Make your next PR pitch POP with art

This all-in move by Facebook and the virality of the Clinton meme—not to mention the rapid ascent of Pinterest—is a klaxon sounding for communicators, and the message is this: visuals must be built into your regular communications strategy.

In many instances, public relations content is still text-heavy. We worry over the headlines, struggle to find that perfect angle, edit our pitches relentlessly and hone the lead paragraph to perfection. But despite all this work, most pitches and the majority of news releases are sent unadorned, their authors relying upon the written word to convey meaning, capture attention, and spark action.

At the same time, all around us, people are expressing their preference for visuals, and new media brands are catering to them. Messages with visuals get more play on Facebook and get more exposure in search engines. Readers gravitate to multimedia and Pinterest users pin pictures like mad.

Press releases that include multimedia get more reads and more social shares than their plain-text cousins. At this point, we have to consider visuals an imperative for PR. But what happens when you don’t have access to fresh images for your campaign or pitch?