Photography is a powerful tool that can help you convey a message or establish a brand. Specifically in the Public Relations industry, one great image can be the difference between having your press release picked up or not. Although photography won’t make up for poorly crafted content, visuals can go a long way toward making quality content that much better.
So what are the basics of what PR professionals should know about photography? Here are for instances when photography can help to improve your business’s PR strategy.
No Image No Story
Without an image, your story feels incomplete. People want to see something in addition to reading something (even if the visual is the title of the article, like we often do here). It captures a reader’s attention and stands out more than just all words. It also makes it easy for a reader to get a sense of what the story is about before reading it.
Depending upon your resources and how large a PR company you have, you can often outsource or hire a professional photographer to work on projects. There are times, however, when there is no budget to outsource or you have multiple projects and not enough employees to cover all your events. In either situation, this is when having a basic knowledge of photography skills will be a huge asset. You can dive right in and capture some great images yourself!
Stock Image Gallery
As we mentioned in the previous point, sometimes you can afford to outsource your work to a professional photographer for certain projects. And creating a stock image gallery for your PR Firm is one of the most valuable ways to utilize professional photography again and again. Quality stock images can be used on your website, social media, marketing materials, blogs, newsletters and much more. Most importantly, they are exclusively yours. No one else will have them and you won’t have to worry about copyright issues.
Clients and Events
Often in the PR field, you will be asked to photograph important clients or events, meaning you need to have a basic understanding of photography to capture these moments with quality shots. During events, people won’t often pose for multiple photographs (or pose at all), so it’s important to capture usable images on the first try – you won’t get a second chance. It’s highly disappointing to both you and your client if you host an incredible event without a single good photo to promote your work.
Blogging
We know that blogging is a powerful marketing and branding tool that is valuable to your business is so many ways (we’ve written about it a lot). When it comes to a great blog, you need at least one image to draw readers in and help them connect with your message. Especially when your blog is shared on social media, this visual will create a much more aesthetically pleasing post that stands out in newsfeeds. Even the most catchy title and creative description will get lost in the noise without a photo to complement the words.
Do you work in PR or use PR strategies to grow your business? If so, let us know if this was helpful by commenting below!
