There used to be a newsroom term called a “Hey, Martha!” I’m not sure if this is still used today.
The phrase comes from an old editors’ tale, (not unlike an old wives’ tale), that said if a story or photo was so unusual, offbeat or funny, a husband reading his newspaper would look up and yell to his wife, “Hey, Martha! Come and see this!”
A Hey, Martha! could be an odd or funny human interest story, a photo that captures a unique or offbeat moment, a surprising or shocking headline, or maybe even a lede written in an unexpected way. Grocery store tabloids are (in)famous for their Hey, Martha! front-page headlines about aliens, cures for cancer, ghost and angel sightings, etc.
The surprise of a Hey, Martha! pretty much forces the viewer to read the story or to give the photo a longer look because the viewer just has to know what’s going on.
The purpose of a Hey, Martha! is to get people reading and get them talking. Today’s equivalent term for a Hey Martha! might be “viral.”
Your business needs a Martha
Every business needs a Hey, Martha! for its marketing especially on social media. And nothing works better than a good photograph. Photos grab attention faster and are more memorable than text. Pictures are also more fun to share on social media than text. But you knew all that, right?
Public relations can also benefit from a Hey, Martha! But public relations photos are usually a bit more conservative than those used for social media. Nevertheless public relations photography still needs to quickly capture interest and draw readers into the story.
The hard part is finding or creating the right Hey, Martha! photo for your business. The right photo isn’t automatically a silly picture. The right picture should be both clever and unusual. It has to make readers think. It has to make them want to call, or at least tweet, their friends and say, “Hey, Martha!”
