When a journalist pitches your company for a story, they’re not starting from scratch. They’ve read your website, maybe skimmed a press release or two, and now they need depth. They want your company logo at high resolution. They want a real photo of your founder. They want one clear paragraph they can drop into an article without rewriting.
That’s what a press kit solves.
A press kit is a curated folder—physical or digital—that hands journalists everything they need to write about you. Done right, it cuts their research time in half. Done wrong, it wastes both your time and theirs.
Here’s how to build one journalists will actually use.
What Goes Into a Press Kit
The core materials are fixed. Every press kit should contain these seven elements:
1. Company Overview
Write a 100-150 word summary that answers: What do you do? Who do you serve? What’s your competitive angle? Don’t recycle your website tagline. Write it for someone who’s heard of you once and needs context fast.
Example: “TechFlow automates invoice reconciliation for mid-market accounting teams. Founded in 2022, the company has processed over $12B in invoices for 400+ customers across financial services, healthcare, and manufacturing. TechFlow’s AI catches mismatches humans miss and integrates with QuickBooks, NetSuite, and Xero.”
That paragraph tells a journalist the product, the market, the scale, and the integrations. It’s ready to paste.
2. Founder and Leadership Bios
Include a 50-75 word bio for each key leader. Format: name, title, background, key achievement.
Example: “Sarah Chen, CEO, spent seven years as VP of Product at Stripe, leading the invoicing team through 100x growth. Before that, she built financial reporting software at two startups. Sarah holds a BS in Computer Science from Stanford and has advised the Small Business Administration on digital payments policy.”
Skip the flowery stuff. Journalists want credentials and relevance. One paragraph per person, no more.
3. High-Resolution Logo Files
Provide your logo in multiple formats:
- Full-color horizontal (PNG, EPS, SVG)
- Full-color stacked (PNG, EPS, SVG)
- Black and white (PNG, EPS)
- Icon version (PNG, all sizes: 16x16, 32x32, 256x256)
Upload each as a separate file. Don’t bury them in a ZIP. Journalists grab what they need in seconds.
4. Product Screenshots and Images
Provide 4-8 clear product screenshots, each showing a core feature. Avoid marketing graphics. Show the interface as it actually appears. Include a caption for each explaining what the user is seeing.
Also include 2-3 candid photos of your team—not professional headshots, but photos of people actually working. Journalists use these more than you’d think.
5. Fact Sheet
A one-page bulleted summary of key facts. Include:
- Founded: [year]
- Headquarters: [location]
- Funding raised: [amount, sources, dates]
- Customer count: [number or range]
- Team size: [number]
- Key partnerships: [names]
- Website: [URL]
Journalists reference fact sheets constantly. Make it dense with specifics.
6. Boilerplate Paragraph
Write a 2-3 sentence boilerplate statement that can end any press release or article mention. It should read like journalism, not marketing copy.
Example: “TechFlow is an AI-powered invoice reconciliation platform used by 400+ mid-market companies. The company is headquartered in San Francisco and has raised $8M in Series A funding led by Sequoia Capital.”
Journalists copy this directly into articles. Make it accurate, concise, and attribution-ready.
7. Past Coverage
Create a simple list of recent articles about your company, with publication names, headlines, and URLs. Include 5-10 of your best clips. If you’ve been featured in major outlets (TechCrunch, Forbes, WSJ), list those first.
Journalists use this to understand your media footprint and see what angles have already been covered.
Physical vs. Digital Press Kits
A physical press kit made sense in 2005. Today, a digital press kit is standard.
Go digital if you’re a startup or small company. Host a simple web page with downloadable files. Journalists access it instantly from anywhere.
Maintain physical kits only if you work in industries where in-person events matter (luxury goods, real estate, hospitality, entertainment). Even then, keep them minimal—a folder with a one-page fact sheet, your boilerplate, and a USB drive with logos and photos.
Most companies need only digital.
Where to Host Your Press Kit
You have three options:
1. Dedicated Pressroom (Best)
Use a service like Muck Rack, Notchup, or Cision that hosts your entire press kit. These platforms let you track which journalists download what, when they access your kit, and which files get grabbed most. You get analytics that show media interest in real time.
Setup takes a few hours. Cost ranges from free to $200/month depending on features.
2. Google Drive or Dropbox (Good)
Create a folder, upload your files, and make it publicly accessible. Share the URL in your press release footer and on your website. Journalists can download files one at a time or zip them all at once.
This costs nothing and works for small teams. You lose analytics, but you keep simplicity.
3. Dedicated Page on Your Website (Good)
Create a /press or /press-kit page on your website. Upload files directly, or link to a Google Drive folder. Make the page SEO-friendly so journalists find it when they search “[Your Company] press kit.”
This signals professionalism and keeps everything on your own domain.
Most successful approaches combine options. Host files on a dedicated page plus maintain a Google Drive backup journalists can download from.
What Journalists Actually Download (and What They Skip)
Research from Muck Rack shows journalists download from press kits in this order:
- Company logos (95% of downloads)
- Product photos/screenshots (85%)
- Founder/CEO photos (75%)
- Company fact sheet (65%)
- Boilerplate paragraph (55%)
- Press releases (35%)
- Video or demo footage (15%)
Most journalists skip the full company overview. They skim the fact sheet, grab the boilerplate, and use what they need. Assume they’re in a hurry—because they are.
This means your highest-impact assets are visual: logos and photos. Make those perfect. Everything else can be good.
Common Press Kit Mistakes
1. Outdated information. A press kit with a 2022 funding amount or a founder who left last year looks neglected. Journalists assume your whole company is out of date. Update quarterly, minimum.
2. Logos embedded in PDFs. A PDF logo is useless. Journalists need files. PNG, SVG, EPS—but not PDFs. Always offer raw files.
3. No contact information. Every press kit must list a press contact email and phone number. Make it easy for a journalist to reach you when they’re on deadline. If you don’t respond within four hours, the story may run without your input—or not at all.
4. Too much text. A press kit that reads like marketing collateral fails. Journalists want facts and quotes, not mission statements. Keep it sparse. Assume they’ll edit anything you provide.
5. Photos that look like stock images. Use real photos of your team, your office, your product in use. Stock photos scream “we didn’t care enough.” Real photos build credibility.
6. Inconsistent branding. All logos should match current brand guidelines. Screenshots should show your current interface, not last year’s design. Outdated visuals undermine your message.
7. Burying your story. A press kit lists facts, but your story is what makes those facts matter. Bury the narrative and journalists have to dig it out themselves—and most won’t. Lead with what makes you different.
How to Update and Maintain Your Press Kit
Set a quarterly review on your calendar. Audit these items:
- Company facts. Any new funding, partnerships, or office locations? Update the fact sheet.
- Team changes. New executive? Add a bio. Departing executive? Remove them.
- Product screenshots. Does the product look the same? If not, update photos.
- Past coverage. Add your latest press mentions. Remove coverage older than two years.
- Boilerplate. Refresh it to match your current positioning.
When you announce major news—a funding round, a product launch, a partnership—add a dated press release to your kit immediately. This signals that your company moves.
After two weeks, archive the old press release. Keep your kit focused on what’s current and what’s always relevant (logos, bios, company overview).
The Bottom Line
A press kit is not a sales brochure. It’s not a marketing collateral dump. It’s a service to journalists—a resource that saves them time and gives them what they need to write about you accurately.
Done right, it accelerates coverage. Journalists use your materials instead of researching from scratch. They quote your boilerplate and use your photos. Your company looks professional and prepared.
Done wrong, it signals you don’t take media relations seriously.
Spend a few hours building one. Then spend 15 minutes a quarter keeping it fresh. The return is worth it.