A30Y5W goldfishes jumping in and out of the bowl

TITLE OF THIS CHAPTERSHALL GO HEREStop the Horror!

Jumping Fish Everywhere!

IMAGE CreditA30Y5WA30Y5W goldfishes jumping in and out of the bowl https://www.flickr.com/photos/koiquest10/9880428234/in/dateposted/

THE CURSE OF INVASIVE SPECIES IN OUR WATERWAYS AND OUR MARKETING—AND WHAT YOU CAN DO.

Jumping fish are destroying the environment. The invasion of the bigheaded or Asian carp throughout the Mississippi River waterways has set off a firestorm of concern and action. Its movements are well-documented, with special concerns of it reaching the Great Lakes—if it hasn’t already. It’s a very serious problem.

At nearly the same time (and with less peril to the natural environment), another subspecies of the carp has invaded scores of marketing materials …

AND IT’S WORSE THAN YOU THINK

Jumping Fish are Destroying Environments

Photo: Illinois River Biological Station/ Nerissa Michaels via http://www.gulfseafoodnews.com/2013/04/12/louisiana-chefs-solution-to-asian-carp-invasion-eat-them/

Why is this fish jumping?Worse, why does it, or anything like it, ever appear in any typeof marketing?

It doesn’t make any sense. And it needs to stop.

Stop This

Stupid Fish!

They Are Everywhere: A simple Google search for “free stock image jumping goldfish” returns literally hundreds of results.

Stupid jumping goldfish are every f@#$ing where!

Says Barely Observant Marketer“

It’s Happened to the BestThe image is everywhere. It’s not original. It’s lazy. And it needs to stop. But thousands have succumbed. While a well-respected marketer promotes this post:

10 Sites for Free, Non-Cheesy Stock Photos, they also published this great article:

The Essential Email Marketing Metrics You Should Be Tracking that included this image.

What in the hell does ajumping goldfish have to do with email metrics?

What part is non-cheesy?

And hopefully that was in your “free” options and you didn’t pay anything for it.

We Can Do Better While photos definitely increase interest and engagement in our marketing, there is no excuse for settling for over-used or cliché images.

Be OriginalConsider original photography when and where you can. This will enable you to have total control over the output. Here is great article on how to pick the right image for your piece from the Content Marketing Institute:

Real-World Analysis: 6 Ideas for Images that Really Work

Take Your OwnIn many instances even the every day Smartphone can take passable photos.

Seven Tips to Take Better Photos With Your Smartphone

Have to Use Stock Images?If you must use stock images, please avoid clichéd meaningless images that don't advance your story. And check to see where else it has been used before. Thanks to Google image recognition, you can do this as easily as any other search.

1.Simply make a copy of of the image - even a screen capture will do.2.From the Google web page, select "image."3.Drag the image into the search bar.4.Hit search.5.Google will provide a list of URL's where the image appears.6.Make a reasonable decision on whether or not the image is over-used and tells your story well.

You can't hide from Google. They might ignore you if you're unoriginal. But you can't hide. One Google image search revealed more than 400 results for this image alone.

Follow the story onTwitter @jumpthefish

Stop the Stupid FishWith luck and science, hopefully we can stop the spread of the Asian carp. With diligence, attention to detail, and a desire to do better, we can rid marketing of its gold-colored cousin. And maybe through some social shaming, err, awareness.