What is a Media Kit, and Why Does Your Business Need One?

The world of media and press is one of the most fast-paced and ever-changing industries. So, media personnel, including bloggers, vloggers, and other content creators, are aggressive in researching for fresh content materials. They are willing to cover anything from billionaires, celebrity scandals, tech innovations, current events, and everything in between.

For any business merchant or brand, both the traditional (TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines) and the new media (blogs, vlogs, and social media) are great avenues for publicity and increased brand awareness.

If and when there comes a time that you are racing against your competitors for a big announcement, you will want all the media coverage you can possibly get. Whether it's about a new product, a collaboration, or an innovation. And as much as possible, you will need your audience to get only high-quality, accurate, and consistent information about your brand.

Read this: The 6 Pillars to a Strong Brand Identity

To attract media buzz, you will want high-quality information about your company accessible to the people in the media. Your website should be a one-stop-shop for people wanting to know about your brand and all it entails. This is where the media kit or press kit fills the void.

So, What is a Media Kit?

A media kit is a PR (public relations) file that contains short, relevant, and up-to-date information about a company. It includes facts and FAQs that build up the brand's image (which we will get to in detail later). It can also contain image files of logos and text blocks for the media outlets to use in their reports.

Media kits or press kits can be on the About Us section of your website or can be a publicly accessible PDF File on your website and social media channels.

Why is a Media Kit or Press Kit important?

Maintaining brand relevance is one of the biggest goals of most (if not all) companies. Through news updates, the media gives free publicity to brands they cover. Who wouldn't want free advertising?

The media plays a big role in keeping people updated. As we have mentioned earlier, they are very busy people. When they need information, they need it instantly.

With a media kit available 24/7 on your website, you eliminate the risk of the media publishing inaccurate information about you, or worse, dropping the beat. (A beat is a topic or a niche a reporter covers.)

Here are the three main reasons why media kits are essential in brand marketing.

1. Brand-voice Consistency

When people outside your company write or report about you, a media kit will help them stay true to the tone and voice of your brand. This will ensure that when your loyal customers and supporters hear or read about you in the news, they will be reminded of the brand they know and love.

2. Brand Credibility

Media kits are also useful for people who want to know more about your brand before completing a purchase. The About Us page happens to be the second most frequented page on eCommerce websites. Along with the Contact Us page, they make your brand more credible and worthy of their business.

3. Quality of Information

The internet is a massive highway of information exchange. Of course, some are bound to be inaccurate and, even sometimes, blatantly false. To avoid being a victim of fake news, you only want your audience to get real updates from you through the media.

How to Make a Media Kit

Crafting your own media kit is actually easier than it sounds. It does not have to be heavily technical (unless being technical is a feature of your brand's voice). Here is a quick guideline on how to write a top-notch media kit.

1. Write for the Media

Veer away from a three-page intro or multiple paragraphs of how you had had a vision of yourself running a business and impacting the lives of thousands when you were young. That would be nice to hear or read in the About Us section of your website, but not on your media kit.

Simplify your history, make a timeline of your milestones, and graph what you can graph. Make sure to design it for maximum legibility (or at least the most important sections). Opt for an infographic if you can.

2. Show Your Difference

Your press kit is like a magazine solely dedicated to highlighting your strengths and your uniqueness. Maximize this and impress not only the media but your target market with the great things you offer. This will help you make a lasting impact on your audience.

3. Add Statistics

Numbers don't lie. Up-to-date statistics of your performance are great materials for the media to directly quote. Also, this adds more credibility to your brand since you can back up your statements with statistics. In turn, people are more likely to develop lasting trust in your brand. As the age-old command goes: show, don't tell.

4. Answer FAQs

FAQs stands for Frequently Asked Questions. Your goal in writing a media kit is to leave no questions unanswered. Every relevant piece of information must be found in the file. Whenever a new customer has a question, you must weigh whether or not other customers may have this question in mind and whether or not to add them in the FAQs. This way, you are saving time for you and your customers; and the media, for that matter.

5. Add your Contact Information

Your media kit also serves as a detailed calling card for customers, the media, and personalities or brands looking to collaborate with you. You can also add guidelines or a criterion of the personalities or social media influencers you want to work with to limit collab applications to only the serious and qualified ones.

6. Show Testimonials

Testimonials from real people and brands you have worked with will help round up your press kit. Just like how 9 out of 10 customers look for product reviews, testimonials help you cement a deal with other companies looking to work with you. It also improves your overall brand image for customers and the media.

7. Add Links to Your Brand Assets

When making detailed reports about your brand, the media often puts your logos on the materials they publish, whether they are videos, posters, or news reports. If they only get your logo from a google search, they may end up downloading your old logos. Giving them access will eliminate this possibility. Along with the image files of your logos, you can also provide free access to videos for the media to use as b-rolls on their features.

One great thing about giving them open access to your brand assets is that you can also control how they use your logo. You can include detailed guidelines on the spacing, blocking, and where it is allowed to put your logos. Check Netflix's example out: Netflix | Brand Assets.

When Writing Your Press Kit, Remember to:

1. Keep it up-to-date

Trends in marketing change ever-so-often, and you can up your metrics anytime. It is ideal that you revisit your kit at least twice a month for possible revisions and improvements since you are writing a media kit to create a good impression.

2. Keep it Snappy (Short and Eye-Catching)

Keep in mind that a media kit can be designed like a website. Use your brand colors and add punchy copywritten material to your press kit. Like an elevator pitch, keep it short but impactful.

3. Keep it Real (Accurate Information Only)

Because media kits mainly target the press and collaborators, there can be a temptation to put enhanced numbers and testimonials. This is a trap that can tarnish your brand in the long run and should be avoided at all costs.

And lastly,

4. Keep it True to Your Brand

The blog you read today is just a guide and not the actual instructions. Your brand may operate out of the mundane. So, just keep on doing what makes sense to your brand and market.

This has got to be one of the most insightful blogs we have ever written. If you liked it as much as we did, you would be excited for what we have in the pipeline.