I read post after post about the fact that we are a visual world these days. Now more so than ever. I am not an expert in this field, but this particular photo was taken in the late 1950’s. It was an integral part of a marketing campaign. I remember reading National Geographic, Life Magazine, Time Magazine and Newsweek magazine and the photos in the pages of those publications were just amazing. I want to tell you a secret, photos have always been a way to enhance a story. it’s nothing new.
If you are new to the on-line world, or even to print marketing, one thing you should know is you just can’t willy-nilly go grab a photo and use it. You have to have permission.
We are very careful to always use Royalty Free Photos or to credit the photographers and mainly, we PURCHASE the photos we use in our social media campaigns. Thank goodness we do, because twice now a company whose name rhymes with “petty” has attempted to charge thousands of dollars for a few of those photos. In the end, we had proof that the photos in dispute had been purchased from iStock Photos. and once we forwarded them the documentation, they had to back off. But it was a little scary for our clients. They kept receiving threatening letters from the Smithsonian collection and enforcement agencies and it made out people very nervous.
Be certain to purchase photos from a reputable re-seller. I know other web designers and social media people who use FREE photo outlets, but I don’t feel that comfortable with those. I use Adobe, Fotolia and Istock photo
Once you do that, the next item to cross off your list is this. Photos you choose should reflect your subject matter. They should be eye-catching, colorful, or amusing, perhaps even something your followers would like to share with their followers.
By now you may be wondering why I am using this photo of a young girl unwrapping a slice of cheese for this particular post. After all, it has nothing to do with blogging or social media, or does it?
My Dad was a territory manager for a company called Cooper Cheese. He sold all manner of cheese products to grocery stores in the New England Area. His name was Raymond E. Gauthier. and he was the consummate salesman and marketer. In order to get people to try his wonderful product, he would take Table Talk Apple Pies to trade shows and stick a slice of American Cheese in the box. He loved a nice slice of cheddar cheese on warm apple pie.
Unfortunately, in those days there weren’t any individual wrapping for cheese slices, so my father, being the creative marketer he was, developed individually wrapped slices of cheese. He didn’t trademark or patent it, so he gets no glory or money for it, but that wasn’t his goal. His goal was to get people to try, then buy, his cheese. And it worked.
Now to the photo. Dad needed a way to get the word out beyond the trades. So he arranged a professional photo shoot, my Mom curled my hair, and I aptly demonstrated how to unwrap an individually wrapped a slice of cheese. I dare say that I did it on the first take. Then he sent it out to various news outlets in our area.
He used an image of a charming child to show how easy it was to open his individually wrapped slice of cheese. It wasn’t a press release, more like a public interest piece, but it got the word out. Sort of like a Facebook post would these days.
When people ask me how long I have been doing this, I guess the correct answer would be since I was 7 years old!!
later
Cindy Fletcher
Online Marketing – Vero Beach | Real Estate – Vero Beach | Attorney – Vero Beach |
