This article originally appeared on PR Daily by Ted Kitterman, editor of PR Daily for Ragan Communications. Read the full articlehere.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, why aren’t you using them to get your message essential media coverage? It’s crucial to be clever—and make yourself a critical resource for outlets.

For wordsmiths, the need to embrace visuals to get your message across can be a hard lesson to learn.

But for overstretched audiences with permanent attention deficit, a great image or multimedia tool is essential for making your story pop. Today’s audience demands a visual hook to deliver a story on TV, computer and mobile screen, but with cuts to newsrooms, there might not be the people power to build that narrative at your target media outlet.

So, you can lead with your own visuals. According to Muck Rack’s 2019 State of Journalism Report, adding an image was a top method to get the attention of many reporters.

Storytelling is also a growing trend within the communications discipline. In our Future of the PR Pro Report, 73% said storytelling was the No. 1 skill needed for future PR success. And in the modern media landscape, storytelling is visual.