A couple weeks ago, the old iron scow stuck in the Niagara River above the falls made international news. The boat had been stuck in place since 1918 but a storm on October 31, 2019, dislodged it.
Most of the headlines were about the boat breaking free and moving closer to the edge of the Horseshoe Falls. All very dramatic. Niagara Falls . . . step by step, inch by inch:
But the reality is that the boat is very unlikely to go over the falls because the scow moved only about 40 metres and it still remains quite a distance from the edge. Nearby portions of the river are also quite shallow:
Having Public Relations Photos Ready
The real story here is how well the Niagara Parks Commission ran with this. Because of its quick thinking and, more importantly, by already having some earlier pictures and video of the scow, Niagara Parks was able to get priceless worldwide publicity. Even though the actual news value was small, the story, video and pictures captured people’s curiosity. This publicity should pay off with increased tourism to Niagara Falls.
It’s unlikely your company will have any such dramatic event occur. But successful publicity and public relations depend on visuals. The difference between big coverage and minor coverage is having pictures ready.
Step by step you should build your company’s library of corporate images and public relations photos. Inch by inch these pictures should cover much of what your company does and who your company is. These images should be ready to use at a moment’s notice should the news media come rushing to you like Niagara Falls.
