A media kit, which some also call a press kit, is a great way to tell your story and connect with more people. If you have a startup, are launching a new product, or simply are trying to elevate your brand, a media kit can help you get there. In this article, we will discuss what exactly a media kit is, why it is important, and what basic building blocks you need to go from concept to construction of a successful media kit.
What is a Press Kit?
A press kit is an organized set of information. It is put together to convey essential specifics about a person, a company, or an organization. A press kit tells the story of your brand and provides handy resources for anyone in the media who might want to tell that story themselves. They work like the modern-day “press release” but, instead of dangling a story in front of a journalist, a press kit gives a journalist the tools and the information to tell it without catching friction along the way.
Evolution of the Press Kit
Press kits used to consist of printed materials, such as brochures, photographs, and fact sheets. These were sent to media outlets directly, and they were sufficient in an era when communication with the media was more direct, less immediate, and less involved. We live in a digital age now, with almost everything we do online. Press kits evolved with us, of course. They might still contain some elements of yesteryear, but for the most part, today’s press kits are found online, usually in some downloadable or accessible form. These digital “press rooms” are now virtual spaces where public relations professionals can interact with journalists.
Who Needs a Press Kit?
A press kit is vital for anyone wanting to tell their story to the media, whether you’re a solo entrepreneur, a nonprofit organization, or a for-profit corporate entity. Even small businesses and startups can benefit from a press kit, which covers you when the press doesn’t. You can also use a press kit to court investors; it’s a good cover story for when you’re wandering around with a PowerPoint looking for money. The advantage of using a press kit for courting customers is similar to that of using it for the press; you can be in control of what story is being and has been told about your for-profit commercial venture.
Key Benefits of a Press Kit
Your public relations and branding strategy can lean on a press kit for many reasons, but primarily because a press kit serves to deliver your most important messages to the media. The following are the key advantages of using a press kit:
1. Establishes Brand Identity
Effectively defining and presenting your brand is one of the key uses of a press kit. Media kits convey who you are, what you do, and why you matter, whether it’s through your mission statement, photography, or brand story. A press kit serves as a professional tool to ensure consistency in how your brand is represented across different platforms.
Enhancing Trust Through Transparency
Communicating your company’s mission and values resonates with the people you want to reach—be they media, customers, or investors. Within that simplest of acts lies the entirety of branding: making your mark and staking your claim to something that matters.
Aligning with Your Brand Voice
Your selection of visuals and the tone of your written materials all tell an aligned content story. A press kit is a key component in ensuring your established brand narrative is being told—and it is not just for telling your story to the press.
2. Simplifies Media Coverage
Journalists and press professionals may find it hard to cover your brand because they are constantly busy meeting deadlines and are often short-staffed. For this reason, your brand’s press kit should be a well-organized folder full of the most essential assets, like your logo (in various formats), images of your product or service, and videos that tell your story—all in one place, right on the front of the top.
Earning Free Publicity
When it comes to journalists deciding which stories will appear, a press kit that’s well put together can give you a leg up. Make their lives simple, and you’ll have done quite a bit to ensure that your name is up in lights.
Controlling the Narrative
Providing a uniform set of known facts and visuals reduces the possibility of inadvertent misinformation and improper use of logos in publications.
3. Appeals to Investors
Before allocating resources to your business, investors insist on a clear understanding of your operation. For that reason, specialized press kits directed at potential investors can be quite helpful. They might contain such things as the business’s financial performance, major milestones in the company’s development, extensive market research, and impressive credentials for the team running the business. All of this is intended to add not just too much information but the right kind of information to a pitch for the business.
4. Strengthens Relationships with Partners and Customers
Press kits serve a larger purpose than merely securing media coverage; they are a vital tool for educating and engaging your audience. They are a fantastic resource for partners and affiliates, who can use them to better comprehend your brand and its offerings. And why stop there? Your press kit can also be an incredibly useful tool for customers, letting them get to know you better and satisfying any curiosity they may have about your brand. In this way, your press kit serves not only as a means of securing great media coverage but also as a method of building trust and relationships with all the various constituents of your press-audience.
What to Include in a Press Kit
Every press kit is distinct and tailored to its industry and brand, yet effective press kits universally share several core components.
1. Brand Story and Mission Statement
This part deals with the essential query: Who exactly are you? It recounts your origin tale and elucidates your ‘why.’ It digs into what makes you different, what sets you apart, and conversely, what binds you to a familiar community of brands that know how to solve certain problems. It is succinct yet deep. You don’t need to tell us how you light your path or what your unlit path used to look like—unless it is part of the story.
2. Key Facts and Statistics
Present uncomplicated and straightforward statistics regarding your company. For instance, consider the following:
- In what year was your company established?
- How many customers have you served?
- What quantity of your product have you sold?
- How widely have you reached across the geography?
Assemble these particulars into a neat, accessible format, like a fact sheet.
3. Leadership Bios
Emphasize your founder(s), CEO, or any other crucial team members who are important to the narrative of your company. Offer high-definition headshots and brief paragraphs that provide some insight into their past, noteworthy accomplishments, and what they do in and for your organization.
The Importance of a Human Element
When it comes to journalists and audiences, personal leadership stories can strike a chord and create a stronger bond between your brand and the people it’s trying to reach.
4. Media Assets
All types of visual and branding materials fall under this category. Among them are:
- Logos (rendered in high resolution, with transparent backgrounds)
- Images of products
- Videos that represent the brand
- GIFs or animations
These assets must be made available in both print and digital formats to ensure maximum accessibility and usability.
5. Press Releases and Press Coverage
Consolidate your latest press releases into a single section. Then, as you might with your press releases, link directly to any existing press coverage of your brand. This past visibility, and the trustworthy resource that your site becomes when it clearly lays out past visibility, is the best way to show journalists when they might want to use you as a source.
6. Contact Information
Add the contact information for the individual or team that manages press questions. This person or group should have a direct line to the media and a clear method for handling inquiries. For most companies, a press email that’s monitored during business hours will suffice. A direct number is helpful when the individual or team is on-site and can easily answer calls.
How to Create an Effective Press Kit
1. Select Your Format
Think about whether your media kit will mainly be a downloadable PDF, a webpage, or both. A press kit hosted on a website is more globally accessible and easier to maintain and update.
2. Focus on User Experience
To locate what they need in a hurry, journalists and media professionals rely on clearly structured, easy-to-navigate documents. Info should be logically laid out, with section headings like ‘Company Facts,’ ‘Media Assets,’ and ‘Press Releases’ leading the eye to just the right place.
3. Keep It Up-to-Date
Your media kit is an ongoing project. As your company develops and hits new milestones, you need to keep your press kit current. This means including pertinent up-to-date information and excluding any content that’s no longer relevant.
Press Kits and Modern Technology
It’s easy to manage your brand and the tools of communication today, thanks to technology. One of these tools is WoopSocial, which lets you oversee not only your social media accounts but also your posts. When it comes to growing a business’s press kit that’s shared online, WoopSocial isn’t directly involved, but its features definitely align with the goals of media outreach. Growing your social media following and interacting with fans is part of the visibility equation, and WoopSocial ticking along happily in the background is a prime way to achieve that.
Conclusion
A press kit is an incredibly important resource; it serves as the public face of not just your business but also you. It goes before you and acts as your greeting card in the eyes of journalists, customers, investors, and partners. Who doesn’t want to keep it simple in the age of digital overload? A press kit allows for that—a simplification of sorts, as it relates to your public persona and, by extension, your business’s public persona.
