Image PR is important. An image can decide whether a press release is published or not, whether the release is read or not. This applies to high circulation as well as to trade publications and special interest media. For editors to use an image, not only the quality must be good. They also need legal certainty. The IPTC metadata of an image should therefore include the rules for using the image in order to comply with copyright. We have compiled everything you need to know about press images in the following.
This picture made the startup company Micreon a crowd-puller at the “Laser” trade fair.
Several times a day we receive welcome requests for the publication of specialist articles. The conditions are usually specified. Images are always a condition. No picture, no article.
Journalists need visual material more than ever before
The demand for good photos, infographics and illustrations has been great since the beginning of public relations. With the entry of social media and media online platforms into our society, the demand for good image PR is higher than ever. According to “news aktuell”, a company of the dpa Group, the importance of press photos has increased significantly. It increases from year to year. The 2018 journalist survey shows that photos are very important for every second journalist. The same applies to videos.
In the whitepaper “Recherche 2018” the image platforms Instagram and Pinterest are the winners among the social media channels. Compared to 2016, Instagram gained nine percent, Pinterest two percentage points. In total, 30 percent of the interviewed journalists researched Instagram, twelve percent Pinterest.
The “Trendmonitor Medien 2017” from “News Aktuell” in cooperation with Faktenkontor shows what the increasing mobile reception of news means for journalists: 38 percent are of the opinion that they now have to work more visually. What is important for journalists applies accordingly to news producers such as companies and PR agencies: picture PR is becoming more and more important.
The study also illustrates this regarding to the question of the relevance of information media. Press releases with pictures and videos are the third most important channel.
Text and picture cost the same
For press offices and PR agencies there should be no question as to whether a suitable picture will also be supplied with the text. Of course, no topic, should be the answer. The demand of the media is high. In the practice of PR, the hurdles for the two formats seem to be however different. A press release is commissioned and written faster and easier than a press photo. Both could happen at the same time. While the copywriter composes the press release, the photographer sets about creating a motif. Text and image are simultaneously coordinated internally, released and published together.
The costs for the external production of both materials are approximately the same. A good press text of an appropriate length of about 3,000 characters costs as much as a good photo. We assume that standard formats are quick and easy to produce. Photo shootings, as they are used for advertising, are not meant in this context.
Why isn’t it as simple as it could be?
In most cases, a company has a corporate design rulebook that defines font types, colors, and shapes, among other things. But seldom are guidelines set for a uniform, individual picture language. This lack makes it difficult for the photographer to produce suitable motifs in a short time.
Image PR: an art, but no witchcraft
We have taken some facts and estimations from the standard publication about PR with pictures by Prof. Dr. Dieter Georg Adlmaier-Herbst and summarize them here. At the same time we would like to recommend the book to you for an entertaining reading about the basics for a professional picture PR.
In order for you to be able to read this article more comfortably, we have refrained from using page references in consultation with the author.
Facts about Human Reception
Subconscious evaluation
In the first 200 milliseconds the unconscious evaluation of a picture takes place. Only then does the conscious processing begin.
Try it out for yourself how unspeakably fast you can capture an image, for example with the Google search query “How fast are 200 milliseconds? (Well, the answer to this question can take a little longer in some regions of Germany. But the federal government is eager to change that – until, uh, 2030?)
Rapid reception of pictures
Text meets picture: People perceive pictures 60,000 times faster than texts. Because this size category is not so catchy, it is supposed to illustrate it in a picture:
A snail is travelling at about three meters per hour. At its peak, a domestic cat can reach up to 50 km/h, i.e. 50,000 metres per hour.
If you want your message to be captured very quickly by the recipient, you are on the right track with professional picture PR and a good picture.
Surely many contents are usually more complex than one or even several pictures. An understandable, good text is indispensable. But you can ensure that it is read at all with a visual door opener.
Attention in Comparison
To which part of this ad do readers pay how much attention?
According to Adlmaier-Herbst, an image ad is only noticed for a maximum of two seconds. Of this, 76 percent is for the image, 16 percent for the headline and only 8 percent for the text. That doesn’t make the decision difficult.
What is perceived consciously?
Here, too, the text loses out against the image and is quasi declassified. Up to 70 percent of image information is consciously captured, but only 2 percent of the text.
This corresponds to about 7 words.
Accordingly, only as much of our imaginary advertisement for Christmas decoration would remain as shown here.
Unconscious Processing
In contrast to text, images are processed unconsciously. They work without us wanting or being able to control them. This is especially important in crisis communication. Greenpeace has established its success story with visual material.
Image pulverizes Text
In 2010, the BP Group was responsible for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. On 22 April 2010, the “Deepwater Horizon” platform exploded and around 470 million litres of crude oil were released into the sea.
The images from news agencies such as AP went around the globe and caused one of the world’s largest oil companies to stumble. BP had nothing against the power of these images. How could they?
How long do We Remember?
Here you can see a comparison of the liability behaviour of images and text: even after a week, the viewer remembers images even better than after five minutes of a text.
For our brain, pictures are like burrs, texts are dandelions.
Facts about Press Pictures and more
Small Companies benefit from Picture PR
The smaller or less known a company is, the more important is accentuated image material. Let the photographer of your choice advise you on this. In social media marketing, it helps if you announce an internal ideas competition. It will certainly provide you with surprising and offbeat motifs.
The Power of the Editorial Staff
In the high-reach media, printed and online, the image decides whether a message is recorded or not.
Here the text editors must subordinate themselves to the specifications of the layout by the picture editor. He defines the scope – from the length of the heading to the space.
Stock Pictures: Yes, but not for Press Photos
So-called stock material, i.e. photos, graphics and videos that you can purchase on platforms such as iStock, are interchangeable and not concise for your company. Sometimes it can’t be avoided and you have to use it for marketing material, for example. In the case of press photos, you should do without them and invest in a good photographer and individual photos in good time.
When Facts matter: Illustrations and Infographics
Sometimes photos are not the best way to transport content. If you want to make complex and a lot of information clearly structured and easy to read, illustrations and infographics are much better suited. You can be supported by professional graphic designers.
vibrio developed and implemented this info graphic for its customer Schreiner Group. The most important facts about the Bavarian family-owned company with worldwide business operations are summarized on a blackboard.
For our client Agnitas we designed a visual guide on the topic of “Internal communication in digital transformation” and implemented it with a graphic designer.
This form of a fact sheet should be possible for every company. Our information kit contains: Benefits, application situations and the most important rules of the tool. The corporate design provides the specifications for the design, such as the color scheme or the icons.
With this graphic, we have also made sure that it can be tailored by the editorial offices according to their needs. For media for which this graphic is too long, we have made the individual chapters available as a series in our newsroom.
Advertising Photos are not Press Pictures
“A thick logo, nothing behind it” is how journalists’ criticism of press photos and press releases could be summed up. Stefan Brunn and Mathias Wolff appeal to press offices: “And remember: advertising, stock and product photography have little to do with press photography. Supermodels can usually be saved – they look too much like advertising. The whiter the models smile, the lower the chance of publication.”
Please do not send advertising motifs to journalists – unless you present your new campaign to the marketing press.
IPTC Data in Press Pictures
Even professional photographers often do not fill in the data that is so important for editorial offices. Therefore, make sure that your press photos contain this information. IPTC is the abbreviation for International Press Telecommunications Council and known to image PR experts. The information is internationally valid and understandable.
Editors receive thousands of pictures per day
Every day, large editorial offices are flooded with picture material. It doesn’t just come from companies and PR agencies. The biggest suppliers are news agencies like dpa, Reuters or AP. The editors, who view the material, are interested in its topicality and quality and then decide whether it will be used or not.
If there is no current reason for this, the image is moved to the image archive once the metadata has been filled in. If this is not the case, there is a high risk that the image will simply be deleted because the post-processing would be too time-consuming.
How to fill out the IPTC metadata
The information about the author and the conditions under which the image may be used are therefore particularly important. Does the author demand a fee for printing or is it free of charge? You can regulate this in the image information.
When you have called up the picture information, click on “IPTC data”. You will receive a menu with four table tabs. The most important page is the first tab “Description”. This is about copyrights, permission for use and a picture description, which are very helpful for editorial offices in their research.
Your press photos should, for example, contain at least the following information: “Use free of charge for journalistic, non-commercial purposes”. This means that every editor who finds your motif interesting knows that he does not have to make an effort to clarify the fee question by e-mail or telephone, but can use it without hesitation.
This may seem like a trifle, but given the time pressure journalists work under today, it can be crucial for publication.
How to start with Your Picture PR
You have read the entire article and are now convinced of good PR pictures and motivated to offer more photos, illustrations and infographics as part of your public relations work. But you ask yourself, how should I start where?
Take inventory and check your inventory: What is current, what is good and still fits the company. Create a table and record what you are satisfied with as a PR expert and where it needs to be reworked. Your checklist could look like this:
You’re sure to find a good photographer near you via networks such as Xing or LinkedIn. Do some research and let us show you some references.
Once you and your photographer have been trained and agreed, the rest, i.e. quick PR images for every press release, runs like clockwork.
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