The Power of a Good Picture

In October 2004, when the Boston Red Sox headed into the World Series after the most dramatic comeback in sports history, a local farm saw not just a great moment for New England sports fans, but also a marketing opportunity. Wilson Farms in Lexington, Mass., used 10,000 pounds of pumpkins and 1500 pounds of butternut squash to create a 100-foot long World Series scoreboard in one of their fields.

Aerial shots of the pumpkin scoreboard, which was updated daily throughout the four game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals, were published in newspapers around the region, broadcast on numerous television stations, and even included in the opening of the game broadcasts.

Now that’s a perfect example of guerrilla marketing and it illustrates the power of a good visual. The folks at Wilson Farms found a way to get involved in and capitalize on a current major news story. The image of all those pumpkins and squash spelling out “2004 World Series,” “Red Sox” and “Cardinals” a few days before Halloween appealed to news people on several levels: it was a different angle on a major news story, it was seasonal, and it was local.

The old adage that “a picture paints a thousand words” may be hackneyed but it’s true. Plenty of information can be communicated with a picture. More than that, pictures can evoke emotion and create an impression more efficiently than the written word.

When you’re trying to get publicity for your farm, don’t be too disappointed if you get a photo and caption in the newspaper instead of an article. A photo above the fold on the first page can be more effective than a story on page 10. It can sometimes even be more effective than advertising.

In fact, Janice Wentworth of The Warren Farm and Sugarhouse in North Brookfield, Mass., told me once that the Worcester Telegram and Gazette newspaper did a photo with their dog Molly patrolling their tomato display. A week later, Jan and her husband Dale ran an ad in the same newspaper for tomatoes. Every customer who came to the farm to buy tomatoes, without exception, according to Jan, said they saw the photo but no one said that they saw the ad.

Now, that’s not to say you shouldn’t advertise. Rather, think about finding ways to get photos of your farm into the local newspaper or magazines and even video footage on television, as part of your marketing plan.

So, how do you go about it? First you’ve got to find something that’s photo-worthy. On a farm there are plenty of photogenic subjects. Look at the type of images that newspapers typically run as stand alone photos to get a sense of what they will use.

Most daily newspapers prefer to have their own photographers shoot the photos they use. So, if there’s time, call the paper and ask to speak to the photo desk to alert them of a photo opportunity. If a “photo op” presents itself unexpectedly, take your own photo, then send it to the local paper.

You can mail a conventional print, or e-mail a digital photo as most papers and magazines will now accept digital photos, providing the resolution is high enough. Being able to e-mail photos is a huge advantage as it lets you get them out in a timely manner. It’s best to do a little research in advance to find out which papers and magazines accept unsolicited photos and how they prefer to receive them.

And, of course, publicity isn’t the only use for good images of your farm. If you’ve got a website, publish a newsletter, or are planning a brochure, photos will give folks a better picture of your farm and what you offer, literally.

So, start looking at your farm in terms good photo opportunities and create your own opportunities whenever you can. You may not always have something as big as the Red Sox in the World Series to capitalize on, but with a little creativity you’ll find plenty of ways to hit a marketing grand slam.

Copyright 2004 by Diane Baedeker Petit
This article originally appeared in the January 2005 issue of Growing magazine.