Press Kit Creation Guide and Template (2026)

Imagine the largest publication in your industry, or even a local news affiliate, giving you free advertising. It’s unlikely, until you consider what a solid press kit and public relations (PR) strategy can do. 

Good press coverage allows you to borrow the trust of those publications and give authority to your brand—translating to increased brand awareness, site or store visitors, and sales. “Press validates a brand and what customers have heard through word of mouth,” says Sara Spiegel, owner of public relations firm w/Sara PR. 

Creating a strong company press kit makes it easy for websites, podcasters, and media outlets to feature your business or tap one of your leaders as a resource. This article covers how to create your own press kit, with essentials to include and a free press kit template.

What is a press kit?

A press kit, also known as a digital media kit, is a document, page, or section on your website that contains resources and information for reporters and publishers. The best press kits make it easy for reporters to learn about a product and brand, and to access marketing materials and high-resolution images to use in a story. 

Press kits are a common and convenient format for housing and distributing content for promotional purposes. Some 59% of businesses plan to use them as a vehicle to share news about their products and services, while 49% rely on them to talk about company growth and 44% focus on events.

💡 Tip: You might see press kits labelled as a “media kit.” While they’re often used interchangeably in ecommerce, “media kit” can have a different meaning in traditional publishing. If you’re selling advertising space on your blog, for example, you’d use a paid media kit to show media buyers your audience demographics and examples of previously published sponsored content.

Why create a press kit?

By providing an electronic press kit, you’re saying, “Hey, we love working with the media; we’d love to be your source for industry insights and product news. Here’s everything you need to put your story together, as well as how to reach us.” 

A good press kit doesn’t guarantee media coverage for your business; it just makes getting earned media a bit easier. When you’re networking and contacting publications, you’ll always have your media kit to refer to and share with reporters. You may also find that because you’ve proactively provided a lot of what they need, they may be more receptive to your pitch. 

“We, especially the first nine years, just didn’t have a lot of cash,” says Jake Miller, founder of Fellow, on an episode of the Shopify Masters podcast. “We didn’t have big budgets to acquire customers so we needed to get coverage. We needed to get that free media whenever possible.”

An online press kit isn’t only for reporters or major publications. It gives anyone who wants to talk about or promote your business the tools they need to do it effectively and accurately. This includes podcasters, bloggers, influencers, or even a fan sharing your story in an online community.

What to include in a press kit

1. Story and mission
2. Business facts
3. Product and service overview
4. Visual assets
5. Team member bios
6. Press releases
7. Press coverage
8. Contact information
9. Social media links
10. Spelling or pronunciation
11. Awards and certifications
12. Charity and nonprofit work
13. Quotes
14. Customer success stories
15. Customer reviews

For reporters to prioritize your pitch—especially under tight deadlines—your press kit needs to include accurate, up-to-date information and ready-to-use assets. Just like reducing any barriers to entry for your customers, you want to do the same for journalists. You want to make it easy for them to work with you.

What you put in your press kit will vary depending on your business, the size of your company, and what you have to work with. Common elements include:

Story and mission

This is your “why.” Share your brand story and company history: What inspired your business. Tell reporters a little about yourself and why you’re doing what you’re doing. 

Combine this with your unique value proposition, or what makes your product or business stand out from the competition. 

“Clearly and succinctly lay out what makes your brand special in the category,” says Jessica Postiglione, CEO and founder of supplements company Bonny. “What are you doing that the competition isn’t? Are you offering the consumer greater value? Are you more sustainable? Are you creating a new category?”

In this press kit example from Annmarie Skin Care, the brand shares its story, mission statement, and unique process, which gives press an insight into who they are as a brand.

Your brand story doesn’t just influence coverage—it can also help you gain customers when the press release, interview, or article is published. 

“When someone connects with your story, they become a lifelong customer and perhaps even a fan that would share what you do with their friends,” says Sarah Chisholm, founder of Wild Rye Baking, on Shopify Masters. “That’s like the ultimate, right, because they trust you enough to share what you do with their favorite people."

Business facts

Collect often-shared data points in an easy-to-read fact sheet as a source of truth. It also makes a journalist’s or fact-checker’s life easier: They don’t have to hunt down the information themselves or wait for a confirmation response. 

Consider including these key facts about your business: 

• Year founded and/or years in business 
• Number of customers or clients served 
• Volume of units sold 
• Business headquarters, service area(s), and locations 
• Product manufacturing location 

Product and service overview

Offer media professionals some background information on the products and/or services available from your business. Keep this short and straightforward, focusing on your unique selling proposition. 

Loa Skin’s press kit, for example, says: “We develop botanical house formulas that prioritize the recovery of inflammatory skin issues.”

Visual assets

Make it easy for content publishers to use your logo and other assets by providing high-resolution versions with transparent backgrounds, where possible. 

Also think about how journalists might use your logo and provide variations for them to choose from, such as:

• Light and dark backgrounds 
• Multiple sizes (e.g., square and banner-sized)
• Favicons 

This press kit example from ecommerce brand The Mantry, for example, has downloadable high-resolution images prepared for print (which requires higher quality photos) and digital, all on the brand’s site.

Team member bios

You may want to highlight your business’s founder or other key leadership team members in your press kit, especially if you have an interesting founder story. These team bios can add a personal touch to your pitch and humanize your brand.

Keep them concise but include evidence of their expertise. It’s also a good idea to link to their LinkedIn profile for more background history. Team bios are especially important if you want to position one or more of them as an industry expert available for quotes, interviews, or appearances on podcasts or TV.

Press releases

If you have current or past press releases, include them in your media kit. These could be new product announcements, updates about the company, or news about partnerships and collaborations.

Press coverage

If you’ve been featured in the press before, include links. This can include blog posts, interviews, magazine articles, and videos. 

If your business has been mentioned on a podcast, on the radio, or on a local news station, link to the clip or embed the media on your ecommerce press kit page. It gives people interested in talking about your business an idea of what’s been covered before or insight into the spokesperson. 

The phrase “any press is good press” doesn’t apply here. Quality matters more than quantity. “Only share your best press,” Sara of w/Sara PR advises. “As the caliber rises, lose the stuff that’s not as valuable.”

Contact information

How should publications contact you? Many businesses prefer to have a dedicated press email address, such as press@yourbusiness.com. A specific email address ensures press queries won’t get lost, so you can respond to them quickly.

This ecommerce press kit example from Dropps, for example, shares the brand’s media contact information. It directs press inquiries to the brand’s email PR@dropps.com.

It’s also smart to include response time expectations in your digital PR kit so journalists know how long it’ll take to get any supporting information for their coverage. They often work on tight deadlines so a fast turnaround time could help you secure coverage, but conservative estimates open the door to underpromise and overdeliver. If you give a 24-hour window but can deliver a response within eight, you can build a reputation as a credible source.

Social media links

A loyal social media following or online community can go a long way in building credibility. Include links to these in your press kit, along with any influencer or celebrity endorsements. You could also incorporate user-generated content designed to educate people about your product or service.

Social media accounts, web pages, and webinar recordings are all examples of owned media. Different from paid or earned media, owned media is digital media content you own, host, or control. 

Spelling or pronunciation

If your business has unique spelling, capitalization, or pronunciation, you can use your media kit to specify how you wish your brand name to be printed and said. For example, if you are “CompanyName” and not “Company Name” or “Companyname,” make it clear.

Also think about spelling brand or executives’ names phonetically to get ahead of any unusual pronunciation. Offer audio clips for video journalists and podcasters who will say names aloud. 

🎙️ Listen: The PR Playbook from DTC Companies’ Favorite Agency

Awards and certifications

Share any awards and recognition your business has received from trade or consumer groups. Also include any differentiating certifications, like B Corp certification or quality management systems like ISO 9001. These contribute legitimacy to your business and inspire more trust in your products.

List any awards or recognitions in chronological order with the most recent first. Journalists pride themselves on sharing breaking news—an award you won in the last few months is more likely to be mentioned than one you bagged two years ago. 

Charity and nonprofit work

Include any charities or nonprofits your business supports financially or with volunteerism or pro bono work. These share your company’s commitment as a compassionate and socially conscious brand—qualities increasingly important to today’s consumers.

To avoid any claims of greenwashing to secure coverage of sustainability practices, swap vague statements with quantifiable figures. Bombas, for instance, could spotlight the 150 million shoes it’s donated since the launch of its “Giving back” program. 

Quotes

Create a set of canned quotes for media to use in their publications. Ideally these are versatile enough to work across different story angles, with two or three authored by both your leadership team and your employees. This makes it easier for reporters to attribute direct quotes without having to reach out or coordinate an interview.

Customer success stories

Profile a handful of your most successful customers or case studies to add extra credibility to your press kit. This can appear like a less biased stamp of approval—other happy customers can do the talking and demonstrate why your business is worth featuring. 

Include hard data and quotes where possible. It’s great to say “here’s how this customer benefitted,” but even better to have the numbers to prove it. 

Customer reviews

Complement positive customer stories with reviews. Include star reviews, TrustPilot ratings, and UGC (such as TikTok videos of customers reviewing your products) inside your ecommerce press kit. 

💡 Tip: How to Use Paid, Owned, and Earned Media to Grow Your Brand

How to make a digital press kit

Now that you know what goes into an effective press kit, let’s look at how you can create one for your business.

1. Choose your template

Before picking out any testimonials or About Us content, choose how you plan to make your media kit available for press inquiries. For instance, do you want journalists to contact your PR team for your media kit or access it on your website? 

Format impacts how people will feature your brand. If you make it easy to access your press materials, you’ll likely get more and better press coverage. 

A downloadable PDF is a professional-looking way to introduce your brand. If you choose to go the PDF route, a media kit template is a great way to ensure your press kit includes all the necessary information. Media kit templates typically provide prompts and editable fields for you to add your company’s details.

💡 Tip: For ecommerce brands, “digital press kit” and “EPK” generally refer to the same concept: an online collection of press-ready materials. This terminology is more common in multimedia-heavy industries.

2. Write your company overview

Describe your brand and its product in a few sentences, similar to the “About us” boilerplate at the bottom of your press release. This can be a great place to talk about your company mission, vision, and goals. 

Consider including relevant details like:

• Founding date
• Location
• Size of company or number of employees
• Background information
• Press contact information

Keep all your company information up to date. Create a workflow or standard operating procedure (SOP) so that if anything changes, e.g., you add a new product, open in a new market, you update everywhere the fact or number appears. This might include multiple pages of your website, the fact sheet, and the boilerplate.

3. List a few milestones

Chronicle your company’s success, starting with the most recent achievements. Mention milestones that best support your brand story. 

This part of your press kit could include details not covered in your overview. Journalists will want to learn about your company, so you may want to also cover:

• Fundraising stage and marquee investors
• Key features of your products and how they benefit customers
• Your differentiators
• Your target audience

Provide journalists with a visualization of how your business impacts the market. Remember, they want to feature brands that align with their readers. If you clearly define your audience, it could motivate journalists with similar demographics to write more about your company.

4. Gather your media assets

Your press kit should include additional assets that help journalists create a story about your business. These include:

• Company logo
• Team photos or headshots
• Testimonials
• Fact sheets
• Case studies
• Videos
• Press releases
• Publication logos
• Media mentions
• Product photos

Make your media assets easy to download. Best practice is to use a file sharing service like Dropbox—journalists typically avoid downloading files to their computer, especially from unknown senders. File sharing services also let you organize assets clearly into labeled folders to make it easy for media professionals to find exactly what they need. 

5. Add it to your website

Whether you’re creating a downloadable or interactive press kit, add it to your online store site. The additional information helps drive traffic to your website through search engine optimization (SEO). 

While you may not want or need a link in your main navigation, it’s a good idea to include a Press or Media link in the footer of your site. Most reporters and publishers know to look for it there. 

Other places to link your press kit include:

• Email signatures
• About pages
• LinkedIn bios
• Affiliate or brand ambassador portals 

Press kit examples: The best ecommerce media kits

The best press kits have clear organization, high-quality visuals, and easy access to contact information. If you need inspiration on how to do this with your own, check out these ecommerce businesses doing press kits right:

Holstee

Mindfulness brand Holstee uses a text-based approach to its press kit. However, it helps key information pop with featured quotes. Holstee also lists all the relevant publications it’s been featured in, which establishes credibility. If you want to get in touch, you can find contact details to get downloadable assets—like high-quality images—at the bottom of the page.

💡 Tip: Providing some information while gatekeeping some assets provides two things. It preserves brand asset integrity because the company knows who’s requested and/or plans to use it. It also creates an opportunity to establish a connection with the journalist or content creator.

LuminAID

Solar lighting brand LuminAID includes a series of photos, videos, and blog posts in its press kit. Journalists can read the story behind the brand, access downloadable logos and product images, or get in touch with its public relations team for more information.

Huit Denim

Premium denim company Huit keeps things simple with the press section of its website. It provides a press email right at the top of the page, with a link to download its full media kit that includes the founding story, product assortment, leadership team, and core values.

Getting press for your ecommerce business

When you’re considering putting together an online media kit for your store, think about the audiences of the websites, outlets, and publications you admire and how your business aligns with them. Then, think about what you can put together to demonstrate that alignment to relevant bloggers, podcasters, writers, and editors. 

When targeting specific journalists or outlets, study recent coverage as well. If they frequently write about your industry or it’s their “beat,” they’re a good candidate to pitch. Just be mindful of redundancy. If they perceive your pitch as duplicating a recently published story, they’re likely to pass.

This is one of the reasons companies eventually choose to employ a PR agency or consultant. Tracking outlets’ coverage, vetting specific journalists, and crafting unique angles to pitch is time-consuming.

Audit your current PR campaign strategy and carefully curate press releases that share topics your target journalists’ audiences will care about. Pair this with an up-to-date press kit that’s refreshed regularly to highlight recent awards, quotes, and milestones. This will put you in good standing to secure free coverage for your business. 

Remember you still need to network and put yourself out there if you want to get press coverage for your business. A well prepared press kit only makes it easier for reporters to talk about you consistently and accurately. You still need to do the work to make it happen.

Read more: PR for Small Business: 10 PR Strategies Worth Trying