So you have a cell phone, a Palm Pilot, an automated office complete with teleconferencing, remote-access, Web site and e-mail addresses. So what? Just because youre always available to the media doesnt mean the media has easy access to your clients. What will your high-tech office be able to do when a reporter wants a press kit at 7 p.m. on a Friday evening? Nothing except hastily prepare the hard copy kit for a costly overnight shipment.

There is a simple way to eliminate the need for keeping a large inventory of hard copy press kits and reduce your dependency on the shipping company guy: publish your clients press kits online.

Making the move from hard copies to press kits published online that are always-accessible is essential in todays age of e-mail. The corporate world lives by e-mail; reporters and other media professionals are no different. These people are busy and time is always of the essence when theyve got deadlines breathing down their necks. The decision to use your client in a story instead of someone else is contingent on whose information is easiest to get. If it takes all night for your clients press kit to reach their desk, you might get bumped.

I know what youre saying right now. But, Drew, I e-mail my clients press materials to the media. Well, thats great, but just because reporters use e-mail doesnt mean they open every strangers message that arrives in their inbox and it especially doesnt mean that they even bother opening your attachments. Why? Because its too risky.

First of all, everyone knows not to open an e-mail from someone you dont know; especially if theres an attachment. This is e-mail safety 101. Strange e-mails with attachments usually mean one thing: virus. At least, thats the take of most businesss firewalls and anti-virus protection systems. You may think youre making waves by mass e-mailing your media lists with attached press releases, but how many calls are you getting back? Not many, since your important e-mail has been tossed out with the wasser worm and those annoying enlargement e-mails.

So whats the solution? Reject technology and start snail-mailing and faxing again? No. Embrace technology and publish your press kits online.

Now, an online press kit is not a Web site. Dont be confused by the term online. Though an online press kit can be displayed online and present information like a Web site, it is really a virtual folder or briefcase that allows you to upload and store your press materials on the Internet. Once in your online press kit folder, these documents and images can be distributed as links not attachments.

When you prepare your sharp, concise e-mail pitch to the media, you simply insert links to your clients press kits. When the reporter clicks the link, the document can be opened and saved on their computer. It opens like an attachment, but the documents themselves live online. Instead of piling them onto your e-mail, youre simply providing directions (a link) to get to them. They become part of the e-mail message, so a media outlets virus protection system wont automatically kick it out of the system.

Virtually anything can be uploaded to an online press kit: press releases, high-resolution images, video and audio clips, graphics and more. Plus, since you have control over your online press kits, you can always be sure theyre up to date.

Now youre thinking Wow, these things sound great, but I bet they are expensive. Not necessarily. Though there are online press kit programs available that cost into the thousands, they usually include extra features you dont really need and will probably never use. Think of the online press kit market as the binder or folder aisle at your favorite office supply store. Sure there are binders with all kinds of extras, but you pass those by for what you need and the price you can live with.

Face it technology is only going to get better and faster. Dont be left in its dust trying to wave down that brown truck with your emergency overnight press kit. By going online with your clients press kits, youre not only making them easy to access, but easy to cover by the media. The media loves that and so will your clients.