5 Press Kit Must Haves

While it's always great to have professional PR help, don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good: if you can't afford to hire a PR rep, you can still put together a press kit on your own.

The key thing to remember about a press kit is this: Don't be different. Be easy.

What makes a press kit easy?

1) Put your company name and what you do on the cover. If your company is Bob's Candles, that's all you need. But if your company is Whosamawatchits Inc., we need a little more of a clue. A picture of your signature product is an attractive, easy way to convey this information.

2) Put your company contact info in there: all of it. We really do want a mailing address and phone number, not just a website, and the company address itself, not just the PR firm (if you've got one).

3) Put a date on it. When it comes back to the office in a giant box of other press kits and goes in a drawer, we need to know if this is still current.

4) Put useable pictures right in the kit. A CD of high res images is fine; so is a thumb drive, so is instructions on how to download them from a website. What doesn't work is "call for pictures", or already-printed items. The latter are good for reference but not for publication.

5) Put pricing in and tell us if it's wholesale or retail.