Creating an Effective Press Kit: Key Components
By Katerina Antonova for PRNews
Competing for journalists’ attention isn’t easy. Reporters are bombarded by numerous press releases and news tips every day. Naturally, not every story ends up being published, and not every expert gets a chance to see their name in a magazine.
There are, of course, various tactics to help win the race for the attention of the mass media. A well-executed and thoughtfully created press kit is a foundational factor for breaking through the noise and being noticed by editors and journalists.
I’ve been working in PR for more than a decade, having focused on startups, venture funds and tech companies. My clients get press hits in Forbes, TechCrunch, Vogue and other top-tier media outlets. Press kits play an important role in this, as they impact reporters’ decisions. An efficient press kit helps a journalist to immediately see the whole picture and makes their job easier. Here are the best practices for creating an efficient press kit based on my experience in the industry.
Introducing the Company
You need to help journalists understand what the company is (be it an established corporation, a startup or a VC fund) that you are representing. A press kit should include two descriptions of the firm—one brief, one more detailed. The brief description may consist of one or two paragraphs of basic information. When writing it, imagine you are working on an introduction for a Wikipedia article about the company.
The detailed description should be longer and may include the date of establishment, the location of headquarters and locations of branch offices, countries of operation, the fundraising history, investors, the number of clients, amongst other information. And if the information is not under NDA, add key indicators that show growth of the business. Editors and journalists do love numbers and charts. Also, in the detailed description, there should be the explanation of the product/organization and how it works.
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