5 Reasons Your Next Press Release Should Be Visual
You have just 3 seconds to impress a journalist.
That’s the average amount of time spent before they decide on whether to read or toss your press release. So how to make the most of that tiny window? Go visual. Having a graphic based press release not only helps you tell your news story better, but allows you to do it in a unique and personalised way.
Graphics by Shutterstock
Here’s why it will work:
1. People are visual
65% of people are visual learners. By presenting your press release visually rather than text based, you have more chance of a journalist or blogger reading it purely due to its visual nature.
So it makes sense to merge text and imagery together. Here, infographics are the obvious choice when statistics are key to your story. But you don’t always need hard hitting numbers to use them. You can utilise a visualized article based infographic to help set the tone and context when explaining your issue, all the while increasing the chances of it being read.
Exclusive comment from Ian McCawley, MD Acuity PR.
It’s true that visual press releases have become a good way to grab overworked journalists’ attention. But it’s important not to throw out the baby with the bathwater; there are still many traditionalists sitting at news desks who either want the chance to determine the angle themselves or are so busy they want to receive something that is an almost page-ready article.
While there are many people clamouring for infographics, today’s innovation can soon become yesterday’s tired tactic.
So if your goal is traditional online or print media coverage, don’t forget well-crafted words will always have power. As with all content creation, choosing the right format for a particular job is key.
2. Journalists want it
Images not only help journalists and bloggers get the gist of your news story better, but in turn help them in telling it to their audiences more accurately. A picture is worth a thousand words is hardly a new adage, so including images can aid readers digest even the most complex of ideas.
3. Visuals help with the story
People may not always remember the facts and figures presented to them, but they will remember how they felt when they read the story. Visuals stimulate our brain and lead us to heighten our creative thinking. This emotion then helps us with our decision making.
Depending on the type of press release and visuals used, you can harness the power of colour, typography and imagery in setting the mood for your story when presented graphically.
4. Visuals are more shareable
Hearing news from word of mouth seems like a lifetime ago. Nowadays, social media is the driving force behind news being spread. People love sharing things that interest them. Citizen journalism means there is a whole blogsphere that can spread your news story. Here, the benefit is that multimedia is shareable in ways text isn’t.
5. Visual elements have more distribution power
By having a range of visual elements alongside your text, you have more chance of your voice being heard. Each medium can attract its own audience: videos can be seen by those browsing Vimeo, infographics can be seen by those browsing Visual.ly, photographs can be seen by those browsing Pinterest. The press release becomes distributed in ways text based releases cannot.
The more resourceful your press release is deemed, the better placement you will receive on search engines, making it ideal for those who research and source stories online.
When going visual, remember to keep it visually articulate. Place visuals where they count – overcrowding your news story with too many images or videos will clutter readers’ minds and impede your objective of getting more coverage of your story.
And remember, visuals should help your press release passing the ‘so what’ test – so keep them on track and interesting.