Traditionally, one of the most important activities of a company’s PR team is to produce a comprehensive and insightful press kit that compels journalists to write about the company and its products and services. Not long ago, marketing and public relations staffers would hunker down in conference rooms before launches and marketing campaigns for days on end. There, with perhaps a boom box and case of Mountain Dew to help them wile away the time, they would stuff sometimes thousands of press kits with pages upon pages related to their company’s mission, history, business model, executive team, as well as their company’s latest news.
Times change, and now the bulk of activity in publishing and business communications has moved from print to the territory of the World Wide Web. Considering such changes, are press kits still essential? Yes, indeed. Absolutely.
Journalists still seek the types of concise and pertinent information best found in company press kits. While a kit’s contents will vary depending on a company’s business needs, most will include:
- Backgrounder
- Bios
- Fact Sheet
- FAQs
- Press Releases
- Photos
The Convenience Factor
Thanks to the usefulness of the above documents, the press kit stuffing ritual isn’t going away anytime soon. More and more, however, journalists seek information directly from a company’s website instead of requesting a hardcopy kit that may take days to reach their mailbox. Digital press kits in downloadable format (such as PDF files) can often be found at a site’s News Center. Digital kits are less “static” than printed kits, as they can be quickly updated whenever company information changes or there’s news to announce. What’s more, companies can offer links to archived news, photos, logos, etc. not available in printed kits but still of interest to certain visitors.
The Relevance Factor
It’s always important to remember that news stories are deadline driven and journalists need information as quickly and as possible. By having a digital press kit, companies ensure that journalists can find editorial-ready copy without having to pore over other website pages that may lead them astray. Often journalists will publish such content verbatim, so companies have unique opportunities to spread corporate positioning and messaging through trusted news outlets. Having news-ready content becomes more important by the day as online blogs and news sites with SEO considerations are especially apt to publish what they find word for word.
Greater Reach
Before the information age, press kits served journalists and analysts almost exclusively. With a digital press kit, a company can educate and inform all sorts of visitors to its website, from New York Times reporters to prospective employees. Site visitors, such as current customers, prospective business partners, and industry followers, who wouldn’t otherwise request a press kit, may be inclined to review what they find at the site’s News Center. Some bloggers may be working from a basement, but convenient access to the latest corporate news gives them the only credentials they need to grow their influence by writing on point about groundbreaking company news, which could, in fact, be yours.
Add to these benefits the consideration cost, which is only a factor of (little) time and not money, and it’s almost tempting to consider printed media kits superfluous. Many journalists, however, still like to be coddled. A hardcopy press kit folder on their office desk may have more aesthetic and tactile appeal than a zip folder on their computer desktop. Yet, while traditional press kits still have their day, digital press kits are becoming a fast favorite.