On part 2 of Publicity 101 on Publicity Talks, I talk about media kits. Many brands and small businesses don’t often think about developing a media kit, even though they often have many of the major components at the ready.
What, exactly, is the purpose of a media kit? The primary purpose is to provide journalists, media outlets, influencers with key information about your brand in order to have a smoother interview, campaign, review or some other form of press coverage.
In addition to providing the media with key information, a media kit is also about centralizing that information. Influencers, journalists, reviewers don’t have all the time in the world to be sending emails constantly asking for biographies, high resolution logos, images or videos. To make the partnerships between brands and the media run smoother, as a publicist, I always recommend my clients have their media kit in one centralized location.
This centralized location could be inside a PDF file, in a Google Drive folder that the media have access to, on a certain page on your website. But wherever it is, it needs to be easy for them to access, with all the relevant information available. In other words, you want to supply them with everything they need to keep the questions at a minimum.
Now that we’ve settled what the purpose of a media kit is and where you should ideally store one, here are the top 5 key things you NEED to have in every media kit.
- Short But Detailed Key Personnel Bios
Pull together some short bios about key team members, in addition to a short synopsis about the brand itself. The synopsis will give people key highlights about the brand’s origin, the growth and key milestones.
The purpose of the bios is to provide context on who’s behind the brand. Let the media know who you are, what inspired you to create the brand and what makes you tick. As much as they want to learn about the brand, they also want to learn about you.
Bonus if you’re up from doing a short video to introduce yourself and tell them why you love to do what you do. Videos help them put a face and a voice to the name, they’ll also help to humanize and authenticate the brand to the media’s audiences too.
- High Resolution Versions of Your Logo & Associated Assets
When you’re sharing information with the media about who you are, it’s also vital to make sure they have your branding correct as well. This means you need to include correct, high resolution versions of your logo, letterhead and other branded graphics in different formats. Make sure you include both print and online versions, just in case.
- Timeline of Key Milestones
In addition to letting the media learn more about you, it’s important to share with them key milestones that the brand has gone through. Try developing a cool timeline with the milestones, from when you first started to when you launched a major partnership or opened up your 10th store. Or even when you first won any awards. The timeline, in addition to the bios will definitely help any influencer, media outlet or journalist build out the back story to help share your brand’s story with their audiences.
- Product/Service/Events Photos & Videos
If you’re launching a new product or service or have sponsored/attended/presented at events, the photos & videos should be part of your media kit. The media will definitely want to learn more about your new products & services, so having high resolution photos & videos of them in action is vital. If you’ve attended, sponsored or been a panelist at events, they’ll also want to know more about those experiences and how you’ve established your brand as a thought leader in the industry.
- Any Press Coverage You’ve Received
The media kit is also the spot to share any press coverage you’ve received. It doesn’t have to be extensive, just a few interviews, mentions or reviews, but it’ll give the media a good sense of how you’ve been previously described in the media. It gives them a foundation to build off of for their own articles, interviews, reviews and perhaps partnership collaborations in the future.
Here’s a graphic to make it easier to understand and you can always watch part 2 of Publicity 101 interview on Publicity Talks. Send me any questions you have & follow me on @LSue23 on Twitter and @lsue30 on Instagram for the latest on marketing, social strategy & public relations.
