HERE’S A LITTLE SECRET: Yes, a business has to be well rounded to win America’s Coolest honors. Yes, it ought to have unique physical elements, out-of-the-ordinary marketing strategies and collateral, a firm grasp on technology, and a distinctively awesome approach to customer service.
But you know what really helps? Great pictures.
Most of our judges will never set foot in the businesses whose entries they evaluate. (We’d love it if they could, but sending half a dozen people to visit 50 or so pet businesses scattered all over the U.S. just isn’t economically feasible.) So the only way for them to get any sense of what it’s like to physically wander into your shop is to provide them with top-notch, truly encompassing photographs of the space.
What does that mean? It means:
- Large, high-resolution digital photos of your exterior and interior. The bigger the picture — file size — the better we can see the details contained within. There’s a practical reason for this, too, which is that if you place in the contest, we need to be able to print the photos in the magazine. If your entry photos are too small or low-resolution, your entry will not be considered complete. NOTE: We highly recommend having a professional photographer — or at the minimum a member of your staff with comparable skills — shoot your business. Not only will it improve your chances of winning, but you’ll have amazing photos for your website and social media.
- Images that give us a sense of the whole space. We need to see more than just one picture of the retail area, taken from just inside the front door. We want to see great displays and windows. Shots from a wide variety of angles. Pictures of the ceiling if you have a cool ceiling. If you have a great-looking, well-decorated restroom, we want that too. It’s not silly — it shows that you go the extra mile.
- Photos with context that is immediately obvious. For better or worse, the contest entry form doesn’t allow you to upload captions with each photo. So we need a sense of what we’re seeing. And shoot stuff that matters — we don’t want multiple pictures of the random art hanging on your wall, unless somewhere in the written portion of your entry, you’ve explicitly highlighted why it makes a difference to your business.
- Images without a lot of people in them. Mainly, what we’re looking for are images that let us see the business as a physical space. It’s difficult to do that if there are crowds of people around (as is often the case with otherwise great pictures taken at an event), and there are legal considerations, too, that don’t always allow us to use pics featuring people without their permission. As for your employees, they’re important — but we’ll get a much better sense of why from the things you write about them than we will from random portraits.
- Photos of the cool stuff. This should be obvious, but nonetheless, all too often we get entries that boast about the fabulous on-site dog park or an amazing event … but then there are no pictures of these things to accompany the bragging. Here’s a good tip: If you write about it, include a picture of it.
Next up: “Here’s What You Say (or Rather, Write)”