of it three days later, whereas if that information is paired with a relevant image they will retain at least 65% of the information three days later. This highlights the importance of selecting a relevant photograph for your press release, as it will help increase brand recognition within your target publics as they will be able to recall the article when they see the product or service you offer.
- Social Media
Using quality photographs on social media is important as all platforms adapting to encourage users to upload photographs. The use of photographs on social media has been proven to increase the engagement rate, for example, on Twitter; tweets with images receive 150% more retweets than those without.
Lauren Sharkey is a 4th year CAM student at Ulster University. She can be contacted on Twitter @lsharkey_37 or on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-sharkey-25776ab0