Media kits felt so confusing to me when I began pitching to potential partners. Whether it was for my skincare business that was looking to attract new press opportunities or reaching out to potential brands for collaborations on my blog, it felt like I was just throwing things together and seeing if any of it would work. Like bullet journaling, the lack of defined rules made media kits feel overwhelming and like I couldn’t do anything right with it.
Luckily, that all has passed and now I really have a nerd-like obsession with making sure my media kits are effective and seal the deal when it comes to potential opportunities. So let me show you a few tips I’ve learned along the way:
How to Make a Better Media Kit
1. Define your branding first
Your media kit needs to be a cohesive snapshot of your brand, so don’t jump into things willy nilly. Make sure you’ve got your logo, your color palette, fonts, and your key messaging figured out before you go pitching potential partners. Check out “How to Make Your Brand Kick-Ass Without Driving Yourself Crazy” if you need help with that.
2. Put in the standard values, but highlight your best features
A lot of tutorials about media kits will tell you to highlight your more impressive numbers. And that is absolutely true, BUT don’t hide your less-than-impressive numbers if they’re considered a standard. If you’re pitching a brand for an Instagram collaboration, they’re going to want to know either your follower or engagement counts right off the bat. So don’t hide those while mentioning how great your YouTube subscriber count is.
Consider the information a brand would want to know in order to pull the trigger to work with you: what can you do for them? If your numbers aren’t great, what IS great about your brand that can make up for that? Maybe you have great photography skills and can offer bonus exclusive shots for them. Or you’re really into making DIY videos and can offer an additional tutorial that will help boost your engagement for the brand. Remember that a media kit’s purpose is to sell what you can do. So don’t be shady, instead acknowledge the data but showcase your abilities.
3. Keep it short, but give it your voice
Media kits are like resumes so they shouldn’t be novellas, but should instead give a taste of what your brand is about. Consider that physical press kits used to be left on bosses or editors desks for final approval. And you know execs had little time to indulge your flowery language. Keep your kit to 2-3 pages max and make it easy to follow.
4. To price or not to price?
This one is for those who pitch to brands for sponsorships or collaborations. The best advice I ever heard was from a successful blogger who said that her media kit was beautiful and polished. But she wouldn’t include her price list for partnerships in the kit. Instead, she had a one-off, black and white sheet of her prices that she included as a separate document. She said she did this to make it look like this came from her accountants and was a practical, thought-out list of the value she offered instead of some pie-in-the-sky ideas about how much she could charge. I think that is absolutely brilliant and recommend it to all of my marketing clients.
If you need some help, I’ve just released a free Photoshop media kit template that you can use! If you don’t use Photoshop yet then I’d recommend checking out Adobe’s flexible monthly plans. (I have their Photography plan and its so cheap!)
2023 update: My media kit template is now available for free in my Member’s Library (click here to join)
