Building a press kit? Where are your digital files?
August 20, 2010 by Mary Ellen · Leave a Comment
Your press kit doesn’t build itself. Consider:
Are you an artist who refuses to keep an updated CV? Imagine going back five years to unearth classes taught, shows displayed, awards won. Difficult? Add impossible to the list if during that time you moved, had a baby, or experienced any one of life’s major change agents. Seemingly unimportant items make the difference when presenting the story of your life in written form?
Are you a young professional with a full-time job plus a start-up business commitment? Once again, the gathering of information becomes the challenge. You suddenly become the obstacle if you don’t/can’t pull your resume, or bio, or head shot, or all of the above, together.
Are you a service provider so obsessed with billable hours you can’t concentrate on your own publicity? Keep in mind the necessity of working on your business, rather than just in it.
Are you a business owner who needs to pull a proposal together quickly? Your press kit probably contains collateral pieces appropriate for journalists as well as bankers, vendors, distributors or large customers.
Begin your digital press kit file today. (NOTE: In my last ProfitMeister newsletter, I talked about items to include in the online press kit. Sign up and receive ongoing, smart marketing information you can use to build your business.)
If you’ve got already got a digital press kit, comment here and share the example with others.
Press Kits Revisited OR, Publicity 101
August 2, 2010 by Mary Ellen · Leave a Comment
You’ve got a press kit, right? (A media kit, as my friend Jon who works in radio, prefers to call it.)
Like a resume for your business, a press kit or media kit presents the story of your company to the media, to investors and to a variety of audiences.
The time to prepare for publicity is before it happens. When a reporter asks for your media kit, it’s too late. Remember: luck is where preparation meets opportunity. Your press kit, or media kit can make it much easier and more likely for you to generate publicity. Lucky you!
Case in point: retail location grand opening
How do you count the loose ends in any retail opening? There’s the build-out, the stock, the inventory of the stock, the installation of the tracking software, the cash registers, the testing of IT systems, hiring and training of employees, the business signage, the coordination with the attorney, the bank, the bookkeeper, the leasing agent… You get the idea. The issues are too numerous to count; you simply push to the all-important goal: opening day.
If you’re the CEO, public relations may not be high on your radar, but grand openings provide an opportunity that can pay BIG dividends. Preparing with a well-planned press kit is time well spent.
A media kit contains the information you want your public to know. The kit needs to contain a press release. Think broader than that one item and include items from this list:
Where are the bios for your founder/CEO and other key players? Include a high resolution photo with each bio. Large firms might also choose to include an organization chart, for example.
List your FAQ’s. What are the top questions you want a morning show host or a news anchor to ask? Think of these as frequently-asked questions, FAQ’s. (NOTE: The beauty of this strategy is that it allows you to think of and practice the answers ahead of time. Not to sound rehearsed, but prepared.)
Are there special photo ops that you can list to tempt photo or video coverage? If you have an unusual logo, you may want to include a high resolution picture of it, or make it a downloadable application on the website.
Do you have a backgrounder on the company? Unusual stories offer human interest potential. Consider in advance what might make people read about or listen to a story about your firm.
Have you written a press release? (About a year ago I wrote this blog post: Press Release Death Greatly Exaggerated. Read it for more ideas.)
A strong press kit lets you control the information about your business in the community. Showcase it on your website in the form of a downloadable pdf. Use your grand opening to connect with potential customers in every way possible.
The process of getting information out begins with a plan. And guess what? Your media kit may force you to plan well enough to blow the competition away! Good luck with that!
For more on media kits: Take the Mystery out of Media Kits or Lauding the Simple, Under-rated, Under-Appreciated Fact Sheet elsewhere on this blog.
Press Kit 101: promoting previous publicity
January 28, 2010 by Mary Ellen · 1 Comment
You may want to share hard copies of articles about your business when you communicate with the media, even if you have an online media room.
For those who plan to use a traditional press kit, make your previous publicity work harder for you. Here’s how:
- Highlight your mentions in previous articles. This saves the recipient from searching for your name, your quote, your specific. If the article is all about your company, highlight a key point or pertinent quote. On the other hand, your highlight will make you more prominent in a compilation article or series.
- Make sure credits show on your publications: names, dates, contributing author. (NOTE: The time to get permission to use this information is when it is printed. Contact the publication and ask about their reprint policy.)
- Give special attention to the organization of your stories. Include most recent materials on top, filing in reverse order to oldest dated information.
- Be selective. If you have dozens of press clippings, include only the most significant or those most pertinent to the target.
- When sending your press kit to multiple locations, keep a duplicate so you know where materials “live.” You can then find referenced information quickly, or you could direct someone else to do the same. (HINT: If this kit is available at the office then other employees can be taught to refer to it as well.)
- Include a personalized cover letter when you send your press kit. HINT: Refer to a particular item (you’ll notice …) and thus direct the recipient inside the kit.
- In addition, take the time to target the recipient and customize your communication to him/her. For example, if the publication has a section for which you’d be perfect, mention it. As a storefront, if you are a tourist attraction, make a case to be included in a regular column about highlights of a city; a service provider who is a subject matter expert, might site examples of quotes or feature articles pointing to his/her specialty. Give the publication a good reason to make your story/idea work.
- Most of all, make it easy for the publication to like you and showcase your business in a future issue!
- Include contact information on all materials.
While there’s no magic formula to capture the attention of the media, one thing is certain: If you don’t work at it you have no chance.
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