Photos, Graphics and the Media.

Photos, Graphics and the Media.

It is madness to approach a journalist without any preparation. If you're pitching stories about your company to the media, but photos are an afterthought, you could be missing fabulous opportunities for publicity.

A good photo or graphic can move your article from the back of a magazine to the front. Photos can be the deciding factor when you're pitching a story idea. An editor who knows that you can provide photos, or that their own photographer can take photos of something interesting, might be encouraged to say "yes" to your story idea.

Similar to your press release, all photos and graphics have to meet some minimum requirements to be acceptable or even considered by the media. We always upload all photos that accompany your press releases on our fast servers and provide them as html links to the media.

Consider asking your photographer to shoot "environmental portraits" of your experts. An architect, for example, might be shown holding several rolled up architect's renderings under her arm. A construction executive can be shown holding a helmet or other tools of his trade. Newspapers that don't have big photo staffs would probably welcome these photos but we always encourage having a couple with every press release.

Have interior and exterior shots of your company available for the media. The interior shots can show people at work. Please, no cliche "on the telephone" or "working at the computer" shots. The exterior can show your company name on the building.

Pie charts, bar charts and other graphics can often help readers understand complicated issues such as budgets. Offer to supply information to media outlets so they can create their own graphics to accompany your press release.

If a photographer from a newspaper or magazine takes photos at your company during an even, never demand to see the negatives, or dictate what photo they should use with the article, or ask for free copies of prints. The negatives are the property of the media outlet, and the media maintain full control over their use. If you want prints, expect to pay for them.

Make sure all photos are scanned at print-quality and available for instant download at your website, preferably under a button called "Media Room" that can be accessed from the homepage.

Avoid using big clunky photos at your website because they slow down the time it takes a page to load.

Never, ever ask a newspaper or magazine to take photos of a check-passing, ground-breaking or ribbon-cutting ceremony. The media hate these staged events. And don't wimp out by uploading these cheesy-looking photos to your expensive website.

Are you starting to get the picture? Photos and graphics can be a powerful publicity tool--but only if you use them.

Tune-Up: In place of a check-passing photo, use a chart to illustrates what the money will be used for. Instead of a ribbon-cutting photo, how about a photo of a business person with a customer on the first day of business? The same rules that go into crafting a successful press release hold true for photos and graphics. Joseph Reriani - PR Consultant

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This article is part of Joseph Reriani's "PR Tune-up Blog" newsletter posted to over 6,000 subscribers weekly. The newsletter was first published in 2002. For more articles and PR tune-up tips, please visit www.PrudentPressAgency.com and www.SkyNewswire.com. Joseph Reriani is a PR expert and Fellow with the Chartered Institute of Public Relations-  United Kingdom. He is the President/CEO of Prudent International Inc and Executive Editor of Prudent Press Agency. He is also an Assistant Editor of SkyNewswire.com directed by Jackie Mugambi . He is a trained journalist and specializes in helping businesses, organizations, and individuals improve their public image by effectively employing the power of public relations. Mr Reriani can be reached at jreriani @ PrudentPressAgency.com. You may freely copy and re-publish this article without altering any part in the body.