A press kit is a mini portfolio that contains a professional representation of your business and it’s brand assets. Traditionally, press kits were sent to media outlets for promotional and PR opportunities. But today, businesses have digitized their press kits and make them accessible to the public on their website’s press page.
For startups especially, press kits are not just important for journalists, bloggers, and other influencers interested in writing about your business. They’re useful tools for potential clients, business partners, and investors trying to gauge your company’s credibility.
What to Put in Your Press Kit
Every press kit is unique and the contents depend on your experience and special elements of your startup. Figuring out what to put in your press kit requires looking at your business through the eyes of a journalist.
The information a writer needs to create a story about you includes some basic facts such as:
- Biographies of Staff and Leadership
- Photos
- Company History
- Recent Press Releases
- List of Industry Awards
- Other Noteworthy News Stories About Your Brand
- Image of Logo
- Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
- Contact Information for the PR Department
Why Do You Need a Press Kit?
Journalists often juggle multiple stories and are limited on time. If you make it easy for them to locate information on you, grab a logo or photo, and run with a story, you’ll have a much better chance of gaining free exposure.
It’s easy to miss out on opportunities. If you make it too difficult on the writer, they may just go to your competitor and highlight them instead. Have your press kit ready to go so you can grab opportunities when they come along.
An electronic press kit (EPK) is good for SEO because it allows people to easily build backlinks to your site. You might also gain blog and social mentions. Making your digital brand assets easily accessible helps your sales team and marketing team, and it gives you internal documents to share with potential investors and clients.
Having an EPK in place also helps your startup look more professional by giving you a strong brand identity with clear messaging. You the real press kit page examples below to create your own.
1. Unitel Voice
Unitel Voice offers a clean look to their press kit page. Note how they list a few rules for how to refer to their brand. This creates brand consistency no matter who refers to them or what coverage they receive. They then have three boxes offering company information, logo files, and product photos. A journalist can easily access whatever they need.
2. AWeber
AWeber’s electronic press kit page offers different media kits for different purposes. For those wanting to publish something online about the company, they have a web media kit, and for those wanting to publish in print, they offer a separate set of files. They also have a brand usage guide for clarity.
3. Design Roast
Design Roast does a good job of adding some basic “about” information on their press kit page and then offering additional details via download. This gives journalists some quick background info for short mentions but also provides deeper insight for more in-depth articles.
4. OptinMonster
OptinMonster presents some basic facts in the form of a webpage and outlines some of its staff members. They also list some of the different areas of their press kit, including press releases and other media coverage. Reporters can get stats for the site in real-time.
5. HappyFox
HappyFox puts their logo and wordmark right at the top of their press kit page so they are easily found by users. They then add a call to action to the left of the page with a button that reads, “Download Press Kit” and descriptive text explaining that the EPK contains logos, screenshots, photos, and a video.
6. Squarespace
Squarespace opens with its most recent press coverage. This could attract new media outlets or provide journalists with ideas of what’s already been covered. They then offer tabs in their navigation bar that let people download press releases and images or get brand and logo guidelines.
7. Expensify
Expensify gets right to the point and shows what they’ve been up to by listing a full collection of their recent press releases. For journalists feeling out a story idea about their company, the details on this page offer a lot of insight into advances within the company. There are also links to learn more about the company and to get images and contact info.
8. Starry
Starry has a page dedicated to members of the press looking for information on their brand. This internet service startup company has a kit you can download, but they also list an email address in case you have additional questions. Under the kit, linked are press releases ordered from newest to oldest. You’ll also find product photos and leadership info and headshots.
9. Worldwide Supply
Especially in the early days, you’ll want to keep the focus as simple as possible while you build your press kit with samples. Take a look at how Worldwide Supply draws interest. They have two columns: one with press releases and one with mentions of them in the news.
10. Evernote
Evernote does a good job of adding a headline for press people and explaining the purpose of their page. There is no confusion over what people will find in the digital press kit on this page. As the user scrolls down, they’ll find listings of where the company was mentioned in the news as well as brand guidelines and assets and a way to get more information if you have an inquiry.
11. Zendesk
Zendesk creates an interactive experience for their press kit. The user is taken to a new land called “Brandland” where they learn about the brand, explore resources, or get help from the help center. As the user clicks on animated text, they are taken to a new page with more information. The press site is engaging for users.
12. Treehouse
Treehouse offers its press kit in an easy-to-download PDF document. You’ll gain information on how to use branding images, name and company details, and history. Embedded links take you to their resources, such as logos and images.
13. Mailchimp
Mailchimp places everything on a single page, including some loose guidelines to using their images and brand name. As you scroll down, you’ll find variations of their logo, explanations about their name, and how to use it and the HEX codes for their brand’s color palette.
14. Close
Close does something kind of unique with their online press kit by offering screenshots to show examples of their logos and name in use. Visitors can also download a logo page with files in both PNG and EPS formats, which work for both online publications and printed materials.
15. Help Scout
Help Scout features a downloadable press kit and then offers specifics such as a color palette, logos, and photos of Help Scout’s “team and culture.” There is no doubt about how users should refer to the brand.
16. Dropbox
Dropbox starts their online press information with a listing of their appearances in the news. You’ll find well over 1,000 listings across a number of pages. Scroll down and you’ll find a link to “Press Assets” with zipped folders containing anything a journalist might need to work up a story on the brand.
17. Bench
Bench offers a list of news and press releases. However, they also place a reminder at the top that they are happy to work with reporters on stories about Bench and invite them to contact the brand for more information. This provides an opportunity for a customized press kit for each journalist.
18. Intercom
Intercom offers assets at a glance by placing logos to the right of the download link. If a user only needs a quick image, there is no need to download the entire kit. However, if the reporter is just getting started, they can download a full press kit and get more information.
19. GiftRocket
GiftRocket offers a press page listing mentions in other media outlets and a link to their press assets. They also list their email so users can contact them if they need something specific for a story.
Now Go Set Up Your Own Press Page
Having a press page not only makes your business look more reliable and trustworthy, but it also makes it easier for bloggers, journalists, and other influencers to write about your startup.
Plain and simple, an electronic press kit is an essential tool for getting PR, building backlinks, and generate buzz.
So go set up your own EPK and make sure it contains everything anyone would need to tell the world about your amazing business.
Editor’s Note: The article is part of the blog series Grow Your Business brought to you by the marketing team at UniTel Voice, the virtual phone system priced and designed for startups and small business owners.
