Press Releases and Marketing – Building Stronger Brand Awareness

Intro by Skip Cohen

We’ve shared a lot about publicity over this past year, but this time of year it’s so worth reminding you again!

Bob Coates consistently publishes releases on things he’s doing as a photographer, and this post from his archives takes us back a few years, but the concept has no expiration date! Press releases help reinforce your marketing efforts and give everything you’re doing an additional level of credibility.

The best seasonality of 2017 is in full swing right now. While you might not have the time to write and publish a few press releases, you need to build your stash of images for the future. You need to become your own stock agency, building a collection of images of you working with clients, clients looking at products you offer, photos of you at various events in your community, and shots of you interacting with key opinion leaders.

You’ve got to become your own publicity machine in 2018, and one of the best ways to get started is having photographs of you in action! If you need help, you know where to find me, I’ll help you write the stories to go with them later.

by Bob Coates

“Bob that press release stuff doesn’t work!”

I hear this all the time when I try to share with fellow photographers one way to get your business name out there.

Press releases can and do work. But, you have to work at it. You need to write the release in the correct form for the media in which you are trying to get placement. You need to know where to send the release because the proper person who makes the decisions needs to see it. And, send it to more than one outlet. And, send them out on a regular basis because not every release is printed. Add artwork like your head-shot, illustrative images and captions.

How about getting to know your local editors? Inviting them to lunch? Asking how you might be of help to them? If someone knows you personally there’s a better chance your release will be printed

Here’s an example of how the press release worked so far… from this release.

I will take the published versions of my work and share them in my studio, republish them on the Internet and make copies to use to help let clients know they have made a good choice in selecting me as their photographer.

FYI, any images that appear in an article I recreate for distribution because scans from newsprint and magazines are a bit icky. Also after a scan, I will add a curves layer and make the whites whiter and blacks blacker. This helps with the bleed through from the porous paper and makes look better and easier to read.

There’s no free lunch. You do have to work to build relationships. Get your writing skills up to par. Follow through. I feel the effort is more than worth it because when the articles appear in print, even if you penned the info, the result is name recognition you can’t get with a paid advertisement.