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Media Kit Checklist: 10 Things Yours Could Be Missing

You probably don't have time to read dozens of media kits so I did the grunt work for you and came up with a comprehensive list of tips...


Every business that looks to communicate with its general public for press or investment needs a media kit. Essentially, a media kit will summarize your company at a quick look, allowing the recipient to learn more and how they might work with you.

When you look through a large number of media kits you start to notice trends that distinguish the good from the bad. You probably don’t have time to read dozens of media kits so I did the grunt work for you and came up with a comprehensive list of tips for creating an effective media kit.

 

  1. Clear Purpose

    You can’t evaluate the effectiveness of your media kit unless you understand the document’s purpose. In other words, you develop the best content when you know your audience. For media kits, the audience is more commonly the news media (i.e., referred to as a press kit), potential sponsors, or advertisers (and is not to be confused with an investment pitch deck, intended for investors, which is structured to help you raise money with a potential investor — summarizing your startup idea and business model). They are reviewing your media kit to evaluate whether a story, investment, or collaboration opportunity exists. With this in mind, tailor your content to convince your intended audience to take action. Include information that demonstrates you are mutually a good fit, meaning your product and market interests are aligned.

  2. Contact Information

    The goal is to convince your audience to contact you. However, you would be surprised at how many media kits forget to include contact information. Place your contact information in an easy to find location or two, and make sure it is correct and up to date.

  3. Branding

    Your media kit is a branded piece of marketing collateral and displaying a custom logo is merely a minimum requirement. The entire media kit needs a look and feel consistent with your website, packaging, and other marketing material so pay attention to details like colors, images, and fonts.

  4. Tagline or Short Description

    Not to be confused with your slogan, “Taglines are repeated messages that identify a product or a company. Each tagline is a brief phrase that is used in marketing and advertising to aid in the promotion of the company name and its products.” (Source: Differencebetween.net) Moreover, “Where a slogan differs from a tagline is its scope: A tagline should represent your business, while a slogan represents a single product or is part of an advertising campaign.” You probably have a tag line that succinctly describes your product or company. Add it here to further brand your media kit and give readers a quick introduction to your company or product. Need help deciphering yours? Checkout HubSpot’s tips on 10 Companies that Nailed Their Taglines.

  5. Elevator Pitch

    Include a section that describes the value of your company or product. What problem do you solve? Why are you special? Why should a customer, sponsor, advertiser, pick you over a competitor? Your audience doesn’t have time to read paragraphs so keep your elevator pitch to a few short sentences. This is a tough challenge since you have to cut out the fluff and get right to the heart of your value proposition.

  6. Audience Size

    A common criteria in determining whether to sponsor or promote your company is reach: how big is your customer base, whether they be readers or paying customers. Relevant information may include customer figures, online visitors, number of downloads, etc.

  7. Social Media Presence

    Reach on social media platforms is the criteria du jour, so include some statistics about your social media profiles. Relevant information includes which social media platforms you use, how many followers you have, and the engagement of your followers (i.e., analytics, insights, etc.).

  8. Audience Characteristics and Behavior

    This information is important in determining whether you and the recipient are a good fit. They will want to know market segment information such as gender, age, geographic location, income, education, and hobbies of your customer base. Depending on the nature of your product or service, behavior may also be relevant. For example, what is the conversion rate of readers to subscribers or browsers to buyers? This type of information demonstrates the influence you have over your audience.

  9. Contact and Submission Guidelines

    Provide clear instructions on how the recipient should contact you. It may be helpful to remind them that this is a two-way evaluation of fit and opportunity. You are not obligated to promote all potential sponsors, accept money from all potential advertisers and investors, or receive press mentions.

  10. Links to Download Media Kit and Other Collateral

    After reading through your media kit, additional resources such as a pdf of your media kit, logo image files, images of your product, or brochures may be desired for reference. Be sure to tell recipients where they can find this information.

What else should every company include in their media kit? Let me know in the comments section below.

 

This article has been edited and condensed.

Jen Benz is the co-founder of Zanifesto, an easy to use, web-based infographic builder that empowers budget savvy entrepreneurs to create high quality infographics, media kits, and other marketing materials. Connect with @zanifesto on Twitter.

 

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