🔒How To: Create your company’s media fact sheet

I have written in the past about creating an online media room. The most essential element of the online media room is your media fact sheet, so I decided to provide further detail on how to create one.

If you want the media to cover your company or organization, it's a good idea to be prepared before they call. Having a media fact sheet, or “fast facts” listing, on your website makes it easier for journalists to gather the data they need for a story. It also eliminates the need for them to waste time asking you a lot of tedious questions when they could be getting great quotes or sound bites. Having such a document is also a signal to the media that you are friendly to their inquiries, and you are professional in your approach to dealing with them. This creates some good will, or as I sometimes call it, a deposit in your PR bank account.

The more you send out press releases and engage with the media, the more inquiries you will get for information from various media outlets. Typically, editors or reporters will request a media kit or a press kit. A media fact sheet is the foundation of such a kit. Journalists like to have accurate information, data and details for their stories. You also want to use it to differentiate your organization from your competitors, so if you have a unique training program for your employees, or a special rewards program for customers, be sure to include the details.

The fact sheet provides the 'who, what, when, where, why and how' of your business or organization. If you gather this information in one document, it will be valuable not only to the media but also to your management and employees when they are crafting documents and promotional materials.

Here are the recommended elements. This is a general outline and can be tweaked according to your industry or specific company facts. It is not set in stone that the fact sheet must contain each of these items.

• Company/organizational summary or overview: Formula: XYZ Company does this, for these people/customers/clients, so they can do this. For example, Maine Trucking Co. ships large palettes of manufactured goods to buyers throughout the Northeast so small to medium manufacturing companies avoid the cost of purchasing their own trucks and can broaden their distribution and increase their sales.

• History: Include the founding date, date of the IPO, when the company was bought or sold, if applicable.

• General Information: Locations, number of employees, annual revenue, ticker symbol and stock exchange.

• Mission/Vision

• Products or client offerings: Provide a bulleted list.

• Executive management and/or ownership: Include head shots (ideally, they would be high resolution downloadable images) of the CEO, president and other frontline employees.

• Special recognition or awards: List the organizations that presented/sponsored the awards, the dates bestowed and what they were for.

• Extras: Include a downloadable logo file, iconic photos of your business, product shots.

• Media contact: Don't forget this. Name, title, email address, office and cell numbers, Twitter handle, web address.

Having a fact sheet like this sends a signal to the media that you are ready and able to work with them quickly and efficiently. Typically, the media is on deadline and needs information right away. The easier you make it for them, and the more information you provide in this fact sheet, the more likely that a story on your business or organization will be accurate. It will go a long way in creating a positive good will balance in your PR bank account.

Nancy Marshall, CEO of Augusta-based Nancy Marshall Communications (marshallpr.com), can be reached at nancy@prmaven.com