Boilerplate: This may be the most important paragraph you will write about your company.

You have most likely seen it, but may not have known what it was called or its origin. So, what is it? In public relations, the boilerplate is the last paragraph of a press release that describes the company product, service or brand featured. This should contain facts about the company (e.g.,where are you based, what do you do, private/public, services, clients, awards), as well as some compelling information, your mission, positioning (first brand to do such and such). In the digital age, it should also contain hyperlinks to your website and/or social media profiles. Plainly, it’s the “About Us” section that is copy and pasted onto every press release, fact sheet and any additional marketing communications materials —even on your company’s LinkedIn and social media profiles. So where did this term come from? The term boilerplate actually dates back to the 1800s when manufacturers of steam boilers would attach a metal plate on their boilers as a sort of trademark so people would know who made the boiler and where it was made. In the early newspaper days, they had “boilerplates” or actually printing plates for each company they covered regularly, so they could easily include the company’s background with stories they wrote. This saved time in the printing process. The term stuck. Here’s an example of a boilerplate for our client, Liebherr: About Liebherr Driven by innovation and characterized by sophisticated, elegant design, Germany-based Liebherr Corporation brings the best of Europe to the refrigeration category in North America. Visit www.liebherr-appliances.com to view Liebherr’s full product line of freestanding, built-in and fully integrated refrigeration and wine and humidor cigar storage units. Find out all the other terms you might not know.