How to Educate, Entertain and Engage People with Photo Marketing

hpvWhen I took my oldest son, Scott, 13, to see a rock concert at the Comcast Center (Mansfield, MA) recently, I knew we were going to have a great time. But I had no idea I’d be one of many getting a crash course in HPV (human papillomavirus) and the diseases it causes, including cervical cancer.

But in addition to giving us pictures to commemorate the occasion, that’s what Merck and Co., the maker of GARDASIL, a cervical cancer vaccine, gave me and a throng of other willing participants. I was glad to get a souvenir photo with my son, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn more about HPV in the process — and, consequently, given an opportunity to help spread the word here on my own blog.

This was the deal. One and all were invited into a photo booth to have their pictures taken, which were available for free online. To retrieve yours, you were directed to a special landing page, where you were presented with a list of 20 facts about HPV and cervical cancer before being taken to another page where you were asked for a little information about yourself in exchange for your photo, which you could download, email to others, share on Facebook and elsewhere.

Besides such an important lesson about HPV and cervical cancer, what you and I can learn from such a great photo marketing strategy is a unique way to get constituents to serve as brand ambassadors. In this case, it was really all about the place, the people and the pictures…

How to Educate, Entertain and Engage People with Photo Marketing

1. Host a special event (or piggyback on someone else’s) that’s attended by your target audience.

2. Give those in the audience the opportunity to have their pictures taken with something – or someone – special to mark the occasion.

3. Require people to visit your website in order to retrieve their free pictures.

4. Create a custom landing page on your website where you can tell your new visitors more about your product, service or cause. 

5. Make sure that everyone registers and provides you with some contact information in exchange for their free pictures.

6. Make it easy for constituents to share their pictures via social networking sites.

7. Finally, don’t hesitate to follow up with them, reminding them of the free pictures they received from you and doing everything you can to convert them to friends, fans and followers.

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One thought on “How to Educate, Entertain and Engage People with Photo Marketing

  • Great post Bob! Before starting Catalyst Marketers, I spent 5 years in the Pharma industry. This promotion is definitely new territory for pharma. If the campaign can be successful for a pharma company like Merck, it can be really successful to small and mid-sized businesses. I wonder if Merck could take it a step further and somehow code the image so that anytime you share it (ie on your blog, facebook, etc) a little message about Gardasil appears along with it – perhaps even with a link to the website.

    Best,
    Ryan Taft
    Managing Principal & CEO, Catalyst Marketers
    http://www.catalystmarketers.com/solutions/

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