by
Jeff Colburn
As I do with every one of my new projects, I sent out a press release which included a link to several photographs. A few days later, I received a call.
“Mr. Colburn? This is Mr. Wood. I’m a reporter with the Cottonwood Journal Extra newspaper. I just saw your press release covering your new ebook about Jerome and I want to interview you. A photographer will also contact you to get some photographs for the article.”
That conversation led to a half page article about me and my new ebook.
Press releases are a powerful promotional tool for both large and small businesses. I’ve used them for years with great success. My press releases have appeared in newspapers, magazines, websites and more. On several occasions they have also resulted in me being interviewed for articles in magazines and newspapers.
There are millions of press releases out there right now, and you need to find a way to make yours stand out so that it will be published. The first step is to be sure the press release contains all the information the recipient may need. This includes:
- All contact information
- A title with a hook
- Quotes
- Location information
Once this is done, you need photographs. There are two types of photographs you need:
- A photograph of yourself. This puts a face on the news of your press release and makes it more personable.
- One or more photographs of your product or event.
These two types of photographs will give publications a good selection of images to illustrate your press release.
What if you don’t have a product, but a service? You can always show photos of you at work, or your area. If you’re a tour guide, show photos of you giving a tour, stock photos of people taking a tour in your area, or beautiful scenic photographs of the area.
A few key points about the photographs are:
- Have several photographs if possible. The more choices they have, the more likely they are to find one or two images they like.
- Use big photographs. A publication or website can easily make a big picture small, but they can’t make a small picture big and still look good.
- Make sure the photographs look great. They need to be properly composed, in sharp focus and have well saturated colors.
The easiest thing for everyone involved is to put these photographs on a web page. This lets the publication copy the images off of the page. The simpler it is for them to get everything they need, the more likely they are to use your press release.
Supplying photographs makes your press release more attractive to the people who may want to us it. And a photograph next to your press release in a publication or web page will draw a lot more attention than just text.
Have Fun,
Jeff
If you’re interested in Fine Art Prints or stock images of Arizona, visit JeffColburn.com