When everyone else is looking for high quality video and photography production, you can use your iPhone (or any smartphone) to execute a guerrilla marketing strategy for your Authoritative Content.While there are certainly challenges and negatives to using an iPhone to capture a story, there are also many benefits. Let's take a look at both sides of the debate over the usefulness of iPhone journalism:

The Argument against iPhone Journalism

It might be easy to capture a story using your iPhone, but you should always consider the negatives when you do so. Some of the biggest challenges you'll face include the following:

• Picture Quality: You will sacrifice output quality when you use an iPhone to capture video or photographs.
• Limited Features: You can't zoom when you're capturing a video with an iPhone. You're also limited in terms of camera settings, so you can't ensure that you'll get the perfect still or video image.
• Audio Quality: Perhaps the biggest drawback of shooting video stories using an iPhone is the poor audio quality.

The Argument for iPhone Journalism

Emmy-winning journalist, producer, and writer Jeremy Markovich recently explained on the Poynter blog how the story changes when you capture it with an iPhone. Here are some of the biggest benefits he has found when using an iPhone to capture a story:

• Accessibility: Your iPhone is always in your pocket, so the unexpected story that happens when you're not accompanied by a video crew or photographer won't be missed.
• Less Obtrusive: Markovich explains that using an iPhone to capture video or images helps you stay under everyone's radar. He says, "Individually, I'm just a guy with a phone taking pictures. That's quite different than rolling up somewhere with a big camera, photographer, and microphone."
• Less Intimidating: People are more likely to be forthright and want to talk to you when you're capturing a story with an iPhone than when you have a full news crew with you. Markovich says, "I've always found that people actually talk when I'm talking to them for a print or online story. You're just having a conversation. The iPhone is about as close as I've ever gotten to that [for a video story]."

What Authoritative Content Publishers Should Know

Don't lose the opportunity to share a compelling story because you don't have a high quality camera or microphone with you. Today, iPhone journalism is absolutely acceptable and is used by reporters at some of the largest media organizations in the world. In other words, let the story determine the equipment. If the story is too good to miss, pull out your iPhone and start capturing it! The audience will forgive lower quality to have access to the useful and meaningful information that you provide.Image: Gonazlo Baeza H licensed CC BY 2.0