Why Your Imagery is Affecting Your Digital PR Results
PR

Why Your Imagery is Affecting Your Digital PR Results

9th December 2015

So, you have your little black book of contacts, you know your press release by heart and your PR pitch has been finely tuned, but there is one thing that might have been affecting your Digital PR results and that’s imagery.

Imagery is hugely important for Digital PR and link acquisition. Without the right imagery for your client or brand, you could end up losing out on potential online coverage on sites. Depending on your client, it is important that you receive the right imagery for the type of sites you want to reach out to:

SOD- Creative imagery NailCreative product Imagery:

What is it? Creative product imagery works great for sites that will feature one or more of the same product or a product in a more creative way. This imagery allows the site, and also the reader to see the product in a more appetising way. The imagery demands more room on the site than cut out imagery.

Great for: Selling in the product as a news feature, such as the product has had a re-vamp, has just launched or is limited edition. If you feel that sites will feature the product solely and not include another brand in its feature, then this will be the perfect type of imagery to use.

SOD- Cut out Imagery

Cut out Product Imagery

What is it? Cut out imagery is an image of a product that has no background. This imagery is likely to be on the product pages of their site. You will need high resolution images. This type of imagery is the most popular type that you will use in your Digital PR. It’s versatile, easy to attain, and can work for a variety of sites, from blogs, B2B, to consumer. If your client or brand loves a coloured background, you will need to brief them in having a copy of product images for future sell-ins, or be a dab hand at Adobe Photoshop!

SOD- Fashion Lifestyle

Lifestyle Imagery

What is it? Lifestyle imagery is where the product or the brand is in ‘use’. It should not be confused with campaign imagery. Lifestyle imagery is great for sites that desperately need glossy imagery that doesn’t necessarily have to relate solely to the product, but more the subject. For example; if you have a fashion brand, their lifestyle imagery could be of their current collection packed into a suitcase for a holiday concept.

Great for: Clients that have a product or service that encapsulates a certain lifestyle. This can be popular with active and sports brands as well as luxury products. An image of people enjoying a fitted out Jacuzzi will be picked up by more sites than of a cut out imagery of one.

SOD- Campaign

Campaign Imagery

What is it? The clue is in the name. This is the imagery that you see on advertisements. This imagery is for when a new collection, a product or a new service is being released and is their focal point of the brand. Most brands, from ecommerce to B2B will have some kind of campaign with imagery to support it.

Great for: Most campaign imagery is featured in trade sites to highlight the new campaign and the brand itself, as well as consumer sites for product brands. When dealing with campaign imagery, be sure to keep to a press embargo (if there is one) as influential sites might want to have first rights to feature before anyone else.

SOD- lookbook imagery

Look Book Imagery

What is it? Look book imagery is mostly for fashion clients, but can spread over to sports and lifestyle brands if they have a certain collection and a number of different types of products. A Look Book is a book that shows how a number of items can be used or worn together. For example; when a fashion brand releases a collection, a look book is highly recommended when selling in the new collection.

Great for: Industry and consumer sites can feature the whole look book as a part of the gallery or they might just pick a number of looks that complement their feature. Tip: Always look to see what kind of sites feature look book imagery to build your outreach list.

Imagery for B2B clients

Imagery for B2B clients can be tricky, but it is not impossible. This is where design and content marketing comes hand in hand for PR sell in.  Most industry sites might not be so fussy about imagery and would only require a logo or a polished images of the head office, but here are a few examples of how imagery can support your serious sell in.

SOD-graphsGraphs

This doesn’t need to be a long infographic, but short and simple images of figures, graphs and charts that supports a market release or an industry report will make it much easier to feature online. Take some of the most important statements and results that can be turned into a story and create imagery around this. For example; if a report has shown there a significant increase in women in CEO positions in London than in New York – an image to support this will ensure the likeliness of a site featuring it as well as it being perfect for social sharing.

Quotes

SOD QuotesDesigned quotes on statements from key people on the business are recommended to be sold in when a press release includes a quote. If you cannot create some engaging content and imagery around it, a simple quote will do well and will help the journalist or blogger break up their article.

When thinking of selling a story, always think about what imagery will look the best and what imagery does that website favour, a little research when building your press list will help with this!

Very little clients will have all of the above, but try and attain as much variety as possible. Look at the client’s site and see how many different types of imagery you can use to sell in. This will widen your outreach and make your sells much more appealing.

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Written By
Jodie Harris heads up the Digital PR division at MediaVision. She has worked in publication relations since 2008. She specialises in bringing the rules of traditional PR to a digital platform.
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