Tip 126 – In the era of deep fakes, seeing’s still believing

The power of photographs to convince people is still strong, even though most of us realise that they can easily be manipulated to distort the truth.

Many organisations underuse photographs In proposals, simply because they have not planned ahead to collect photographic evidence. Plan to gather relevant photos throughout the sales process that you can use to illustrate your claims.

Well-chosen photographs demonstrate the solid facts – a finished project, a new technique being applied, an award being accepted, a multicultural team. A photograph persuades the reader of the reality of the achievement in ways that words do not.

But remember that evaluators may be sceptical of what they see. Select images that you can honestly endorse as capturing what is, not what you would like to be.

More information on this subject is in the Shipley Proposal Guide – see PHOTOGRAPHS.