Creating a media kit can enhance your brand’s media coverage and publicity. But what is a media kit exactly? In this article, we will delve into the ins and outs of media kits — providing a comprehensive understanding of what a media kit is, its significance, and how it can elevate your brand’s presence in the public eye.
Key Takeaways
- Media kits include promotional materials and information that help reporters, bloggers, and press members write about your business.
- A media kit differs from a press kit since it contains brand assets and additional information about the company and focuses on partnerships and collaborations.
- Some things to include in your media kit are your company history, social statistics, brand assets, case studies, testimonials, partnerships, and contact information.
What Does a Media Kit Mean?
A company’s media kit provides reporters and influencers with information, downloadable assets, past partnerships or customers, and other materials and data they can use to write about or refer to your company.
Most companies provide their media kits via a landing page on the company website, presentation deck, PDF, or a file-sharing service like Dropbox and Google Drive.
Regardless of your format, any business or expert will benefit from creating a professional and accessible media kit for better press coverage.
Media Kit vs. Press Kit
Most people use the terms “media kit” and “press kit” interchangeably. While both media kits and press kits refer to public relations, they have some key differences.
Below are distinct differences between a media kit and a press kit.
Media Kits:
- Provide a one-stop-shop source of comprehensive company information for press members
- Include vital company information, social statistics, achievements, and contact information
- Are used for partnerships, collaborations, and influencer marketing
- Share long-term information
Press Kits:
- Provide only the necessary details the media could cover
- Include the date, time, and location of an event or a product release
- Are used for product launches, upcoming events, and new programs
- Share timely and urgent information
Overall, a media kit is comprehensive, while a press kit provides limited information.
Why Is a Media Kit Important?
Media kits offer the following benefits to a professional or business:
You Get Press Coverage
Media kits help you generate coverage quickly since media outlets don’t need to ask for your company information to mention or write about you.
You can send your digital media kit anytime to interested reporters, saving you time and energy and increasing your chances for publication.
Gives Valuable Information to the Media
If you want quality and accurate press releases, provide a media kit complete with your company’s history, statistics, testimonials, and achievements.
However, note that it’s better to create a no-fluff media kit that gives the press what they need without having to wade through unnecessary or unimportant information.
Protects Your Brand
If a reporter doesn’t have much time to write an article and you don’t have media kits available, they might not find and use the right taglines, logos, graphics, and data about your company. This will lead to inconsistent information published across media outlets, which isn’t ideal for your brand.
So, to protect your image, you need to have a ready-to-use media kit.
How to Make Your Own Media Kit
Remember that media kits vary from each other depending on your goals. Don’t hesitate to look for a media kit template from other businesses for inspiration. But you can start by gathering the following press materials to create your unique kit:
Introduce Your Brand
What is your company’s brand story? Share how your business started, how it grew, your values, vision and mission statements, and other information that’ll help introduce your brand story to the press and your audience.
In this section, you may also include information about the executive team, like the CEO, or key team members, such as your marketing head or general manager. This part often consists of a decent headshot and brief background of the members included.
As the introduction establishes your name to the press and audience, ensure that your media kit design aligns with your overall brand identity.
Include Your Social Media Accounts
Which social media platforms do you have? Promote your online handles and the number of people subscribed to or following your content. It’s also a way to show off your credibility and popularity and have the press use them for their news.
The main platforms you should include are Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, and TikTok. Feel free to add more social media channels if you have more and if they apply to your shop or firm.
Sharing your social media handles is also a great way to increase your online following from press releases or guest posts.
Share Your Social Statistics
Your media kit should prove your social popularity and give the press an idea about your target audience and why you’re newsworthy. Conduct a social media and website audit and share exciting or unique statistics about your business.
Do you have over a million readers monthly on your blog page? Have you achieved a million subscribers on YouTube? List these performance stats in your media or press kit. Also, include data such as your industry ranking, audience demographics, and audience buying power.
Make sure to present these statistics visually and concisely to avoid inaccuracies and misinterpretations.
Add Case Studies, Partnerships, and Testimonials
Including your past partnerships and brand collaborations in your media kit allows your credibility or capability to speak for itself. It’s a powerful way to position your business, especially if you have worked with large or known companies in your industry.
You can present them as case studies, logos, or testimonials. However, don’t overdo this by adding excessive testimonials or stories. Highlight a few of the more outstanding ones to keep things focused and concise.
Ideally, you want to showcase your best success stories to show the press your company’s impact or effectiveness.
Provide Your Brand Assets
Aside from your business information, share relevant media assets like your company logo and high-resolution images of your business, service, or product. Ideally, you want to provide image assets with a transparent background, so reporters can easily add them to their articles and news stories.
Besides this, you may also share your colors, fonts, styles, and brand do’s and don’ts, so the press can accurately depict your brand.
However, avoid making it a style guide and only include key features or essential elements of your visual brand. And remember only to share assets you want to publish.
Drop Your Contact Information
Don’t forget to add your contact details to your kit. Provide your name or the public relations manager’s name, email, and phone number.
This will allow others to reach you easily if they want to collaborate or interview you. Also, reporters can contact you quickly if they have further press inquiries.
Before publishing your media kit, triple-check this information and always keep it up to date to prevent missed media opportunities. Also, don’t share your executive or business owner’s contact information unless you’re a solo entrepreneur.
Final Thoughts
Consider creating a media kit to get more publicity (or a digital press kit to help you get the word out for a timely event).
An online media kit will provide reporters, bloggers, and influencers with all the information they need to know to share your brand with others.
If you’re unsure how to get started, look for media kit examples from top brands and your competitors for inspiration. You can also use a website that generates a media kit template, so you don’t have to hire a graphic designer.
Madison Banks is a driven marketing writer with a focus on influencer marketing. Her campaigns have helped thousands of brands increase their visibility and improve user engagement rates, making her a valuable asset to any organization. A true New Yorker at heart, Madison enjoys exploring the city’s vibrant nightlife and attending Broadway shows in her spare time.