Preparing a press kit for your online store

When approached by a publication for a review of your products and services, it is a great opportunity to present your online store to their audience which will increase traffic and interest. Besides, the increased trust provided by their publication makes your business more vetted and when placing their logo on your website it raises your social proof standing to the world. This will improve sales and conversions.

A Press kit - what is it?

Also known as a media kit - it is a set of content to aid the press such as reporters and writers to access and use when doing an article on your brand, business operation, and products. The better press kits make it easy to access information about the brand, the products, their provenance, and at times the methods/sources of materials (especially when it comes to ecological, biodegradable, and recyclable materials). This includes images, logos, or videos. This content can be used outside of the press, where communities and other organizations can access these materials for educational purposes. Press validates the brand, the products, and the company's vision/mission and adds consistency to what is being said about it via various outlets, social media, and organizations. Your media kit is like a resume for the brand and business, where it makes it easy to communicate but does not promote directly given the outlets need to be interested to engage with you.

How are Digital Press kits used?

Within the eCommerce space, digital media is easily consumed so as to gain easy press coverage on product introductions, be part of your marketing campaign on product reviews, and influencers post their views and opinions on social media sites. Key areas are as follows.

1. Product launches
2. Mergers and acquisitions
3. Company news - Press releases
4. Special events

An Electronic Press Kit (EPK) is now the norm and it is accessed on your website for the reporters and interested parties to access in contrast to the past which was a push to the outlets to have a kit sent to them. A footer link for a page containing your Press Kit which your brand guidelines, your images, and content as well as a press contact information (email address) area for news outlets to reach out to if they need additional materials. This material has to be high quality, and clearly state the target audience the brand and products cater to.

For trade shows, the distribution of your Press kit on key-chain memory sticks where you might encounter other business partners, press, and other engaging clients can be an asset since, after all, they are there to review your company and its products/services.

Press kits are still very relevant in 2022, and for more mature businesses it is a profitable investment in presentation, rapid access to communication, managing more outlets simultaneously, and getting more voice in the market by doing so - all impacting sales.

Hiring a Marketing PR agency

The main goal of a press kit is to put your best communication and illustration of your brand and products forward rapidly to disseminate it at any request and drive noise with your message in the marketplace. There are the following elements that should be part of your Press page.

• Your Vision, Mission, background story, and target market
• The facts of the company (Fact sheet)
• Branding and guidelines
• Your team
• Press releases (chronologically listed)
• Press coverage and main articles (in PDF formats)
• An email address such as press@yourdomain.com
• Brand spelling and pronunciation
• Ability to set up interviews
• Awards by whom and when (in PDF format)
• Volunteering/Associations/Donations/Affiliations
• Social Media Platforms
• Quotes by whom and what context
• FAQs
• Product Samples

There are variations of what is included in your Press kit based on your business, what you share information on, and how you are defining your target audience. It must have your Vision/Mission and your story and the target market and potential customers identified - where most of the above points must be considered carefully.

How to make an Electronic Press Kit (EPK)

Looking at how to create one for your business takes a few steps in extracting the various points above.

1. Choose a format - looking at how to present it, and what type of attention you want. It can be a print format, web format, etc. The Format can make things easier to get more press coverage, such as PDF downloadable materials, filing cloud storage, and electronic media kit on the website (*.ZIP file).
2. Branding consistency is important across all materials being presented. Watermarks, page headers, footers, and anything that contains your brand must be consistent.
3. Write your company overview - you should describe your brand and products and how you find your target audience to the customer satisfaction they verbalize and spread on social media. You can use founding date, location, company size, background on the formation of the company, press contact, and various information that a journalist will see.
4. Identifying milestones - chronicle successes from the most recent date to the first success. Mention these and how they relate to the company vision and mission, and how they impacted the business. The details contained in this section can be referenced in the overview but not mentioned directly.
5. Define your audience - for the press to talk about your demographics, as well as assist them with their research on product reviews, acceptance of your brand in the market, and overall market impact your vision has on the audience.
6. Gather your media assets - Organize your assets logically and have the contents assist a journalist to use and applying the media in their reporting:

• Company logo
• Images and head shots including hero images
• Testimonials
• Fact sheets
• Publication logos
• Videos
• Media Mentions
• press releases
• Team/product images
• Easy to download and access

Conclusion

With a side benefit of SEO, a Press Kit is a great addition to your business. Yes, it needs to be kept up with new successes, testimonials, product releases, and quotations. Your eCommerce platform has many facets to your marketing, this is an additional side to fuel news outlets, and influencers and increase your message to your target audience. This should be part of your digital marketing strategy if you can fit it into your various activities. We hope this article helps you structure your content further. Feel free to enquire with us at wish@thegenielab.com