A picture really does tell a story..............and can sell a story.

Members of the National Harp Orchestra, Castleconnell, Co. Limerick, 

 directed by world renowned Irish harper Janet Harbison, selected to represent Ireland at the 10^th European Youth Music Festival in Linz Austria, where over 198 Music Schools from all over Europe  performed. 

I frequently find that the importance of a good photograph (see above), and by that I mean a shot which is well thought out,  taken by a professional photographer and sent into the papers the way they want it, is often underestimated by many businesses when doing PR. As a result, they may not get the results they are looking for and wonder why. Simply taking a shot with a digital camera and sending it in in the hope that it will be published is not sufficient. It's a very competitive space with local newspapers receiving literally hundreds of photos each week (more at a national level in the dailies ) so you have to stand out to be published.

With that in mind I wanted to put down a few points on the topic which hopefully people will find useful if setting up photocalls to carry out publicity for their businesses.

- think about the shot which you want to set up, who is involved, what is the story , generally I would advise against having too many people in a photograph, try to limit to three or so

- hire your own professional PR photographer who supplies pictures to the newspapers on a regular basis and knows what they want and how to send it to them. I work with several photographers in Limerick including Kieran Clancy, Keith Wiseman & Press 22 - all brilliant and creative.There are others but the main thing is that they are press photographers.

- invite the local press also if the story is strong enough but have your own photographer there as a back up.

- where are you going to take it, inside or outside, do you need permission for a certain location etc.If outside, whats the weather and do you have a fallback if its raining. Discuss the location with your photographer as he may advise you.

- do you need a prop, if so, organise this in advance as it can take time to pull together.

- what time of day and what day of the week do you organise the photocall, this is very much dependent on when you are putting your story out, if its next day, hold early in the morning and if you are targeting weekly papers, generally Monday or Tuesday are good days. Check its not clashing with any other major event.

- write the caption for the photographer and supply him with it , names etc

The above is by no means definitive but it does provide some of the basic tips. 

I have included some more shots below which achieved good coverage at both a local and national level:

Enterprise Boards in Midwest support creation of 245 jobs through Dell European Globalisation Fund

John Twomey, Emutex and Pauric Logue, Wiseloads
Innovative online transport specialist Wiseloads teamed up with Limerick based software developer Emutex to launch a ‘one stop shop’ online delivery service for postage, parcels or pallets to any destination in Ireland, the UK and Europe. 

Marketlink hosts Open Forum on Sports Marketing at LIT

As part of the ongoing programme of activity for Limerick as European City of Sport 2011, Marketlink, the innovation and entrepreneurship programme for students at LIT, hosted its 2011 Open Forum on Sports Marketing at LIT  (5^th April 2011) attended by students and business people from the Midwest Region.