A media or press kit is important for any ministry’s communication strategy, but do you have one? Actually, do you know what a press kit is? Wikipedia defines it as such:

A press kit, often referred to as a media kit in business environments, is a pre-packaged set of promotional materials of a person, company, or organization distributed to members of the media for promotional use. They are often distributed to announce a release or for a news conference.

Press or media kits can also be a resource used by media organisations when they want to find out more about your organisation. This information can be used for background for a story or when information is needed quickly. After doing a quick search I actually found that I can not find any YWAM locations that have an up to date press or media kit (if I missed one, please let me know in the comments below).

What should your Media / Press Kit Include?

What should be included in your organisations digital press kit varies depending on who you ask and what the kit is for. Here is what I believe should be included in a press kit for your ministry:

1. Short description of your ministry (under 30 words)
2. Medium description of your ministry (about 100 words)
3. Long description of your ministry (200 – 500 words)
4. High quality Logo images for print and web
5. Short “Elevator pitch” type video about your ministry (30-60 seconds)
6. Extended promotional video
7. Contact Information
8. Biographies of ministry leaders including photos of individuals
9. Outside endorsements
10. Previous media stories

What your press kit includes depends also on what it is for. What I listed above was for your overall ministry press kit, but you can also produce press kits for special events or products. Some of the additional items you may wish to include in this type of press kits are:

• Print brochure for download and sharing
• Tour schedule
• Sample downloads of music tracks if the product is a CD
• A sample chapter if the product is a book

Update (June 27)

After some discussion over on Facebook here are two other items that have been requested by media organisations contacting YWAM ministry locations:

• High quality / resolution images of ministry in action
• Downloadable interview style sound bytes for radio (no music or background sounds)

Samples of Christian Non-Profit Media Press Kit Items

There are a few good examples that I found online of quality digital media press elements. I will grab some examples to show here, and include links to the digital kits below:

Sample short promo video

Introduction to Samaritan’s Purse.

Sample extended promo video

Mercy Ministries Promo Video

Sample print brochure for a ministry tour

Other resources for developing your Media Press Kit

Resources to help you create your digital media kit

• Michael Hyatt – How to Create the Ultimate Online Media Kit
• Inc. – How to Put Together a Press Kit

Ministry digital press kits

• Samaritan’s Purse digital newsroom
• Salvation Army Press Kit
• Mercy Church and Media Kit
• Christ for All Nations Official Press Kit

Photo by Anonymous Account

Bryan Bishop begins this talk by asking if most people would say that they love or hate writing? His answer, both!

Watch his one hour talk on the importance of writing in missions to find out why his answer was both, and to gain a greater understanding of why communication in mission is so important:

So, do you love or hate writing?