Ann Van Wagener, design editor at the Poynter Institute, reminds journalists about the many places on the Internet where they can find stock photos when they’re desperate for images. Many can be downloaded for only a few bucks from sites such as Istockphoto, and they’re royalty-free. Her blog item is a good reminder for Publicity Hounds… Read More
Photos & Graphics
Publicity tips–Avoid boring press conferences, ground-breakings, ribbon-cuttings, check-passings,
When Harley-Davidson unveiled plans last week for a $95 million museum here in Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel splashed a big beautiful color photo of the museum on the front page. Since the museum isn’t built yet, but bikers and other visitors appear in the foreground of the photo, I’m guessing that what I saw… Read More
Alternatives to the cliche ribbon-cutting photo
A friend whose company is opening a new addition called to ask for my best tips on how to stage a ribbon-cutting ceremony the media will love. “That’s an oxymoron,” I said. “The media don’t love ribbon-cuttings. They despise them.” As I’ve explained in the ebook I wrote last year titled “How to Use Photos & Graphics… Read More
How to get better publicity photos for your event
What do you when a photographer comes to your event, shoots photos, and you’re disappointed with what ends up in the paper? That’s what a Publicity Hound wanted to know when she emailed me with this dilemma: “What should one realistically expect when a photographer shows up to shoot a networking/luncheon/cocktail-party? My publicity chairperson is… Read More
Tips for working with media photographers
I just received the latest issue of Marketer, the print magazine published for members of the Society for Marketing Professional Services. I’m a contributing writer, and my article on Page 17 offers great tips on how to work with photographers, excerpted from my ebook “How to Use Photos & Graphics in Your Publicity Campaign.” One… Read More
Vote for POOPY PR photos
I’ll bet many of you work for companies that regularly have “POOP” in their newsletters, annual reports and even at their websites. “POOP” stands for Photos that Ought to be Outlawed Permanently. The acronym is the brainchild of Jean Clough, who teaches photography. Her friend, Steve Crescenzo, thought it was so clever when he first… Read More
Pitch a stand-alone photo for quick publicity
Liz Morgan, my Jazzercise instructor, has been beaming all week because the local weekly newspaper printed a photo of her new Junior Jazzercise class for little girls. So which do you think has more credibility? That photograph? Or a quarter page ad that Liz could have bought if she had the budget to advertise? When… Read More
Use more care when taking publicity photos
Whenever I send a news release about something I’ve done to my local newspapers or trade journals, I hardly ever hear feedback from my neighbors or peers, even when I know it’s been printed. But when I send my photo with the release and it’s printed, I hear a chorus that sounds like this: —“I… Read More
Boulder newspaper trains citizen journalists
One of the things I hated about the newspaper business was our failure, as a whole, to teach people how to use the newspaper. That’s why I welcome a new program started by the Daily Camera in Boulder, Colorado. It’s sponsoring an in-person training session for its MyTown site. It’s running full-color, half-page ads in… Read More
Why Publicity Hounds must have good-quality publicity photos
I’ll bet at least 3 out of 4 of you who are reading this right now don’t have a good-quality photo of yourself that you can give to a reporter or editor who asks for it. Photos are often far more powerful than articles. Every time my photo appears in the newspaper along with a… Read More