A press release boilerplate is the short, reusable company description that usually appears near the end of a press release. If you are wondering what is a boilerplate in a press release, think of it as the standard “About [Company]” section that tells journalists who the organization is, what it does, and why it is relevant.
In PR, a boilerplate is standardized corporate background copy. The term “boilerplate” is also used in software, law, and other fields to describe reusable or standardized material, but this guide focuses specifically on the boilerplate press release format.
A good boilerplate gives journalists useful context without turning the end of a press release into a sales pitch.
A press release boilerplate is a reusable company overview placed near the end of a release. It normally explains what the company does, whom it serves, where it operates, and where readers can find official information.
What Is a Boilerplate in a Press Release?
A press release boilerplate is standardized background information about the organization issuing the release. It gives journalists a compact company overview so they can understand the source of the announcement without searching through the company’s entire website.
This also answers variations such as what is a boilerplate in press release, what is a boilerplate for a press release, and what is the boilerplate in a press release. They all refer to the reusable corporate description included in press materials.
A typical boilerplate text may explain:
- what the company or organization does;
- which customers, industries, or communities it serves;
- where it is based or operates;
- when it was founded, if relevant;
- one or two useful and verifiable facts;
- where readers can find official company information.
The section is often introduced with “About [Company]”.
It serves a narrower purpose than a full About Us page. An About Us page can cover history, leadership, culture, products, values, and other detailed information. A boilerplate extracts only the information that helps a media reader understand the organization behind the news.
A media boilerplate should therefore work as a reference point, not as an advertisement. A journalist unfamiliar with the company should be able to read it and quickly understand what kind of organization is speaking.
For the rest of the release—from the headline and dateline to the body and closing elements—see PR Turkey’s guide on how to write a press release.
What Is Meant by a Boilerplate?
A boilerplate is standardized material designed to be reused with little or no change. The term is also used for reusable code in software development and standardized language in legal documents. In PR, however, a boilerplate statement normally refers to the recurring company description included in press materials.
The distinction matters because a generic search for “boilerplate definition” can refer to several unrelated concepts. In public relations, the purpose is much more specific: provide consistent corporate context alongside an announcement.
What Does “Boilerplate” Mean in Journalism?
In journalism and newsroom-related PR work, a boilerplate is a standardized company description that can accompany repeated communications from the same organization. It provides background on the source of the announcement rather than explaining the announcement itself.
That distinction helps keep the press release structure clear.
The headline, lead, dateline, quotes, and body communicate the news. The boilerplate identifies the organization behind it.
For example, if a technology company announces a new product, the main body should explain the product launch. The boilerplate should explain what the technology company itself does.
What Does “Boilerplate” Mean in Marketing?
In marketing, boilerplate can refer more broadly to reusable approved copy such as an About Us description, mission statement, corporate introduction, or required legal text.
In PR, the use is narrower. The company boilerplate is usually a concise corporate description designed to accompany press materials.
Marketing and PR teams can work from the same approved company facts, but a media-facing boilerplate should prioritize factual context over promotional language.
Where Does the Boilerplate Go in a Press Release?
The boilerplate normally appears toward the end of the release, after the main news content. If someone asks what is a boilerplate on a press release, its location is one of the easiest ways to recognize it: the section is separated from the actual announcement and presented as company background.
There is not one universal closing format followed by every company, newsroom, or distribution platform.
Two structures you may encounter are:
| Structure A | Structure B |
|---|---|
| Main release body | Main release body |
| Boilerplate | ### |
| Media contact | Boilerplate |
| ### | Media contact |
The “###” mark is traditionally used to signal the end of a press release, although current formatting varies between organizations and distribution systems.
The important point is clarity. The reader should be able to distinguish the news story, company description, media contact, and closing elements.
So, where does the boilerplate go in a press release? Near the end, after the substantive announcement.
And where does the boilerplate go on a press release? Its exact position relative to contact information and the closing mark can follow the organization’s established template or the requirements of the distribution channel.
If you are also deciding how the finished release will reach journalists, PR Turkey’s guide explaining what a newswire is provides useful context on the distribution side of the process.
How Long Should a Press Release Boilerplate Be?
A press release boilerplate should be short enough to scan quickly but detailed enough to identify and contextualize the organization.
There is no single word count that works for every company, industry, or distribution platform. Length should follow function rather than an arbitrary number.
A useful editing test is:
| Keep | Usually remove |
|---|---|
| Core business | Generic praise |
| Relevant market | Complete product catalogue |
| Useful company fact | Repeated claims |
| Location or geographic context | Long company history |
| Official website | Internal terminology |
| Relevant scale information | Unsupported superlatives |
A young specialist company may need only a compact paragraph.
A multinational entering a new market may need an additional sentence explaining its global presence and another clarifying what it is doing locally.
The goal is not to compress the company’s entire About Us page into one paragraph. It is to give journalists enough context to understand the organization before deciding whether they need additional research.
What Should a Company Boilerplate Include?
A company boilerplate should contain the minimum set of facts required to identify the organization accurately.
The exact information will vary by company, but the following elements provide a useful starting point.
1. Company identity
State the official or commonly used company name and business category clearly.
A reader should not need to infer whether the organization is a technology company, manufacturer, consultancy, nonprofit, retailer, or another type of organization.
2. Core activity
Explain what the organization actually does.
Avoid descriptions built entirely from brand positioning language. “Provides supply-chain planning services to manufacturers” communicates more than “delivers innovative solutions for tomorrow’s businesses.”
3. Audience or market
Explain whom the organization serves when this adds meaningful context.
This could be consumers, manufacturers, financial institutions, healthcare providers, local communities, or another clearly defined audience.
4. Relevant company background
A founding year, headquarters location, or geographic footprint may be useful when it helps establish context.
Not every company needs all three.
5. A meaningful, verifiable fact
A relevant figure, specialization, geographic presence, or other defining fact can strengthen the description if it helps readers understand the company.
Only use information that can be verified.
6. Official website
Give journalists and readers a clear route to additional corporate information.
Not every boilerplate needs every element above. A nonprofit may prioritize its mission and communities served. A B2B technology company may need to explain an unfamiliar technical category. A foreign brand entering Turkey may need to clarify both its global business and its local presence.
The key question is simple: Does this information help an outside reader understand the organization?
If not, it may belong on the About Us page instead.
How to Write a Boilerplate for a Press Release
If you are researching how to write a boilerplate, start with verified company facts rather than brand adjectives.
A useful boilerplate establishes the company category immediately, explains its activity in plain language, and adds only the background information that helps journalists understand the organization.
1. Start with a clear company description
The first sentence should answer three questions:
Who is the company? What does it do? Who does it serve?
A simple framework is:
“[Company] is a [category] company that [does what] for [audience or market].”
This provides a factual foundation before additional company information is introduced.
2. Add context that changes understanding
A founding year, headquarters, geographic reach, or verified scale figure can follow when relevant.
Do not add numbers simply because they appear in a corporate presentation.
If the information does not help an outside reader understand the company, it probably does not belong in the boilerplate.
3. Use third person
A press release boilerplate is normally more reusable when written in third person.
For example:
“Northstar Grid develops…”
rather than:
“We develop…”
Third-person copy can be reused across releases and external media materials without changing perspective.
4. Remove unsupported superlatives
Words such as “leading,” “best,” “revolutionary,” and “world-class” should not replace evidence.
Compare:
| Promotional wording | Factual alternative |
|---|---|
| A leading innovator | A software company |
| World-class services | Advisory services |
| Revolutionary platform | Cloud-based platform |
| Industry-leading solutions | Supply-chain software |
If a positioning claim cannot be supported or clearly attributed, factual language is safer and more useful.
5. Keep core facts consistent
Company name, founding year, headquarters, market description, and approved corporate figures should not change between releases without a reason.
A communications team can maintain one approved master boilerplate and create shorter and longer versions from the same factual source.
This is especially useful when several internal or external people produce corporate communications. For a broader explanation of how these responsibilities can be structured, PR Turkey’s What Is a PR Team? article can be linked here once its current canonical URL is confirmed.
6. Review the boilerplate regularly
Companies change.
They enter new markets, open offices, update websites, change product categories, acquire businesses, and revise their corporate positioning.
A scheduled review at least once a year is a practical internal process, with additional updates whenever an important company fact changes.
7. Maintain short and long approved versions
Not every communication channel has the same space or editorial needs.
Instead of rewriting the company description from scratch each time, teams can maintain:
- a short boilerplate;
- a standard press release version;
- a longer corporate background version.
The wording does not need to be identical. The underlying facts and positioning should remain consistent.
Boilerplate Examples and Press Release Boilerplate Examples
A useful boilerplate example demonstrates structure without encouraging companies to copy another organization’s claims.
The following press release boilerplate examples use fictional companies. They are intentionally marked as fictional and should be adapted using verified company information.
What Is a Boilerplate Example?
A boilerplate example is a sample standardized company description showing how an organization can summarize its identity, activity, and relevant background for repeated use. For example, a fictional software company might identify its product category, customer group, headquarters, and official website in one concise paragraph.
Technology company — fictional example
About Northstar Grid
Northstar Grid is a fictional company that develops energy-management software for commercial property operators. Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Amsterdam, the company provides monitoring and reporting tools for teams managing multi-site property portfolios. More information is available at [fictional website].
This company boilerplate example establishes the category, activity, audience, founding year, and headquarters without making unsupported claims about market leadership.
Services or consulting company — fictional example
About Meridian Bridge Advisory
Meridian Bridge Advisory is a fictional consulting company supporting manufacturers with market research, supply-chain planning, and international expansion projects. The firm works with mid-sized and multinational businesses across selected European markets. More information is available at [fictional website].
Notice that this example does not include a founding year. A boilerplate does not need to fill every possible field if the information does not improve the description.
Nonprofit organization — fictional example
About Open Coast Foundation
Open Coast Foundation is a fictional nonprofit organization supporting coastal education and community-led marine conservation projects. The organization works with schools, researchers, and local groups to develop educational programs and public resources. More information is available at [fictional website].
For a nonprofit, mission and beneficiaries may provide more useful context than commercial positioning.
Foreign brand entering Turkey — fictional example
About LumaHome
LumaHome is a fictional European home-technology company developing connected energy and climate-control products for residential use. Founded in 2016, the company operates across selected European markets. LumaHome entered the Turkish market in [year] through [verified local operating model]. More information is available at [fictional website].
The final sentence separates global corporate identity from Turkey-specific context. That can be useful when an international brand needs to explain why a global announcement is relevant to the Turkish market.
For product announcements, the boilerplate should remain separate from the actual launch story. PR Turkey’s product launch press release guide explains how the announcement itself can be structured while the boilerplate remains reusable company background.
The same principle applies to event communications. Event details belong in the body of the release, while the corporate description remains a separate closing element. See PR Turkey’s event press release examples for the broader format.
Press Release Boilerplate Template
A press release boilerplate template should be treated as a drafting framework rather than finished copy.
Replace the placeholders with verified company information and remove anything that does not help an outside reader understand the organization.
About [Company]
[Company] is a [company category] that [what the company does] for [customer/audience]. Founded in [year] and headquartered in [location], the company [relevant operating context, specialization, or verified scale information]. [Optional sentence explaining a relevant market presence, mission, or differentiator using verifiable language.] Learn more at [website].
This boilerplate template can also be shortened for channels with limited space.
For example:
About [Company]
[Company] is a [category] company providing [product/service] to [audience]. The company operates in [relevant markets/location]. Learn more at [website].
The template should not force every company into the same structure. A useful boilerplate reflects what is actually important about the organization.
How Should a Press Release Boilerplate Be Adapted for Turkey?
An international company sending a press release to Turkey may need more than a direct translation of its global boilerplate.
The practical question is whether a Turkish reader receives enough context to understand both the company globally and what its presence in Turkey means.
Consider maintaining English and Turkish versions
A company communicating with both international and Turkish-language media can maintain an English master boilerplate and a professionally localized Turkish version.
Localization should preserve:
- official company names;
- verified company facts;
- approved figures;
- legal or corporate terminology where relevant;
- the actual meaning of the global positioning.
It should not simply translate idioms or promotional phrases word for word.
A practical framework is:
| Global company context | Turkey-specific context |
|---|---|
| Company category | Local activity |
| Core business | Market-entry or presence status |
| Headquarters | Relevant local entity |
| International footprint | Local operating model |
| Global website | Turkish website/contact if applicable |
Explain the company’s Turkish activity clearly
An international company’s global boilerplate may not explain what it actually does in Turkey.
A separate verified sentence can solve that problem:
“[Company] began operations in Turkey in [year] and serves [verified customer or market description] through [verified operating model].”
This sentence should only be used when those details have been confirmed.
Avoid implying that the company has a Turkish subsidiary, office, team, distribution network, or other local structure unless that information is accurate.
Give international readers enough context about Turkish companies
Turkish companies writing for international media face the reverse problem.
A company type, location, sector term, or scale figure that is obvious to a domestic reader may require explanation for an international audience.
For example, ask:
- Will an international journalist understand the company’s business category?
- Does a Turkish legal company designation require explanation or translation?
- Is a geographic reference meaningful outside Turkey?
- Does a domestic market position need supporting context?
- Are local figures being presented in a way an international reader can understand?
The goal is not to make the boilerplate longer. It is to remove assumptions that only a domestic reader would understand.
Match the language to the recipient
There is no reliable basis for claiming that every Turkish journalist expects an English boilerplate or that every Turkish press release must use a bilingual format.
Language choice can depend on the publication, journalist, announcement, target audience, and distribution method.
For broader international market-entry communications, PR Turkey’s PR checklist for doing business in Turkey provides additional points to review before adapting and distributing press materials.
Common Press Release Boilerplate Mistakes
Most weak boilerplates have the same underlying problem: they try to sell the company instead of explaining it.
Common mistakes include:
- making the paragraph unnecessarily long;
- filling it with promotional adjectives;
- leaving outdated company information in approved copy;
- using conflicting company descriptions across different channels;
- switching to first person without a deliberate reason;
- using unsupported “leading,” “best,” or similar claims;
- listing every product and service;
- copying the entire About Us section;
- using internal company terminology that journalists may not understand;
- translating a global boilerplate literally when local context is needed.
A useful editing question is:
Would a journalist learn a relevant, verifiable fact from this sentence?
If the answer is no, the sentence may not belong in the boilerplate.
Boilerplate PR, Links, and SEO
A boilerplate PR section can include an official company website when the link provides journalists and readers with a clear route to further information.
Company naming should also remain consistent. If the organization uses one official brand spelling, repeatedly changing the name or abbreviation across releases can create unnecessary ambiguity.
Links should serve the reader first.
Avoid turning the boilerplate into a collection of keyword-rich links or repeatedly linking the same commercial pages.
The boilerplate’s primary function remains corporate identification and context. Clear and consistent company information can support broader entity clarity across corporate communications, but the boilerplate should not be treated as a guaranteed SEO ranking mechanism.
Likewise, links from distributed releases should not automatically be treated as guaranteed ranking gains or guaranteed valuable backlinks.
Write the section for journalists and readers first.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does every press release need a boilerplate?
Not necessarily. A boilerplate is common because it gives readers quick context about the organization behind an announcement, but formatting requirements vary between companies and distribution channels. It is particularly useful when the company may be unfamiliar to the journalists or audiences receiving the release.
Can I change the boilerplate for each release?
Yes, but core company facts should remain consistent. A company can maintain an approved master version and adjust emphasis for a specific market, audience, or business unit. Changes should provide relevant context rather than cause the company’s identity, scale, or positioning to shift unpredictably between announcements.
Should the boilerplate include links?
It can. The official company website is usually the most useful link because it gives journalists a clear destination for additional information. Other links should have a specific purpose. Avoid turning a short company description into a list of promotional URLs or keyword-focused links.
How often should I update it?
Review the boilerplate regularly and whenever a material company fact changes. An annual review is a practical internal checkpoint, but major changes such as a new company name, headquarters, website, market presence, business model, or operating footprint should trigger an earlier review.
What is the difference between a boilerplate and an About Us page?
A boilerplate is a compact, reusable company description written for press materials. An About Us page can be much broader, covering history, leadership, culture, mission, products, milestones, and other background. A boilerplate extracts only the context most useful to a media reader.
Do Turkish journalists expect an English boilerplate?
It depends on the publication, journalist, release, and intended audience. International or English-language media may work with English materials, while Turkish-language outlets may benefit from localized copy. Rather than assume one format, communications teams should match the language to the intended recipient and distribution context.
Conclusion
A press release boilerplate should answer one basic question for a journalist: Who is the organization behind this news?
The strongest boilerplates are concise, factual, reusable, and specific enough to distinguish the company without turning corporate background into advertising.
Start with what the company does. Add only the background that changes the reader’s understanding. Use verifiable information, write in third person, keep the core facts consistent, and update the text when the company changes.
For international brands communicating in Turkey, there is an additional layer: context. A global company description may need a localized Turkish version or a verified sentence explaining the company’s activity in the Turkish market.
PR Turkey supports international and Turkey-focused corporate communications.
