Photo Captions: Boring Knowledge You Can’t
Afford to Live Without

Photo captions. Whoopee. It’s one of those yawn-inducing,
eye-crossing, please-God-let-lightening-strike-my-office-so-I-can-
avoid-it topics.

Yep. That about sums it up—the fascinating world of photo captions.

That’s the bad news.

Here’s the good news.

Photo captions may be boring but they ARE easy, and by the
way, absolutely critical to your sales copy.

Thanks to newspapers, magazines, leaflets, brochures and dozens of other mediums created for the purpose of conveying information in print, the photo caption is one of the most commonly read sections of any communications piece.

Why? Because these mediums have trained readers through consistent repetition to subconsciously think, “[The photo caption] is where I can get quick information on the picture I’m seeing and the gist of this article, story, sales letter, etc.”

What does this mean for you marketers? That your audiences, through decades of programming at someone else’s expense, are virtually hypnotized into believing photo captions are:

1. Important
2. Easy to read
3. To the point
4. Quick

What happens when a reader/prospect picks up ANY piece of literature?

• The reader subconsciously looks for a visual image to create a mental picture around.
• A pretty, grotesque, sad, cute, or interesting picture captures the reader’s eye.
• The reader’s decades of programming tell him/her to read the caption for any juicy tidbits not revealed in the photo.
• Provided the photo and caption are compelling enough that the reader is still interested at this point, he/she usually begins with the first paragraph of text and a plan to skim everything else.
• Photo captions help convert mildly interested scanners into readers and readers into buyers.

Now you know WHY photo captions are important, but what MAKES a great photo caption?

In short, emotion.

Here are some examples:

Situation: You are selling coaching products to prospects who want to learn how to make money in the pre-foreclosure business. Your article’s picture shows an elated woman holding the car keys aloft to her new Jaguar, which is sitting behind her.

Caption: “ Using her new knowledge from the Pre-Foreclosure Success coaching program, Eileen earned $97,459 in 6 months and paid cash for her new SL2005 Jaguar dream car.”

Situation: You are a car manufacturing tycoon sponsoring a public service advertisement supporting front and side air bags. Your article’s picture shows a T-boned four-door car, knocked askew on a rain-slicked highway, with four airbags deployed.

Caption: “Shelby Cross never made it to her wedding that rainy afternoon of July 17 th. But thanks to her front and side air bags, she made it home.”

Situation: You are an online dating agency advertising the happy endings you help create. Your article’s picture shows a 50+ year-old couple holding hands on a wedding altar and their children on either side of them.

Caption: “Clive and Cheryl Wilcox renewed their vows 31 years after meeting on www.OnlineDating.com. ‘Subscribing to OnlineDating.com was the best decision I ever made,’ Clive said.’”

Remember: A picture and photo caption can do more in 2 sentences than 200 sentences can do alone.

Photo captions get read. Use them.

Quick Tip 1: Photographs, and consequently captions, do not generally work as well on the Internet as they do in print. In print, photos are the first things readers notice. On the web, it’s the words, the facts, the information the reader is surfing for. (Note: This rule does not apply to video testimonials, which are highly effective on the Internet.)

Quick Tip 2: Keep your captions short. Bold the letters for impact and readability.

Next week we’ll discuss how guarantees create credibility and inspire trust, two key elements to converting prospects into buyers.

Committed to your marketing success,
Lina Penalosa
July 19, 2005