If you’re feeling stumped about how to write a decent press release boilerplate, you’ve come to the right place, friend. Gather around as I share with you the wisdom and know-how to make your company and your events stand out. Plus, I’m giving you 15 boilerplate examples to make it easy for you to create your own.
A press release boilerplate is a section that goes into each press release that gives journalists a short, high-level summary of the most important information about your company.
The press release boilerplate sits at the bottom of your press release. Companies should have a standard boilerplate ready to go whenever they need it. Think of it as the company’s watermark, but in writing.
Keep reading to learn how to craft an awesome boilerplate.
Elements of a PR Boilerplate
A boilerplate refers to the final paragraph of a press release that states essential information about the company and the brand, its accomplishments, and basic contact information. It also needs to include the company’s website.
Writing a press release boilerplate seems so easy that you might not think twice about it. But you should definitely think twice about it. Maybe even think three or four times about it.
Because the way companies present themselves matters. You have one shot to make a strong first impression. Don’t blow it by writing a messy barely readable press release.
Let’s break down the elements that make a well-written PR boilerplate.
Your Press Release Boilerplate – A Simple Template
You’ve most likely heard about the concept of “the elevator pitch.” This refers to the idea that you should be able to quickly summarize your pitch or your company in thirty seconds, or roughly the length of one elevator ride.
This simple template essentially creates the press release version of an “elevator pitch.” You need to be able to describe your company’s angle and goals in just one sentence. The formula goes like this:
- [Your Business] creates [the thing] to help [your target audience] [solve the problem] with [your company’s unique qualities and strengths].
Writers have room for creativity and spinning a strongly-worded message that turns heads. But this formula should be the blueprint they use when writing the press release boilerplate.
What’s Your PR Boilerplate Angle?
The boilerplate functions as the “About” section at the bottom of your press release. To be able to create the above formula, you’ll want to strategize how you will tell the company’s brand story.
Consider your target audience and what specifically about the company will generate the most interest. When imagining your audience or target consumers, consider their desires, their aspirations, and what sparks their excitement.
How you construct the narrative angle for your boilerplate will impact which of the following components mentioned will be included.
Basic Components of the Press Release Boilerplate
You have many options for deciding what information you want to share in your company boilerplate, or editor’s note. Make sure that the elements you choose work for every press release you send out, as the boilerplate is designed to be the standard for every press release your company sends out .
Consider the following components to make up the content of your boilerplate (note, you do not have to include all of these!):
- Company’s history
- Describe the product or service
- Size of the company
- Brand identity
- Benefits offered by the company
- Company milestones
- Company’s aspirations or overall mission
Basic PR Boilerplate Components Explained
Most of the above bullet points are quite self-explanatory, but let’s briefly describe the less straightforward elements. These components can often be open to interpretation, and writing them well will make a huge difference for the boilerplate.
For the brand identity, the company boilerplate should include the tagline and business logo. You can also write a very brief summary of the brand story in a few sentences.
The size of the company might seem inconsequential but it can quantify aspects of your company that speak to its strengths. For example, a company like IBM might write about the number of employees working globally or the number of cities they have offices in. You can also share key statistical data that demonstrates your company’s influence, how many products are sold, or revenue.
Writing about company milestones provides the opportunity to brag about a company’s major accomplishments or mention rave reviews it’s received. You want to talk a big game here. Don’t be afraid to hype your company up.
Describing a company’s aspirations lets you summarize the company’s projected goals, and what it stands for. It allows writing a quasi-mission statement if you wish to work with that angle.
A well-written boilerplate shouldn’t be more than one hundred words long, so choose the elements purposefully. Be succinct.
Incorporating the Call to Action in a PR Boiler Plate
Decide what action your company wants prospective customers to take. A standard call to action encourages people to visit the company’s website or find them on social media.
Another call to action includes driving customers to buy the product or purchase tickets to the event. You could direct readers to the website in order to obtain more details and updated announcements.
CTA’s also can encourage prospects to reach out to the company directly by phone or email to get connected. See an example of an effective Call to Action below for a made-up company called Global, Inc.
“To find out more information, please visit www.globalinc.org. Make sure to find us on Twitter @officialglobalinc for announcements and news-related happenings.”
The above example clearly and briefly describes what the reader should do next. If you have a strongly written boilerplate and captured their attention, they will want to do this action.
How to Write a Press Release Boiler Plate
Now that we’ve unpacked the most essential elements or a strong boilerplate, you can begin the fun part: writing it. Your company will only have one boilerplate that gets added to the end of every press release, so we cannot overstate its importance. The steps to writing a top-notch boilerplate for all your press releases include these key steps.
Start with the header: About [your company name, brand, the person, etc.)
This immediately tells the reader that you’re going to tell them about yourself, which may not directly fit in with the angle for the rest of the press release.
Mapping Out the Company Boilerplate
This refers to the planning stage or brainstorming process. At this juncture, you sort out what angle you’re writing from. Also, at this point, you decide what necessary information to include that can be applied broadly to every press release sent out.
Position your Company’s Brand Identity or Brand Story
When writing a boilerplate, incorporate key information about your company that highlights your brand identity. The boilerplate should emphasize and illustrate key characteristics of the company, how it stands out among its competitors, or maybe feature major areas of growth and impact.
Use the components listed in the previous sections to use brand storytelling that grabs attention. The most important factor: say less.
Highlight Crucial Data and Statistics
You can have a great story, but you want to have the evidence to back it up. Showing numbers strengthens the claims made about the company. It offers proof or a demonstration.
For example, consider adding a few sentences describing how much money the company made or how it’s grown financially. You could include how many products you’ve sold, or percentages of positive results.
While this isn’t a number, listing any awards won by the company or accolades and special titles could function as a good data point to include.
Inspire Interaction with Your Company Brand
This lines up with constructing the call to action in the text of the boilerplate. After you have demonstrated key aspects of the company’s brand, elaborate on how people might use the brand narrative to be inspired to take action.
In what ways does the company encourage people to engage with the brand? At this point, you tell the reader what they should do next.
Direct Readers to a Landing Page
It would be wise to create a landing page for each business objective, or a landing page designed specifically for members of the press to go for more information. The landing page is more effective than a website’s homepage because, by design, it sets people up to take the desired action.
In the above Call to Action example, we wrote the website as www.globalinc.org. For a landing page, you might write the web address as: www.globalinc.com/press.
Press Release Boilerplate Examples
We realize it’s much easier to write something like a press release if you have examples of how other people have done it. So, here are 15 actual press release boilerplate examples from small businesses who have worked with eReleases.com to write and distribute their press releases:
- Impact Signs was founded in 1989 by Ammar and Shabbir Moosabhoy, a father and son team. Today, the company is a leading architectural sign company, specializing in the design, production, and installation of high-quality dimensional letters, custom logo signs, and metal plaques – nationwide.
- Correlli Incorporated is an all-in-one service provider for the heavy equipment industry. Incorporated in the state of Maryland, the company is licensed and fully insured. President Patrick Correlli and his sons, Ryan and Bill, started Correlli Incorporated on June 1, 1999 as an independent repair shop. The business supports repairs on all makes and models of construction equipment and is now a dealer for many equipment manufacturers.
- At Aveya Beauty we create high quality premium beauty products that are designed to not only maximize your beauty but also to maximize your Confidence and belief as well. Our unique formulations have been used by salon professionals and customers around the world and is now available to you as part of the Aveya Beauty Professional collections.
We have a 100% commitment to ensuring our customers love our products and we back that up with a 100% Money Back Guarantee. If you don’t absolutely love an Aveya Beauty product that you’ve purchased we will give you a 100% refund. - HeartfeltBooks.com launched in 2012 with the mission of empowering people to communicate their deepest thoughts, feelings and memories with those they love. Three years later, the service is honored to have received more than 500 verified 5-star reviews from happy customers (verified thru Yotpo.com). HeartfeltBooks.com has also earned an A+ rating from the BBB (Better Business Bureau). Learn more at http://www.heartfeltbooks.com/.
- Founded in 1987, Global Mobility Solutions is a global corporate relocation services company that specializes in workforce mobility. The company’s corporate services include global assignment management, domestic relocation management and a range of pre-decision solutions. Global Mobility Solutions is a back-to-back winner of HRO Today’s 2014 and 2015 customer satisfaction survey, and rated #1 in the industry for breadth of services.
- Tagoras provides expert strategy, marketing and technology consulting services to organizations in the business of lifelong learning. Clients include associations and other membership organizations, publishers, learning technology companies, training firms, and consultancies.
The firm was founded in 2007 by Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele, seasoned entrepreneurs with a unique blend of experience in marketing, technology, and education. - Envitems is a privately owned Finnish company specializing in air quality measuring instruments. The company is an instrument manufacturer with extensive experience in the electronics industry and the cleantech sector. Envitems designs and manufactures air quality stations that are used to measure the pollutant gas and particle content of ambient air, while also providing customers with associated data services.
- A wellness advocate her entire life, Phiner Dike-Jelden works to educate the public about the preventative health benefits a well-balanced diet can yield. Having grown up in a family that prioritized healthy living and eating, Phiner is eager to share this knowledge with the world. She has made appearances on the Discovery Channel, as well as local PBS, CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX affiliates to her credit. “Phiner Cuisine: Fat Be Gone” is her fourth book.
- The mission of End the Debt is to eradicate the national debt issue by establishing a well-designed, sovereign, debt-free currency – a currency free from the control, ownership, usury, inflation and distribution of bankers. Once established, this sovereign currency will enable the US to cease all borrowing and retire all existing debt so that citizens, residents and visitors can thrive within our borders regardless of current social, educational or economic status.
- SMART Carpet has managed to eliminate all the hassle of buying new carpet and flooring. Our system is simple, everything is done at home – your home – where color and quality selection matter most. Expert measuring is completed before choosing from the thousands of styles and colors that are available.
Because SMART Carpet is a “Mill-Direct” buying service and not a store, our customers can save up to 50% off typical store prices. No store, no expensive overhead costs absorbed into the price of your flooring. Almost everything is included with SMART Carpet, from the measuring and layout to the quality padding. We even move the furniture. - Cancun Whale Shark Tours is a founding member of the Whale Shark Conservation Society, an organization dedicated to the conservation of ocean-going species like the Whale Sharks, Manta Rays, Sea Turtles, Dolphins and Sailfish. Preserving the majesty of the world’s oceans is an important mission by which a percentage of all tour proceeds are dedicated to these efforts.
- The Stem Cell Therapy Network provides a turn-key program that helps physicians build regenerative medicine and cash pay models into their practices. The company offers sales and administration support with a Patient Advocate Network that includes patient concierge, education, sales and scheduling, as well as integrated marketing strategy. Learn more at http://sctnphysicians.com/.
- Founded in 1999 by veteran financial and retirement planner Ken Nuss, AnnuityAdvantage is a leading online provider of fixed-rate, fixed-indexed, and immediate income annuities. Consumers planning for retirement have come to rely on AnnuityAdvantage for individualized, expert recommendations and guaranteed, high-value annuity products that have been thoroughly screened by Nuss and his staff. The company’s client-centered approach allows consumers to find the best mix of annuity products for their unique needs from the hundreds of annuities available through AnnuityAdvantage. There are no fees for the service.
Nuss is an active member of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA), the National Association for Fixed Annuities (NAFA), and the National Ethics Association (NEA). He holds an Oregon insurance consulting license, along with an individual producer license in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Learn more at http://www.annuityadvantage.com or call 1-800-239-0356. - Amazing Solutions is the online shopping site of Premiere Enterprises, a California-based manufacturer and distributor of all-natural, environmentally friendly personal health care products. This small, family-owned company was established more than 20 years ago in Los Angeles. Still headquartered in L.A., the company now has manufacturing laboratories, support and fulfillment centers in New York, New Jersey and Idaho.
Amazing Solutions considers itself an online “boutique,” deliberately choosing to offer a small, select line of highly effective products, rather than a huge inventory of items that vary in value. Every one of its all-herbal formulas was developed by a physician, laboratory researcher, chemist or trained naturopath. All the formulas have been thoroughly tested and found to deliver immediate and powerful results, time after time. Each is sold with a 100% money back guarantee. - Founded in 1987, Global Mobility Solutions is a global corporate relocation services company that specializes in workforce mobility. The company’s corporate services include global assignment management, domestic relocation management and a range of pre-decision solutions. Global Mobility Solutions is a winner of the 2014 HRO Today Customer Satisfaction Survey.
Note that including the contact information for your press contact should also be included in your boilerplate section. Those contact details were removed from the above examples for brevity.
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