So you’re kind of a big deal. You’ve been building your social media presence, developing relationships with local brands and collaborators, and doing your best to catch the eye of journalists and daytime TV.
Here’s the thing: to put your most fabulous foot forward, you need a media kit (aka a press kit).
A Press Kit? Tell Me More
Basically, a press kit is a set of documents and info that includes:
- A brief summary of you and your brand (your “boilerplate”)
- Contact details
- Social media accounts and stats
- High-resolution photos/videos/logos (with photographer credits)
- Testimonials or reviews
- Case studies, stats or brands you’ve worked with
- Info about partnerships or collaborations
- Impressive milestones or media appearances
The goal of a press kit is to give journalists or potential collaborators the key information they need to quickly and easily develop a feature about you even when time is super short.
Okay, Sold. How Do I Make One?
Good news: if you’ve been around for a little while, you probably already have everything you need for your media kit!
Got a website About page or fleshed-out LinkedIn bio? That’s your brand summary right there. Social media stats? Perform an audit (or, you know, ask me.) Testimonials or reviews? You can dig through past reviews or even provide your desired verbiage that clients can sign off on. Pics? Have a high-res and web-friendly portrait shot, along with a pic or two of you doing your thing or “in action”. (See our tips for taking great photos here!)
In general, more is less. Make your kit easy to find and navigate, and ensure that everything on there is something you’re okay with a journalist copying and pasting.
Next up, it’s time to upload your media kit! There are a few ways you can do this. Some websites have a dedicated page featuring all of their press kit essentials. Some offer a downloadable zip file containing the essentials. Canva also has some great templates. One super easy way is to create a Google Drive folder with all of your assets, then link to it from your website. This way, you can easily update your folder without having to go in and do a website update as well.
One thing: if you turn your media kit into a PDF or single file, make sure that people can easily paste/save text and images!
Anything I shouldn’t include?
Good question! When you’re putting together your media kit, avoid:
- Giving away all of your trade secrets!
- Plans or alliances that haven’t been announced yet
- Proprietary info
- Fluff and padding
- Outdated info, stats or details
What else can I do with my media kit?
A press kit is a fab resource for journalists or collaborators who are checking you out. But it’s also a powerful differentiator if you’re doing outreach (including outbound engagement). If you’re contacting an influencer about a potential collab or partnership, attach or include a link to your media kit!
You can also refer to your media kit if you’re pulling together a press release. Copy and paste key details, or share it with your PR team so they can hit the ground running.
And like anything, don’t forget to keep your media kit updated with current photos, stats and details. If you’re the type to tinker with your website, regularly check for broken links to files or folders.
Let’s get this kit started
Working on your media kit and realizing you need some help with your overall brand or with a social media audit? Our Fan Firestarter Framework is here to help. Book your Pulse Check, and let’s take your brand to the next level!