Pictures spice up plain text and lead to greater audience attention. (There’s a reason why we publish Source articles with images!) They’re an important part of your communications strategy, and should be used, well, strategically. Images tell your school's in ways that other mediums cannot. Pictures document moments and connect viewers to the spirit, energy, and excitement of your school's programming.
So grab your camera and become a new-age bard by using these storytelling tips through the photos you select to attract interest and investment in your school.
- Use current student photographs as often as possible. Current students are recognizable as your school’s students, in your uniforms, in your classrooms. It shows pride in your school community, to consider your student body worthy of publication this way. It also makes potential donors and parents feel as though they’re getting a snapshot into what it’s like to attend the school. While not every school has a trained photographer on staff, it’s worth the investment to hire a freelancer to take photographs during major school events like Field Day or Homecoming to guarantee a fresh injection of photographs for your major keystone fliers, annual reports, and other marketing materials.
- Avoid using stock images exclusively. The quick and easy way to populate your brochures and web pages with smiling faces is to purchase a subscription to a stock photo database. There, you can find images—both photos and illustrations—that match whatever campaign concept you can dream up. However, the fact that you are able to purchase access to these photos means other people can use them, too, leading to “tired” images that have less meaning. Furthermore, there’s no personal connection to these types of corporate images. These are student actors posing for a camera, not children like those of potential families.
- Find student-created media to show off. Nothing speaks more highly to your school’s Portrait of the Graduate than incorporating student work into your recruiting and re-recruiting efforts. Don’t stop at 2D photographs or drawings, either. Paintings, videos, and illustrations created by students for class assignments can be proudly shown off around the school and in the Admission Office. Visitors will admire these pieces and view them as proof that your school produces young people of talent and skill—while making your students feel proud of their accomplishments. (As they should!)
- Reinforce branding through images. Photographs and pictures chosen for advertising materials should all reinforce a school’s image, if you’ll excuse the pun. In other words, if your school is proud of its long tradition of academic excellence, choose classic images that resonate with the idea of the classroom—perhaps pairing the colored components of the graphic design with sepia-colored or black-and-white filtered photos. If your school’s mission emphasizes the importance of a global awareness, photographs that demonstrate dedication to other cultures and ideologies in content and context subtly underscore that appreciation. A school embracing the advantages of modern technology might have a sleek and modern design, coupled with photographs and images of students using advanced equipment.
Pictures in recruitment materials should be chosen for more than simply their aesthetic beauty and technical quality. These photos will resonate with your audience and underscore the points made within your writing. Depending on how strategically you use your images, they can either subtly authenticate or awkwardly juxtapose themselves against your broader point.
Additional ISM resources:
The Source for Development Directors Vol. 12 No. 9 #GradSelfies: Pictures Tell the Stories of Your Graduates to the Community
The Source for Development Directors Vol. 10 No. 7 A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words
Additional ISM resources for Gold Consortium members:
I&P Vol. 32 No. 3 Marketing Your Purpose and Outcome Statements
I&P Vol. 33 No. 5 The Fallacy of Thinking Outside the Box
I&P Vol. 36 No. 14 Alumni Relations and the Portrait of the Graduate
