Once you have a media kit in place, it’s almost like free marketing. Anyone looking for more information on your organization needs only go to your website’s “Press Room” to learn the who, what, where, when and why. 

If you’ve considered making a media kit, understand that it’s for media and promotional professionals to learn how to talk about you. The kit should provide everything they need to present you in a great light, or contact a spokesperson if they need more information. Fortunately, it’s pretty simple for you to make it all happen.    

Media Kit 101

So what exactly is a media kit? Also called a “press kit,” a media kit is one of the best investments your brand can make in marketing and media relations.

Your media kit is a collection of non-negotiable promotional materials about your organization, designed to be used by the media, possibly without them ever contacting you directly. It includes things like a description, logo, contact info, statistics, case studies, professional partnerships and customer testimonials, much like a style guide.     

The purpose of a media kit is earned media coverage–publicity for your brand that you don’t have to buy or even initiate. The media kit is accessible to anyone wanting to write or talk about your organization, ideally on your website or other online platform. Because it contains materials you’ve approved, you don’t have to worry about someone using the wrong tagline, logo or names in their publication.   

How to Make a Media Kit in 9 Easy Steps

You don’t have to hire anyone to create your media kit. If you can add a page to your website and load it with the right links or downloadable documents, you can do it yourself. Some sites provide media kit templates to guide you through the process.   

The most important thing is that your media kit should include essential information about your brand and be simple for journalists to find. High-quality, clear components are easier for content creators to use and more likely to be shared with your target audience. At the same time, more isn’t always better. Your media kit should highlight your best aspects and be highly navigable. You can always link to outside sources to help interested parties flesh out the main ideas.    

1. Bio

Depending on your organization’s size and structure, this could be a brief history or bios and headshots of the staff. Include a boilerplate “About Us” paragraph that someone could copy and paste, as well as high-quality images and video. If you’re trying to make a name as a content creator and are the entire brand, decide if you’ll talk about your real life or the life of the character you’re developing.   

2. Contact Details

Make yourself easy to find physically and online, especially for PR professionals and journalists. Include your:

  • Address
  • Hours of operation
  • Phone number
  • Spokesperson’s name and contact information
  • Website

3. Mission Statement

Your mission statement gives your organization purpose and should be one of the most important pieces of information about your brand. 

4. Your Objectives

Expand on your mission statement by outlining exactly what you aim to do to drive that mission. Are you refining a system, improving a product, or addressing a specific problem? How do you measure the success of that objective? 

5. Product Info

Give an overview of your product or major product lines, including important specs and costs. Add high-quality pictures and demonstration videos, if helpful. Case studies and testimonials, if available, can add to your credibility. If you’re a content creator, links to some of your work are a good idea.  

6. Website Traffic

If you’ve had an online presence for a while, analytics tools can give you statistics on how many people visit your site, the demographics of your audience, bounce rates, keywords and more. 

7. Social Media Handles

Whether this is in with your contact information or elsewhere, include the names you use on social media. Ideally, this will be as consistent as possible across the platforms; be clear about variations in the names. 

8. Social Media Key Metrics

Demonstrate your ability to start and drive conversations on social media with metrics on your reach, audience and engagement. You might even choose to design a social media kit.  

9. Relevant Partnerships

If you partner with other organizations, either for business objectives or for community endeavors, include those names in your media kit. Who you work with says a lot about who you are and how you want to position yourself in the field. 

2 Examples of Inspiring Media Kits

Although designing and executing a media kit isn’t especially complex, a little inspiration can make the process more exciting and help you refine your approach. Further, while the information in your media kit should be factual, allow yourself to exercise a little creativity to be more eye-catching. Check out these two media kit examples as you consider how to begin.  

Kickstarter

Because it’s a people and idea-centered company, Kickstarter chose to highlight the human element in its media kit. By placing the basic information a little lower in an FAQ format, it had room to emphasize how many people have financially supported projects and how many of those projects have gone on to be successful. Only then does it spotlight its founder and sprinkle in testimonials. 

Delta Airlines

As a massive, global company, Delta distributes its media kit throughout its website with an “About” page that links to pages about how to contact, partnerships, sustainability, community engagement and more. The themes are about connection across the globe and how humans are making it happen.  

The Importance of Having a Media Kit

If you want to grow, you want people to talk about your organization. Providing a thorough and easy-to-navigate media kit makes it easier for them to spread the word, and to do it based on information you provide. 

For example, if you’re trying to build a career in content creation, people will want to know your story, your general style and how to reach you. Providing that information up front makes everyone’s life easier.   

Still asking “what does a media kit look like?” That depends on how you want to be presented and perceived. Make a list of the most important things about your business, and the themes through which you’d like to communicate them. Not only will journalists and PR professionals have access to the right names, images and taglines–they won’t even need to contact you to get it. This is one of the most cost-effective investments you can make in your organization. 

At Skillshare, you can find a range of classes on creating and packaging your media kit. Whether you’re a retailer, non-profit or artist, you’ll learn how to make this information work for you!  

Written By
Katie Mitchell

Katie Mitchell

Katie lives in Michigan with her husband, kids and pets. She enjoys cooking, travel and live music.

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