What To Include in a Media Kit? Ultimate Guide

Introduction:

In today’s cluttered media landscape, it can be hard to stand out, especially if you have your brand, business, or company.

You may have cultivated an excellent personal brand, developed a beautiful line of products, or launched a fantastic company. Still, without being able to promote yourself, all your efforts will be for naught.

Promoting yourself and putting yourself out, there can be daunting.

Maybe you and your business have experienced incredible professional success or won an award, and you want to get your name and your company out to the media.

Or maybe you are an aspiring social media influencer who is looking to build your followers and establish your brand in a crowded marketplace.

Perhaps you are beginning to be contacted by brands looking to collaborate, or maybe you are wanting to put yourself out there looking for promotional opportunities.

No matter what situation you find yourself in, a media kit that you have pre-prepared and ready to go will help you and your brand be able to put your best foot forward from the get-go.

What is a media kit, and why should you have one?

A media kit refers to a collection of documents and items that you would need to give to the media to promote yourself, your brand, or your company.

A media kit helps to showcase your business and advertises how you can collaborate with the media, as well as other brands and companies.

 Journalists and writers are busy, with many competing stories vying for their attention. If they get a well put together media pack, it makes their job more comfortable and will make them more open to working with you.

If a great opportunity presents itself for you to promote your business or brand, the last thing you want to do is sit there at your laptop, trying desperately to think of the best way to showcase your business.

All the time that you’d be spending trying to craft an impressive bio, and source high-quality promotional images, could be better spent making sure you are closing that deal, and moving your business forward

When you create a media kit, you are pre-empting situations such as these.

Instead of last-minute panic, you can send off your media kit, safe in the knowledge that everything needed to promote your business is included.

You can sit back and relax, thanking your past self, that you were so well organized.

What do you include in your media kit?

It can feel overwhelming knowing what to include, but if you follow the ideas listed below, you will be well on your way to having an excellent and professional media kit that makes you stand out from the crowd.

Remember, you want to promote your business or brand, while at the same time put yourself forward as an attractive prospect for potential collaborators to work with you.

Contact details

Make sure you don’t forget to include these!

You could put together the most impressive media kit, but if you forget to include your contact details, you could be missing out on fantastic opportunities.

You don’t want to waste the time of potential collaborators trying to track down your email address or phone number so you can start working together.

Your contact details must be visible as part of your media kit, it’s a courtesy, and makes you look Incredibly professional

It can be a good idea to put your phone number and email address in a header or footer on each page of your media kit to ensure it is easily accessible.

Social Media Handles

In this digital age, brands and businesses need to have an active social media presence.

Whether on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or any other social media site, a good profile allows clients to see who you are and have an insight into your brand or business.

Therefore, it is essential that you include your social media handles as part of your media kit.

Potential clients and collaborators can then quickly look you up online, and get a good sense of who you are, and how a collaboration between you and them would work.

About you/short bio

Research shows that people feel more connected to brands or businesses if they can connect to a personal story.

Having an “About Me” section, or a short bio as part of your media kit allows potential clients to be able to connect to your story and get an idea of the person you are behind the brand.

It is tempting just to list off several facts about yourself, but make sure you build a compelling narrative about how you came to create your brand or business, to excite clients to want to be a part of your story.

Don’t be afraid to inject some of your personality in your bio, but make sure it is still professional.

This allows potential clients to see the type of person you are and can help them decide if you are a great fit to work together.

Headshot

A good, professional-looking headshot allows potential clients to put a face to your brand and business and can help them feel more connected and therefore be more likely to want to work with you.

Make sure that the image is high quality, high resolution, and that you have copyright permission to use it.

Make sure your headshot conveys the tone that you want for your brand.

If you are a financial services company, you might want a more corporate style headshot, while if you are a beauty or fitness blogger, you would want a headshot that connects with the ethos of your brand.

The Story of Your Business

Just as people wan to connect to the story of you, they also want to connect to the account of your brand or business.

By providing an overview of the history of your brand or business, you not only create interest and forge a connection, but you also show something of your ethos and your mission.

This can be a powerful way to promote your brand and helps potential clients see if your brand is something they can get on board with.

Don’t list off-dry facts, instead build up a compelling narrative that highlights what makes your brand or business unique.

If potential collaborators can see themselves as being part of your story and being on board with your mission and ethos, you are well on your way to securing a collaboration.

Your Team

If your brand or business has more than one person, it is a good idea to also provide short bios and headshots for the other team members.

This gives a more rounded overview of your brand or business, as well as suggesting further avenues for collaboration.

It is also a valuable way to let your team know that they are an integral part of your vision for your brand or business.

Images

Do you have excellent photos relating to your product, brand, or business?

By including these in your media kit, you give potential clients an excellent visual overview of your brand and allow them to gain a fuller understanding of how you might work together. 

By supplying this upfront, you also save yourself having to scramble later to find suitable images when the client asks for them.

Make sure any images you include are high quality, high-resolution images that you hold the copyright for.

Media release

A central part of the success of your media kit is including a media release.

If you have exciting news you want to share about your brand, a new product you want to promote, or you’ve won an award, a media release will help you to spread the word.

A media release is an official statement that you send out as part of your media kit with all the information that you want people to know about your great news.

Make sure your media release is well written, catchy, and include all the essential points about your great news.

An excellent media release makes you an attractive prospect for people in the media to work with you as they can see your professionalism and enthusiasm.

Having all the essential information laid out before them also makes it easier for them to work with you, increasing your chances of securing a successful collaboration.  

Testimonials

Have you worked with other media outlets in the past, or collaborated with another brand at some point?

If so, make sure you include this in your media kit.

Having testimonials from people you have worked with in the past adds credibility to your brand or business. It allows potential collaborators to get an idea of the value that you will impart to them.

If you are a newer brand or business that doesn’t have testimonials as of yet, you can see if you have any customer reviews that you can include.

This helps add legitimacy to your brand or business and makes sure you look like an exciting opportunity to work with.

Traffic, Numbers, and Statistics

If you are hoping to use your media kit to be able to connect to other brands and businesses for a collaboration, it is essential that you include traffic and numbers for your social media platforms.

This allows potential clients to be able to assess if they want to work with you, and gives them an idea about the reach that your brand has.

Make sure you include follower numbers, as well as engagement statistics across all your social media platforms.

If you have email subscribers, don’t forget to include these numbers in there as well.

Demographics

How many followers you have is not as crucial as providing audience demographic details as part of your media kit.

By including statistics such as age range, gender, and geographical locations for your followers will allow potential collaborators to gain a fuller understanding of your social media following, and to see if you would be an excellent fit for you to work with.

This information can ensure that you only end up working with companies that are an excellent cultural fit for your brand or company.

This benefits you much, as a collaboration that is a good fit for your brand will help you grow organically.

Portfolio of Past Work

Have you, your brand your business, or your product been featured in the media in the past, or have you written any articles yourself?

These are an excellent thing to include as part of your media kit.

Seeing examples of past work allows potential collaborators to get a good overview of your brand or business in action.

Having examples of past work also helps to add legitimacy to your brand or business, and showcases what potential collaborators and clients can expect when you work together.

Make sure you choose examples that put your best foot forward and that are relevant to what you are pitching along with your media kit.

Pricing

Should you include pricing as part of your media kit?

While this choice is ultimately up to you, it does make sense to give an idea of what you charge for collaborations upfront.

By including prices in your media kit, you are transparent with potential collaborators, and both parties can get an idea quickly if you are compatible to work together.

By being upfront with pricing, you will also avoid awkward conversations down the track and lessen the risk of potential collaborators attempting to undercut you.

By being clear about the price at the beginning of your professional relationship, you are then freeing yourself up to focus on the other, more critical aspects of ensuring your collaboration run smoothly.

Opportunities for Collaboration

One of the main reasons to put yourself together a media kit is to open up opportunities for collaborations with other brands, companies, and media outlets.

Therefore, it makes sense to include in your media kit what opportunities for collaboration you are open to.

Whether you can offer sponsored posts, giveaways, guest posting, or running a social media takeover, you want to show potential collaborators just how they will be able to benefit from working with you.

Here would also be an excellent place to highlight other collaborations you have undertaken in the past.

While it can be tempting here to put the focus on you and your brand or company, make sure that you focus here on how the client will benefit from collaborating with you.

You want to make sure you are offering them an excellent opportunity that they cannot refuse, which in the end, will benefit both parties.

Excellent layout and design

The final thing you want to make sure you get right with your media kit is ensuring you have a unique and professional layout and design.

You want to make sure your media kit is eye-catching, professional, and puts you, your brand, and your business forward in the best light possible.

So, how do you decide what the best layout and design is for your media kit?

While there is no one size fits all approach, it is advisable to incorporate all aspects of your media kit into a single PDF document.

This makes sure everything is in the one place, nothing is overlooked, and your media kit has a streamlined, consistent approach and layout. 

There are multiple examples of media kits on the internet, so it is advisable to search for patterns in the same niche as your brand or business to collect inspiration for your own media kit.

Regardless of what final design you decide to go with, a few hints will help your media kit stand out, and do an excellent job of promoting your brand or business.

Firstly, make sure the layout is clean and uncluttered and looks professional

Secondly, make sure that the main points that you want to convey to clients are the most prominent, and make sure your contact details are highly visible.

And lastly, ensure that the style of your media kit’s design accurately reflects the tone that your brand or business is trying to convey.

Conclusion

While at first putting together a media kit for your brand or business can seem like an overwhelming task, if you follow the suggestions outlined above, you will be well on your way to creating a media kit that you can be proud of, and that will bring opportunities your way.

You can check out some real examples here

Having your media kit put together well in advance can help you respond quickly and professionally to opportunities for collaboration as they arise, leaving you to focus on what you do best instead.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this article on what to include in a media kit.