The importance of good PR imagery

Let's talk about photography (video can come in a future post - I'm talking about the art of great high resolution photography for media use - print and digital).

The types of photography you may need for a PR campaign include:

• A headshot of you in your professional capacity, which is essential for thought leadership pitching, for example, as well as consistent branding on your professional platforms, including website and LinkedIn

• Product imagery, if you offer products to your industry (lifestyle and cut-out imagery, I'll expand on this below)

• Case study imagery (quality photography of people representing your brand)

• A 'picture story' lead image, where the story is brought together visually in an editorial and uncontrived way - the 'main event' of the story's components, if you will. By uncontrived I mean NOT heavily branded. This type of image really has to make sense on its own and with minimum captioning, really.

Qualities your imagery must possess include:

Having an active quality

Whether your subjects are aware of the camera or not (a creative decision), the image must have an active quality. Think about the energy of the photo. What sense does it create? Is there an emotion, an urgency, an 'ah ha' aspect that justifies why you're capturing the scene in the first place? (An example of an inactive photo would be the 'staged' handing over of a big cheque with people in suits frozen in time, shaking hands - you must know the one).

Not heavily branded - if at all

A bit of nuance doesn't go amiss here - branding must be absolutely relevant to the story, or else - leave it out. The photo should really speak for itself without shoe-horning branding in for no reason other than to try and sneak it in for the marketing team. Do remember, picture editors cannot be fooled into promoting your brand logo for free. Product imagery (such as clothing) is slightly different, of course.

High resolution

The standard resolution for PR imagery is 300dpi, no more than 2MB in size for print titles (do not attach to email, use Google links to share).

Consider lifestyle, cut-out and headshot formats

Every publication will have its own style guide and the best way to understand the right imagery to share is by reading the publication and preparing a shot list brief in advance. This could include:

• Cut-out imagery (product imagery with white/transparent background - the type of image you may see in a product placement column in a national newspaper e.g. top 5 water bottles, tried and tested skincare)

• Landscape and portrait formats - capture both in the shoot as journalists may need to use/edit based on their standard image sizes. 'Portscape' is also good for 4:5 Instagram posts

• Lifestyle imagery - whether for products or headshots, it always helps to have some options of the subject in context, particularly for consumer media. Clinical/no background images also have their place but should not be relied upon for more human-interest led PR/business profiling

Permissions and usage rights

You will need to be legally minded on usage rights and talent terms, safeguarding and photography/media release forms. The latter gives written permission from the person in the photo (or their parent/guardian if under 18) for you to use the image in PR and marketing. This is relevant for both owned and earned and paid channels.

On terms of PR usage, be sure to have agreements in place for this too (whether talent, case studies and staff - i.e. those you are featuring).

When it comes to editorial media usage terms, it is not advisable, as Oasis's team recently did, to put 12-month usage terms on imagery (after which period, it was reported that the rights would return to the band).

The Guardian states: "The industry norm is that such deals for independent photographers from agencies are struck in perpetuity, so publishers can continue to use shots for pieces such as band retrospectives, tributes and to illustrate future concerts."

Conclusion

Allocate proper budget, do not edit or manipulate the final image unless you explain why this alteration is part of the story. E.g. a photography/tech think piece on new editing software, or a feature on AI advancement, or the worrying rise of deep fakes. Authenticity is the only route. You will remember this royal photo story that saw 5 news agencies withdraw their photo.

Achieving this involves putting a decent budget aside in your campaign for a craft that I believe will and should have a resurgence in an age of over-egged filters and AI manipulation (uninspiring, much?)

I will always be a champion of great photographers. I particularly like this lifestyle image by Sophie Davies to promote an equestrian clothing brand I've devised to raise money for a local horse charity.

Credit: Sophie Davies

There are more examples of PR imagery on my main homepage, including a launch with the Tim Henman Foundation and a clowning workshop.

If you would like to get in touch to discuss how to compile a PR photography brief or story for your next PR campaign, please contact me.

AI, GEO and SEO need ethical oversight in the PR industry

AI advancement is perceived as either an opportunity or a threat, depending on how the technology is leveraged. As a 'tool', it can be beneficial to the output of organisations to solve problems and spot patterns.

Day-to-day tasks can be made easier without replacing humans in the process. All kinds of AI tools have recently promised to speed up the planning application process and build more homes, improve health diagnoses rates and even help caribou conservation in a changing Arctic.

Organisations should clearly plan for advancement with relevant AI policies and consultation, to avoid the shadow of existential fears of staff replacement in the name of progress. Instead, collaboration, transparency and innovation should be the drivers, taking a human-led, bespoke or case-by-case approach where needed.

Key to this: Keep humans involved in creativity, decision making and oversight, with a clear goal in mind (I don't think 'speeding things up with AI' is a good enough and sustainable stand-alone reason, especially if critical thought and decision-making are being outsourced).

My worry is that the much-adopted 'wild west' approach of 'act first, then worry about the impact later' to 'keep ahead of competitors' is already leading to some dubious practices in the communications industry.

These developments fundamentally erode trust between the media, PR and the public. I was shocked to read in the Press Gazette a series of articles and investigations that include how a non-UK PR agency has developed an AI tool that generates fake expert comments to reply to real-world media enquiries.

To replace the fundamental trust built in the PR and media relations industry with made-up experts flies in the face of what the industry should be working day and night to protect, and the essence of what it means to share insights, stories and grow as a society.

It seems this is just another series of technological shifts seen by the PR industry that has been open to exploitation, and I'd include the rise of poorly driven SEO campaigns seen over the last decade, also with arguably very little oversight.

When SEO-driven individuals push backlinks through keyword-stuffed, low-quality AI-generated content (or low-quality human-written content for that matter), it blurs the line between genuine, earned coverage and content that’s been shoehorned in just to play the algorithm.

Journalists get flooded with this kind of thing and start assuming all outreach is like that – spammy, transactional, not worth their time. It drags down the whole industry. But we're now in a place where fake experts are being pitched by a robot to push shady brands. This is fraudulent and scams journalists and the public, and it is ethically wrong.

There is also full-time attention going on generative search among brands too - the space for opportunists to cynically create false information to further their dodgy aims is widened.

It is very difficult to police authenticity, but ultimately human connections, earned trust and judgment - whether it's between a journalist and a PR - means you'll be able to communicate the credibility of the story and why it matters.

For me, focusing on my shared values with clients I work with and their mission helps me build trust across my comms, stakeholder and PR relationships. This also directly relates to my own experience, judgement, business values and reputation.

Using channels that consumers trust and focussing on human relationships is at the heart of ethical PR, transparency and authenticity. I'm not looking over my shoulder for the robots just yet.

To have a chat about how I can help you navigate authentic press outreach for your campaign or mission, contact me here.

How a smaller charity can punch above its weight in PR

Smaller charities can be so far stretched to cover all business- as-usual bases in communications, it can be difficult to be strategic and sustained when it comes to PR.

Getting cut through with the media and breaking through the noise can feel daunting, without the time for effective planning or indeed the availability of budget. PR can be treated as an afterthought, watered down and formulaic, losing a sense of purpose.

And I'm not surprised. A quick scan of any communications manager role in the charity sector reveals everything but the kitchen sink in terms of roles and responsibilities that are spread thinly.

But with more competition than ever for fundraising, creativity is needed. Time must be dedicated to thinking strategically, smarter and out-of-the-box. This will make life considerably easier (or should that be less stressful!), raise money and change lives.

Branding and strategic positioning

Nailing your branding and strategic plan involves communicating your vision, mission and how you want to make a difference. Storytelling needs to connect your audience to this editorially, making it clear exactly how you are doing this and why it matters. When it comes to communicating this, key messages and a call to action are the foundation of any charity campaign, and this may need to be broken down further for stakeholders.

Topicality, timing and consistency

It's of course great to align with key milestones of your organisation - anniversaries, new data and insights, awareness weeks and fundraising campaigns, but why should media care? A PR-first campaign should always start with anticipation and insight as to what matters to your audience and the media combined. So instead of thinking: "Oh, we've got an awareness week coming up this year, what shall we do for it?" think: "What issues are the media going to be talking about and how do we enable our voice to be leading on making a difference to this?" I'll expand a bit more in the creativity section.

It is also important that your campaign has long-term potential. Flash-in-the-pan, one-off ideas give little to no opportunity to offer clarity to your audience. Media will get to know you better, and in the long term, if you offer consistency, as they will have a clear awareness of when and why you are getting in touch (or when they need to contact you).

It is also worth noting that demand for services has risen ‘a lot’ for more than half of charities in past year (Charities Aid Foundation research, 2024), so it's also important to consider the impact of bigger bang PR on services, your messaging and call to action for any given communications campaign, if you are smaller.

Media training

I think everyone in a small charity should be media trained. This not only helps build media presence but also empowers staff to be ambassadors of the charity's work with everyone they meet. Perhaps they're at a golf club event and meet a journalist or potential donor - you never know!

It is always music to my ears when a client agrees to media training. There is no better feeling than seeing someone grow in confidence and channel their energy and passion for your cause, empowered to confidently handle questions due to the right preparation.

Don't forget your case studies and campaigners. Effectively building and engaging this cohort requires planning, safeguarding and meaningful charity engagement. The media-facing aspect of engaging this group will only work if it reflects a brilliant and sustained experience with the charity's work and/or its campaigns. I was able to manage filming on The One Show, all thanks to a bank of brilliant campaigners from the charity Changing Faces supporting its #IAmNotYourVillain campaign.

Content creativity

Making your PR storytelling work smarter, not harder, does rely on creativity, agility and a knowledge of what's going on in the real world (also read as: media landscape).

• What key insights can you pull together from your own data and case studies to ensure it is saying something new, in an authentic manner?

  
  

• Perhaps you have leads with potential ambassadors, but how are you going to activate them to maximise success and in the right time frame?

• How is your campaign shifting the dial? What are you calling for or changing and how can this strengthen your story?

• Often, I see a reliance on human interest stories that can sadly fall into the 'clickbait' category if not handled correctly, without any communication of a solution, hope or change. Again, this is where strategic media targeting comes in.

• What is the output for your story - a video, a petition or an opinion piece? Your media strategy can pack a punch for little to no budget if you have the right message at the right time. I once secured national coverage for a small charity after filming a video address by the CEO on Zoom (It was over the festive break, a costume was involved and there was a very hard-hitting call-to-action).

• The charity also had a well-stocked and good quality asset library with appropriate media release permissions granted that were easily repurposed for media (b-roll from charity project filming/shoots is a good example of this - even better if it's done with PR in mind!). Think of social media and how to resize video to support the campaign across channels - and keep it high resolution.

Partnerships

Don't forget to expand your reach by bringing partners into your campaign. Whether industry or consumer-based, there are always creative and strategic opportunities to build on audience reach and media appetite by offering new and innovative ways to voice an issue.

I recently spotted Diverse UK's sensory calm spaces at Glastonbury on the BBC and Independent, showing the power of contextualising your mission in a big cultural moment.

Through my own work, including in the TV and Film industry with Bectu union, partnerships with Screen Skills and the Film and TV charity, as well as collaborative work with Equity and institutions like the BFI and the charity Changing Faces, I created high-impact campaigns on very little budget.

During the Panto Parade in the pandemic, to raise awareness of the impact of a lack of support for the arts, I achieved front page of the Guardian.

All sounds good but not sure where to start? Let me guide you. Book a discovery call to see how I can help - contact me here.