Diomedia has developed an interesting way to use mobile devices to promote its historical collection. The Diomedia Historica (enter Historical Calendar at the App Store) to get the free app.
Upon opening the app users are shown a picture and brief information about important events that happened on that day in history. There are usually at least 3 events recorded and sometimes several more. (November 30th has 9). If the user wants to see more images related to any particular event the number of additional images in Diomedia’s collection is shown.
When the user clicks on that number, thumbnails of all the other images are shown (3 across and as many rows down as needed. Touch the screen to see a full screen version of any thumbnail and swipe to go through all the full screen versions one by one. Touch the screen on any full screen version and caption information appears under the image. An Image Zoom feature allows the user to examine sections of the image.
While this app is free, and viewing these images is free, at the top of every full screen view of any image there is a button for “License Info.” When the user clicks that button there is a screen that briefly explains that the image can be licensed for certain types of use and lets the user “Request a Quote” for either editorial or commercial use. Clicking “Submit” sends an email to Diomedia.
Users can search today’s date, or any date in the month or year. They can also move forward or back by year.
Not only will this app be useful for image users who are reporting on, and need to be reminded of, important events in history. It may also be useful at reminding other image users who are simply interested in historical information that Diomedia exists. It is a handy reference that every user of images has in his/her pocket and may be an interesting way to pass the time.
Other Applications
It seems to me that other specialist image collections might want to develop similar marketing tools that would not only focus on certain features of their collection, but remind their customers on a regular, if not daily basis, of their existence.
For example, I can envision collections that each day highlights a different fine artist, in a particular genre. This might be on the artist’s birthday, but it might simply feature a certain type of art each month. In the same way there might be a wildlife app that features a different species or breed each day.
There might be collections focused on Entertainers in Music, Theater, TV and Film. How about famous military battles in history? Or there might an app that features medical discoveries, agricultural discoveries, or major historical sites around the world. The trick is to find subject matter that will be of enough interest to a certain segment of the population that they will want to look at the app on a regular basis.
The main focus of such apps is marketing – getting your agency’s name before a segment of the public and image users. But, it might also be possible to sell such apps for a couple dollars to individuals who are simply interested in the subject matter. Such apps might be of interest and useful in the educational environment for elementary and secondary students.
Given the way the market is headed, it will be important to explore other opportunities for earning revenue from the content in our collections.