Skip to main content

4 Benefits of a Press Kit

Every startup business should develop a press kit. Learn what goes in a press kit, and how one can help your company. Also includes press kit examples.

When you launch a business, you already know there's competition. Small businesses must continuously find new ways to stand out. While they don't have the same big budgets as large corporations, digital marketing and public relations have made it easy to compete online and off. A good public relations plan should be part of any startup marketing strategy to help you build trust with your prospective customers and improve your reputation.

One of the best parts about public relations is that it focuses on earned media; you don't pay for anything. You may already have a product-market fit that allows you to stand out, or you may have just started your business.

Either way, you can build relationships with relevant journalists to try to get them to write a story about your brand or include your brand and its key stakeholders in a story.

Unfortunately, many small businesses don't know how to go about building these key relationships. Journalists might be interested in learning about your business if you're already doing something innovative.

Meanwhile, if you're fairly unknown in the industry, you must reach out to form these beneficial relationships. One way you can improve your brand awareness and help journalists learn more about you simultaneously is by using a press kit.

What is a press kit?

A press kit is an interactive page on your website where interested parties like journalists can go to learn more about your business. Digital press kits are preferred, but you can also send a link to your press kit or turn it into a PDF to use to build relationships with the media by cold pitching them relevant news stories that might interest their readers.

Any and all businesses should have a press kit because they make it easier to earn media coverage by facilitating relationships with key journalists in your niche. They should also be readily available online because you never know when someone is interested in writing a story about your business or its products and services.

Press kits vary depending on the company, but most of them use various tools to help journalists find the information they need for their story without the need to reach out to someone at the company.

Anyone who views your press kit should know what products and services you offer, what your company mission statement is, key individuals at the organization, and other downloadable branding assets like your company logo or photos.

Journalists are busy. They don't have time to email every company they're interested in writing about to see if they'd be a good fit for a story.

Even if PR is part of your product growth strategy or brand awareness strategy and you've already started building relationships with the media, you should still have a press kit with important information for them. Since journalists get hundreds, if not thousands, of pitches a day, you must make their jobs easier if you want them to cover your story. A press kit does this and more.

4 Benefits of a press kit

Press kits are an easy way to distribute content, allowing journalists, customers, and investors to quickly learn about your business, its mission, and key people in the organization. Here are a few benefits of a press kit for your business:

1. Defines your brand

MPress kits can define your brand for individuals who may not know about it. When journalists are researching a story, they may come across your website and think your brand is a great fit. However, if your press kit doesn't define who you are and what you do, they'll quickly lose interest and look for a brand with more of a story. Journalists aren't here to promote your business; they're storytellers, so if you want your story told, you have to be able to tell it in a compelling way. Luckily, media kits make it easy for you to tell your brand story, giving journalists an idea of what your business does, its mission, and its values.

2 Can provide media coverage of your business

When journalists are looking for brands to contribute to their stories, one of the first things they look at is your website. If you don't have a digital press kit, they can email you for more information. But, again, journalists are busy, and if you don't make it easy for them to find the information they're looking for, they'll look for it somewhere else. Your press kit facilitates these relationships to help you get earned media coverage by helping journalists learn more about your brand and access photos and videos without spending time emailing you back and forth to get the assets they need.

3. Can win investors

A press kit won't only attract journalists; you can use it to find investors. Depending on your business, you may need a separate press kit designed just for investors, but it can be an effective tool for helping them learn about your business. While investors are concerned about the numbers, especially your profit, they want to know more about your business, including the type of press you get.

Investors are businesspeople, and the better your press, the more attractive your company is as an investment. Additionally, information about the Founder and other key individuals can help sway investors by giving them insight into someone's background and qualifications, helping to build trust.

Of course, since investors care about the numbers, you may have to add additional information to your regular PR kit for investors, including market research information, company earnings, valuations, growth KPIs, and more.

4. Makes it easier for partners to work with you

PR kits make it easier for partners to work with you because they're a research tool for reporters, customers, and clients. Not only do press kits make it easier for reports to cover your business and give you earned media coverage, but partners can use your press kit to determine whether or not to work with your business based on key facts you provide them.

A comprehensive press kit can help you build relationships with key partners, including suppliers. When you're first building these relationships, you can give them your press kit to learn more about your business to determine whether partnering with you is a good opportunity.

Press kits also help to attract new customers because they show them all the media coverage you've earned, which can help boost your reputation and build your brand, especially when you're first launching a business.

What goes in a press kit?

Every digital press kit is different, depending on a company's visual assets, press coverage, and any other information they want to share publicly. However, all good press releases have these elements:

Company mission and company history

Your company mission tells your brand story, but it goes beyond that by conveying your brand identity. Hence, why it should always be included in your press kit. It tells the public who you are and what you care about.

Your company mission should include your values and why your company was started. Depending on the type of company you have, you should also include company history and what your hopes are for the future, as long as it aligns with the values of your customers.

Branding

While you should be grateful when a journalist, you also want anything they say about your or any digital assets they use to have brand consistency.

Branding is another important part of your press kit because it gives journalists the visual assets they need if they're covering you in a story. Visual assets like photos and videos should be easily downloadable to ensure any logos or photos abide by your brand style guide.

Leadership and team members

Key team members in the organization should be highlighted in your electronic press kit to provide journalists and investors with background information about the Founder and why the company was formed.

Helping your media contacts understand who key individuals are can also help them determine who to interview for the story. Depending on the story's topic, they may choose to interview anyone from the Founder to the CEO or the Marketing Director.

Press coverage and company news

Including press coverage and company news in your press kit can help journalists understand whether or not your stories are newsworthy.

If you're still in the process of creating your brand and don't have much press coverage yet, you can include news stories like press releases to help journalists and investors learn more about your company, its products and services, and new partnerships.

Press kit examples

If press kits are a completely new concept to you, you might be wondering how you can create a PR kit and need a little inspiration. Here are three examples of press kits to help you learn about the different types of designs you can create and the information you can share:

Nike

Nike is a good press kit example to help you learn from one of the top brands in the world. Nike's press kit is fairly straightforward, which is what journalists are always looking for. They have a tab for everything a journalist might be looking for, including press releases, statements from important people, reports for investors, resources to help individuals learn more about different policies and initiatives, and downloadable media assets journalists can use in their stories.

ChargePoint

ChargePoint is a company that makes and installs electric vehicle (EV) charging stations for residential and commercial use. They're a relatively new company, but the ChargePoint media kit gives journalists and investors anything everything they need to know, including:

  • Leadership information
  • Press coverage and press releases
  • Digital assets, including images, videos, and logos
  • Contact information for journalists and investors

Novocure

Novocure is a company specializing in treating tumors and cancer with technology. Their press kit is another example of a simple design, including links to a media gallery, more information about their therapy, presentations for investors, and their annual report.

Promote your brand with email marketing

Your press kit can be an important tool used to help build valuable relationships, improve your reputation, and boost your sales. With Mailchimp, you can make a press kit or interactive press kit on your website.

Then, gather your media contacts, and send them an email introducing your brand with a link to your new press kit.

Share This Article