If you don’t already have one (and I’m betting you don’t), you should have a press kit in your marketing arsenal. They can be created on the relative cheap, but they can be worth way more than their weight in publicity gold. They can be your ticket to fame and fortune. A well-crafted press kit will decrease your waistline and increase your desirability toward the opposite sex (or the same sex, as the case may be). It will end world hunger and bring about a lasting, universal peace. The planets will align and Utopia will permeate the Universe.

Okay … that’s a bit more than a stretch. But, a quality kit will help to position you as the one who’s in the know, offers excellent services and smarts and might even get you an interview here and there.

Consider this. I did a press kit a while ago for a business-to-business client. It was simple and distributed on CDs that we burned. The client was in a small market. Small, to the point of me only finding a whopping six publications for their media list. I sent out a release to the list, followed by our handy dandy press kit. The release was printed in three pubs. But, the press kit resulted in two feature stories about my client and the rest of the pubs printing the original release. Nifty? You bet. But, the best part is that the feature stories resulted in the client cracking a new offshore market and picking up a customer on the other side of the planet. Now they’re “global.”

Think of a press kit as something akin to your business’ resume. It provides one-stop shopping for editors, reporters and writers who are on the hunt for an expert to quote or maybe a story idea. A well-conceived and produced kit helps you stand out from the pack and also helps to get you noticed by those folks who can forever immortalize your name in print. Plus, a correctly structured press kit can be easily adapted for other audiences as well, like those deep-pocket folks such as investors and prospects.

To create your brilliant publicity package, you’ll probably want to enlist the services of a writer and maybe a photographer. Sure, you can do it yourself. You can also handle your bookkeeping and tax returns, install that new electrical outlet you’ve been needing and hoist your car up on a couple of jacks and toss in a new engine. Let me share my thoughts on that. Well … actually they’re not my thoughts. They’re the sage advice from one of my profs at the art school I attended back in the old days. Odds are she got it from some mentor along the way, too –

“Never do for yourself what somebody else can do better.”

Read it. Know it. Live it.

You want your press kit to stand out from the crowd, be impressive and tell your story in a memorable way. A good creative team can be worth their weight in gold toward helping you reach that goal.

You can put a kit together without sinking a load of dough into it. It simply takes some thought and planning. You can pick up some nice two pocket folders at your local office supply store. Apply a well-designed, ink-jet printed, crack ‘n peel label and volia! Pop your business card in the pre-cut slits and you’re good to go.

Odds are the office supply or a decent copy shop can also make copies for you. Have your writer’s glowing prose copied instead of having pages offset printed. Have your photographer shoot some dazzling images of you and some of your work. Maybe your office, too, if it’s a neat space. Format the writer’s text so each page is consistent with your branding in terms of typography, colors, etc. Burn the sucker and whip up some great CD labels. The next thing you know, you have a slick and informative press kit.

Up next, we’ll talk about what to put into your kit … and how to do it.

Until the next
Marketing Minute
all the best,
nt