I am often asked to write news releases for new clients. When gathering the information for the news release, I will ask the client for their company’s boilerplate. Unfortunately, for many companies, an official boilerplate is non-existent. A boilerplate is the “About Us” paragraph that is consistently used as the company’s official short bio.
Boilerplates most commonly appear at the end of a news release, and it is a brief official description of the company; however, boilerplates can also be used in multiple other ways.
Company website
LinkedIn company page profile
Tradeshow profiles
Printed materials / brochures
Speaker submission forms / Speaker bios
Award submission forms
Online directories
Official government documents
Event promo
Advertising
Etc.
Make sure you have a well-thought out boilerplate for your company (or your clients). It is not a good idea to throw one together at the last minute because you have a news release that is about to be published. A boilerplate should be about three to five short sentences.
A boilerplate will serve as your written elevator speech that can be used over and over.
A good boilerplate should include:
You company name
Company location (city, state)
Company’s mission
Something noteworthy about your company.
A single sentence that describes what your company does.
Link to your website or social media accounts.
Below is an example of our boilerplate.
SowGrow Public Relations turns your B2B company into a force that cannot be ignored by the media, your competition and the buyers you want to attract. The firm specializes in increasing the top line revenue of B2B companies with complex or high-investment products or services. Since 2006, clients have been featured by hundreds of media outlets including CNN, Fox Business News, Entrepreneur, Forbes, Harvard Business Review, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, Wall Street Journal, and a myriad of trade publications. For more information, visit www.SowGrowPR.com.
Don’t neglect the boilerplate. It is a powerful tool!