The Ingredients of a Killer Press Kit

Journalists are incredibly busy. On any given day, they’ll have hundreds of email pitches to sort through, while managing multiple deadlines. If you’re lucky enough to pique a journalist’s interest, you want to make it as simple as possible for them to write about you without having to dig around for the right information.

How can journalists quickly get all the right facts, numbers and images to write about your business? With a killer press kit.

What is a press kit?

A press kit is a one-stop information pack for journalists. It’s a quick and easy way for them to learn about your brand, and get hold of all the facts and figures, photos and videos they need to tell a compelling story.

Think of it as your company’s greatest hits compilation. It’s an opportunity to tell the media everything there is to know about you, your products and services, in one tidy package.

Physical press kits v electronic press kits

Ideally, you’ll have a physical press kit and an electronic one. Physical press kits are great to take to events and meetings, but they’re expensive; not only to print and distribute, but to write and design. They also get outdated quickly. Sure, you can amend them, but if your company rebrands or introduces a new flagship product, it means redoing the entire thing. So it’s a good idea to have an electronic press kit too. These are much easier to update, and if a story is time sensitive, a reporter can access it straight away, directly from your website.

What should be included in a press kit?

It’ll vary depending on your industry and what the kit is being used for. But, there are some basic components that should be included:

Company Overview

This section should cover the basics: who, what, where, when and why. Tell journalists who you are, what your company does, where you operate, when you launched, and why you’re doing what you’re doing. And importantly, what differentiates you from your competitors.

Bear in mind that a journalist’s time is valuable, so keep this section fairly brief and avoid using industry jargon.

Products/Services

Outline the most important features of your offerings in simple bullet points. Include things like pricing, where to purchase, your product’s USPs, and so on. It’s also helpful to include some frequently asked questions, especially if your product or service is technical.

Press Releases

Press releases are another typical press kit element. If the announcement is recent and newsworthy enough, a media outlet might publish it. Ideally you don’t want to include anything older than six months. Regularly update the press releases to keep things fresh.

Logos

Offer a few variations of your logo, including mono and transparent options. Different sites have different requirements. You want to make sure your logo looks good without any resizing needed.

Media Assets

Include high-resolution photos of your products and team, and label them clearly so journalists can find the right file for their article. Bear in mind, images for print need to be of a much higher quality, or resolution (300 – 600 dpi) than images used online.

You should consistently update your photography, so you have something new to offer on a regular basis.

If you have videos, label them and keep them in a separate folder.

Case Studies

Case studies are a great way to showcase the effectiveness of your products or services. However, remember that press kits are for the media, not for marketing purposes. Be sure that they do not have promotional ties. It’s common for the media to include testimonials in their articles, but they won’t use them if there’s even a hint of self-promotion.

Press Coverage

This is your chance to brag. Press begets more press because it shows journalists that other outlets care about you and what you’re doing. The same goes for industry awards and accolades. They give you credibility and will make journalists more inclined to trust you as a leader in your field. In each case, include the article, list the media outlet and date of publication. For online press kits, provide a brief description of the coverage and a link to the article.

Contact Information

Remember to include contact details for press enquiries and include every possible way that person can be reached (including mobile, email, Twitter). Journalists are often working to tight deadlines, so make it easy for them.

Make sure your press kit is easy to find on your website too. Include a link in your navigation bar so journalists don’t have to dig to find it. Anything you can do to save journalists time will work in your favour.