The format of a press kit is more important today than ever before, as first impressions are apt to make or break business relationships in an environment where attention is hard to come by. For startups, growing companies and everyone who is attempting to become a creative or thought leader within their field in addition to the “usual suspects” such as musicians, bands and actors, being “press-ready” is no longer optional. It’s a necessity. For startups, growing companies, and anyone building a personal brand as a creator or thought leader, being “press-ready” is not optional anymore. It’s a necessity.
Perhaps a journalist found your product and seeks more information. For example:An investor may ask you for some materials to get you introduced to their network. An indication of one or maybe a podcaster wants to share your story but wants information about your bio and photographs fast. In those moments, a press kit is a secret weapon.
Consider it your digital handshake professional, pretty, and packaged with all the briefs someone may need to talk about you, feature you, or connect. And too many amazing brands miss the boat because they lack one.
So here is a step-by-step approach of how to build a board from the ground up, alongside a checklist of its key components.
A press kit is a preselected group of materials that tell journalists who you are and why your brand matters. It is typically sent to bloggers and event organizers, as well as other members of the press, investors in startups or partners who might want to join with you for a project and is generally pitched by PR firms working with the company.
Key Question you should include
A press kit is more than being press ready. It’s also about time savings and removing friction from the process. Your press kit ensures that instead of planning a media response from scratch, your press kit is a one-stop-shop for the truth about your brand for anyone that wants to know more.
Benefits include:
Start with a short but powerful description of your business. Our mission, our work, and those we serve. To make a better comparison, consider it your elevator pitch: short, professional, jargon-free.
Founder/ Leadership team bios: Keep by-line bio (100–150 words about the founder(s) or leadership team) Inject some personality and backstory, but keep it relevant. Pair these with professional headshots.
Facilitate your business associates to represent your brand the exact way. Include:
What are you actually offering? Add a brief summary, key features, use cases and unique differentiators. You can add even more value here with a short demo video or one-pager.
This is your chance to flaunt any time you have news outlets, podcasts, or blogs covering your story. List any notable awards, certifications, or industry endorsements too.
Photos help tell your story. Offer a range of clear images:
Don’t forget the basics. Dedicate a press contact to your PR rep, or your founder. Include a professional email like [email protected] and if relevant, a phone number.
Let people explore further. Include links to your website and blog and the social networks you dry (LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter / X, and so on).
If your press kit is stale, that only hurts your credibility. You should be looking at it every quarter. As things change, so should your team bios, product offerings, logos, or press coverage.
Here’s a helpful summary:
Optional but helpful:
A press kit is not just a folder of files it is a means by which you drive your visibility forward and express your message clearer. Now, if they are scheduling you to be part of their lineup or applying for an actual speaking engagement, the press kit prepares you to be poised, reputable, and to dictate the narrative.
If you continue to create this semi-automatically, there are now purpose-built tools that allow for this at the automation level. Tools like PressDeck allow brands to build beautiful online press kit (as opposed to horrible PDFs or outdated folders to share).
In different words: Whenever anyone Googles your organisation, interviews you, or writes a put up or an article about your product, they are a story teller of your story. A press kit organized to do that will get them to tell your story the way that you want it to be told, the on-brand way, the consistent way, of course.
Often, the factor that plays the most liminal role between being pitched and being ghosted is accessibility. A journalist will probably abandon ship, if they can locate your headshot, logo or basic background within five minutes of searching. Having a media kit ready to go, in turn, slashes friction from the process and gives you a well-deserved advantage over the competition.