What should a press kit and boilerplate contain?

A press kit should contain the verified facts, source material, contact details, and rights-cleared assets that the proposed PR work will actually use. The boilerplate is the approved company description reused across controlled materials. Commission both as maintained company assets: put their evidence, permissions, access, approval, update cadence, and exit delivery in the scope of work.

Commission the assets the program will actually use

Require the provider to map every requested asset to a planned use. Product reviews may need specifications and licensed images. Research campaigns need methodology and limitations. Corporate announcements need approved facts and primary documents.

Use an inventory and gap assessment to decide what the provider will create or revise. Exclude assets with no credible planned use.

Publishing a kit is controlled company communication. Independent coverage remains an editor's decision and is not an endorsement. Treat any paid placement, sponsorship, or publisher-produced content as a separate opportunity with its own budget and disclosure review.

Acceptance requires evidence, rights, and a named owner

Inspect the proposed kit against acceptance criteria rather than approving a folder because it looks polished.

The company approves the truth and permitted use of its claims. A provider can collect evidence and flag gaps, but should not become the final fact or risk owner. When kit language also appears in advertising, the FTC's small-business guidance says objective express and implied claims need evidence before publication. Regulated, public-company, health, financial, and safety claims may need specialist review.

Asset rights must survive the engagement

Require the agreement to distinguish ownership, assignment, and limited licenses. Photography, research, design files, stock assets, and customer logos can carry different terms. The U.S. Copyright Office explains that specially commissioned work qualifies as work made for hire only in specified circumstances, including an express written agreement. Route contract language and cross-border questions to counsel.

Acceptance should cover usable formats. Ask for editable files when the company paid for reusable work, plus exports, credits, licenses, releases, and captions. For public web assets, use the W3C image guidance to evaluate meaningful text alternatives.

Rights-cleared does not mean safe to publish. Keep unreleased product details, private contact information, customer data, security-sensitive material, and restricted assets behind company-controlled access. Plan around an embargo as a timing request. Handle sensitive disclosures through the news-timing decision.

Boilerplate changes when the underlying company changes

Approve the boilerplate as a controlled claim set, with a version owner and a record of where it is in use. Each sentence should remain accurate for the named legal entity, product, geography, and audience. Multi-brand companies may need separate versions, while a financing, acquisition, leadership change, rebrand, product sunset, correction, or expired certification should trigger review.

The communications owner maintains the canonical copy and storage account. Fact owners approve their domains, legal or compliance owns material risk, and the provider handles updates only within scope. Use the approval workflow to set review times and backups.

At exit, retain the canonical kit, editable originals, source links, version history, approvals, permissions, licenses, account access, and published locations. Compare that package with what the company should keep before approving the final invoice.

Funding disclosure. PressFriendly sells PR strategy and media-relations services. That commercial interest makes clear company ownership and portable deliverables especially important in our scope recommendations.