Company Background
Writing a company history page can be valuable for all of your future press kits. This background details your company's beginnings - where you've been and where you're going. Be sure to update it with recent accomplishments and other good news in your history.
Executive Bios
A new CEO. A new PR person. New company launch. New members on your board of directors. Even a press kit about a company merger.
Executive bios, along with high-resolution images, give the editor much-needed background information about the people behind the company. Some publications print a bio word for word so write the bio in the third person point of view rather than first person point of view.
Quote Sheet
Your media contact's info should be very easy for any editor to find for additional questions about your press kit. But a quote sheet can also be used to give busy editors quotes they need to complete an article without tracking down a company's PR person.
A quote sheet can feature quotes from your executives, product developers, even the PR contact. One sheet of quotes can answer the most obvious questions an editor's likely to have and can be put in a quote that sounds professional and informative. You want each quote to look good on paper since that quote could be used verbatim in print.
Images
Is an image relevant to your press kit? If so, be sure it's a high-resolution image.
A 5x7 photo is large enough to be scanned, cropped and scaled down to any publication's needs. A high-res image on a disk can drive up the cost of your press kit but it's also an alternative if you have a large amount of photos to distribute.
You can also include high-res images on your Web site for the media to download as well. Just be sure to include the direct link to your image gallery in your press kit materials.
CD, DVD, Software and Video
These materials can be costly when you're creating press kits in mass numbers. Are they required? No. How effective they are depends on what you're trying to get coverage on.
If you're creating a press kit for a band, a demo CD is going to get you more mileage in a press kit than just a press release announcing the music. If you're trying to get coverage for your company's video games, a CD that has several demo versions of your new titles is a much better way to get an editor's interest than five press releases. If you've just opened up a new manufacturing facility and you're sending your materials to editors/reporters too far away to travel for a tour, a DVD can offer a video tour of the facility.
However, you should always consider the costs. If it's not something that's going to benefit the editor/reporter and, ultimately, be able to show up in free coverage, then it's probably not worth doing. In other words, even though you want to show off your shiny new toys at your manufacturing facility in this example, if you can simply announce the opening and talk about the plant's cutting edge technology in an appealing way on paper, then save your money on fancy DVDs.