If you’re looking for ways to get the word out about your brand and boost sales, a media kit can work wonders.
You’re frustrated with how hard it is to get noticed these days. You’re wondering how to get your business seen by a lot more people—fast.
You know partnering with influencers and getting press features would make a huge difference for your bottom line. But you need to show them why they should choose your brand.
That’s where a media kit comes in.
What is a media kit?
You’re probably thinking, “What is a media kit and how can it help my business?”
A media kit is a collection of information and assets to help people get to know your brand. By “people” we mean the general public, but also influencers, bloggers, and journalists. Yep, those lovely people who can boost awareness of your brand and skyrocket your sales.
Media kits usually contain brand logos and graphics, a company overview, testimonials, statistics, videos, and other resources. The goal of a media kit is to communicate what your business does, what sets you apart, and why people should pay attention.
Think of the zillions of businesses out there. Everyone’s selling something and everyone’s trying to get attention. Without a media kit, it’s harder for your brand to stand out from the crowd.
But once you do have a media kit, you’ll be glad you do, because:
- Your brand will become more appealing to those high-value, sought-after influencers you’d love to work with.
- Media outlets, blogs, and social media accounts will be more likely to feature your brand because they’ll clearly understand what your business does and why it’s so important.
- When those media outlets write or talk about your brand, what they say will be accurate. (After all, you don’t want them using outdated logos or giving incorrect product info!)
- You’ll be ready for your next product launch or live event since you’ll have a complete media kit that makes it easier for people to spread the word about you.
- Your brand will have a better reputation and stronger credibility, which is crucial in this age of endless scams and scandals.
A media kit can be a PDF, slideshow, Google Drive or Dropbox folder, page on your website, or whatever you want. As long as it’s easy for others to access, you can build it how you want. (We’ll walk you through it below.)
Media kit vs. social media kit vs. press kit: What’s the difference?
A “social media kit” is similar to a media kit, but the purpose is to have your brand represented consistently and accurately across social media. It’s not focused on getting your brand featured in traditional media outlets, so it doesn’t need press releases like a media kit would.
Then there’s a “press kit.” Some people use “press kit” and “media kit” interchangeably, but a press kit is meant to focus on journalists and traditional media. It’s a phrase from the past when social media wasn’t a thing.
A press kit contains background info about the company, company press releases, and contact details for the company’s press contact. These materials can help a company get featured on the news or in a magazine. But a media kit contains the materials from a press kit plus brand logos and guidelines, social media stats, product info, videos, and testimonials.
All three terms are similar. But “media kit” is best to describe what you need if you want to collab with influencers and be featured on blogs, podcasts, TV shows, etc.
What to include in your media kit
Overview/brand story
Your media kit should have an overview of what your business does and a brief history of the business. We’re not saying write a novel. But you do have to write in a clear and compelling way that captures attention.
Hint: Include your company’s mission and values to create a meaningful impression.
After you’ve written this, read it through the eyes of a complete stranger who knows nothing about your business. If they were to read this background info, would they easily understand what your business does, what kinds of customers your business serves, and what makes your offers unique? If not, it’s editing time.
Leadership bios
They say company culture starts at the top. Whoever “they” are, they’re right. People reading your media kit want to know who’s in charge of your company, because that says a lot about the company’s culture and values.
That’s why you should include headshots and short bios of the CEO and other company leaders. Their bios should mention highlights of their professional experience, achievements and awards, and other impressive details.
Logos and guidelines
Your brand visuals have an enormous impact on the way people perceive your brand. You want your brand to be remembered and evoke a certain mood. Putting your logo and other brand visual assets into your media kit is essential.
Your media kit needs up-to-date, high-resolution logos as well as your brand’s color palette, fonts, and taglines. This will help bloggers, news outlets, and social media accounts show your brand visually with nice, sharp pictures. No fuzzy JPGs, please!
You’ll also want to add in logo usage guidelines so people won’t take your visuals and make them look not so pretty. The last thing you need is someone messing up your brand colors or making your logo look strange. If you don’t know how to include these guidelines, examples are coming your way.
Statistics, case studies, and testimonials
Thanks to the growing number of internet scams, people are becoming more and more skeptical of what they see online. It’s harder than ever to prove you’re trustworthy. Having statistics, case studies, and testimonials in your media kit builds trust.
Some stats you can put in your media kit:
- Increase in the number of customers your business has served over the years.
- Breakdown of customer demographics.
- Number of 5-star reviews your products have.
- Rate of revenue growth from year to year.
There’s so much of a story you can tell with numbers. Testimonials and case studies add even more credibility.
Latest press releases
We recommend putting several press releases in your media kit so people will know about your company’s latest achievements and newest projects. Press releases show the public that your company is actively working on things that improve people’s lives. They also stir up excitement and curiosity for what your company will do next.
Products and services
Your media kit should include images and info about your products and services. If your business has one or a few products, include all of them. If your business has a large number of products, include a few that you want to prioritize. Avoid complex, lengthy descriptions with jargon. Make your product descriptions simple yet appealing.
Images and videos
High-quality images and videos are must-haves for a media kit because they evoke emotion and make your brand memorable. Add plenty of pics of your products, videos demonstrating how they work, promotional videos, and other images and videos that help people get to know your brand.
Social media content and stats
This is a major part of your media kit. You’ll want to showcase all your social media glory, including engagement statistics, links to high performing posts, and demographics of who your followers are.
You may want to throw in email marketing stats if those look good too. If you have a lot of people on your email list and high opens and clicks, that’s good to add the media kit. The goal is to show that your content is resonating with your audience and people want to follow along for the ride!
Contact info
Don’t forget to add contact details for the person or team who handles press inquiries. If there’s someone on your team who handles influencer collabs, put their contact info in too. Make it as easy as possible for influencers and the press to get in touch.
How to craft your media kit
Congrats, you’ve gone from asking “what is a media kit” to making one of your own. But since there are many ways to create one, you may be stuck on where to start. Let’s go over the fastest, easiest way: making a Google Drive or Dropbox folder.
Step 1: Make a list.
Write a list of things you want to have in your media kit (this can become the table of contents). Create a Google Drive or Dropbox folder, then make several subfolders. Here’s one example of how you can organize them:
/list
Step 2: Write a company overview.
Write a description of the company to introduce it to readers. Think about the most important things someone who’s never heard of the company before should know. How long have you been in business? What kinds of products do you sell? What kinds of people are your ideal customers? What values and beliefs does the brand stand for?
Make a timeline of the company’s biggest milestones. Mention awards the company has won. Write bios of company leaders. Think of any other key info that you want people to know about your company and write it down.
Step 3: Get what you need from your team.
Do what you can by yourself, and get the rest of the materials from your team. For example, you may need to ask your social media manager for social media stats, and your graphic designer for brand logos and graphics. Coordinate with team members to get what you need, and sort all files into the right folders.
Step 4: Double-check and distribute.
Double-check that all subfolders have correct files. Send the media kit to others on your team so they can give feedback. If all looks good, change the media kit’s privacy settings to public and grab the link.
Add the link to your website’s About page in a place that’s easy to spot. You can also add it to the Contact Us page. Keep the link handy so you can send it out individually to people.
Remember to periodically revisit the media kit so you can add recent info and files and delete older ones. Set a schedule for when you’ll do this, such as once a quarter.
What if you don’t want a folder and you’d rather create a page on your website, or a PDF, or a slideshow? You can do that instead. The basic steps are the same, but you can hire a freelance designer to put it all together.
Media kit examples
HelloFresh
This well-organized press page from Hello Fresh has plenty of good info. Press and influencer contacts are at the top, then there’s a list of news articles divided by year. Plus there’s a collection of press releases. Keep going and you’ll see the CEO’s bio and more contacts.
In the middle of it all are links to press kits of the HelloFresh family of brands. Each press kit is a Google Drive PDF. What’s great about these PDFs is that they clearly explain what each brand is and does in a way newcomers can understand. Each brand has distinct selling points that make it appealing. Near the end of each PDF are links to Google Drive-hosted product images, lifestyle images, and logos.
Calm
Calm has a press page that immediately displays some of the awards the app has won. They also show off major media outlets that have featured them, and it’s easy to find contact emails for press and influencer collabs.
But there’s more to discover in their full media kit, which is a Dropbox folder. You’ll find images of company leaders, a large number of app screenshots, and even a collection of global press releases and info in several different languages. Thanks to this media kit, people can clearly see that the Calm app is award-winning and has made a worldwide impact.
World Central Kitchen
Charities and organizations need media kits too. They want more donations to make a bigger impact, so they need to make it easy for media outlets to feature them.
World Central Kitchen’s media kit page has no-fuss navigation. You can easily find images and videos of volunteers working in multiple countries, all in a Dropbox folder. The boilerplate text gives journalists an effort-free way to introduce WCK to readers. There’s also a logo file and usage guidelines, plus contact info and social links. On a separate page, you’ll find blog updates and headlines from media outlets that have featured WCK.
Square
Square has an excellent example of a media kit. The media kit is a press page on their website, full of images and headlines of the latest company press releases. There’s a media assets section below with a link to Square’s logo files. Download the logo folder and you’ll receive several logo files with guidelines for logo usage dos and don’ts.
Next, Square’s press page has downloadable image collections featuring different types of products and different ways consumers use them. Finally, there’s a link to Square’s About page, plus contact info. The overall impression you get from this media kit is that Square is a trustworthy and successful company.
Crumbl Cookies
Crumbl has a press page on their website that starts with a paragraph about how fast the company has grown. And to prove it, they display several articles showing how the sweet treats have gone viral on social media. The page also is full of colorful, fun cookie images.
Near the bottom of the page, there’s a button that downloads a folder directly to your device – no Dropbox or Google Drive here. The folder contains brand illustrations, product photos, and logos. In the logo folder, you’ll find guidelines about how the logo should and should not be displayed.
Lego
Why does a well-known brand like Lego need a media kit? Because they want to keep the public up-to-date on all the things they’re up to. They made their press webpage effortless to use, with search and tags at the top so people can find what they’re looking for. It’s also easy to browse all press releases.
Keep scrolling down the page and you’ll get to the media assets, which are a must see. Not only are there downloadable galleries of product images; there are also images of the colorful Lego headquarters, beautifully made PDFs of annual reports and company profiles, and even behind-the-scenes videos of how Legos are made. If there’s any media kit here that makes a stunning impression, it’s this one.
Key takeaway: Having a media kit helps your brand get noticed.
As you’ve seen in these examples, every company has something unique about it that makes it special. That goes for yours too.
What’s unique about your company? What are you proud of about your company? Don’t shout it from the rooftops – let your media kit do the talking.
You want your brand to be a leader in your industry. Having a media kit gives your brand that extra edge to help the public understand what your business does and why people should pay attention.
So it’s worth it to make a high-quality media kit. It takes some time but you’ll be happy when it’s done. (Just try not to show it off to every random person on the street, okay?)
Are you ready to stake your claim in the creator economy? Discover more helpful tips and resources from the experts at GRIN: Creator Management Learning Center
Frequently Asked Questions
Most media kits include a brand overview, bios of company leaders, logos and other brand visuals, logo usage guidelines, case studies and testimonials, press releases, product descriptions, images, videos, social media statistics, and press contact information.
Hand-Picked Content
Any brand that wants to grow their audience, partner with influencers and other brands, increase sales, and establish their brand as a respected name in their industry needs a media kit. We also recommend that influencers have media kits. Influencers with media kits tend to have more success when reaching out to brands. Media kits are important on both sides of the influencer-brand relationship.
If you’re making a media kit as a PDF or slideshow, it should be long enough to have essential materials without being so long that it would take an hour to read. Instead of trying to make your media kit fit a certain number of pages, brainstorm everything you think should be in it, create then kit, then cut out and shorten anything you think is unnecessary.
