Have you ever wondered how influencers get paid to post on their social media platforms? Or how to effectively pitch your ideas to brands? I touched on this in my first post in this series: everything you need to know as a new blogger. It’s actually an easier process than you may think! I’m going to show you everything you should be including in your media kit as an influencer, blogger, podcaster, or photographer that wants to work with brands (and I’m giving you my FREE media kit template that I’ve used to pitch to brands I love!)
WHAT IS A MEDIA KIT?
A Media Kit (also known as a press kit) is like a visual resume, that showcases your brand: who you are, what your focus or niche is on your platform, and what you can offer to the brands that you’re pitching. It’s essentially how you present your brand to companies that you want to work with. So it’s important to make a good first impression!
WHAT SHOULD I INCLUDE IN MY MEDIA KIT?
Your media kit is not only what you can offer, but it should also showcase where brands can reach you and the kinds of people in your audience! There are a few things you should consider adding to your media kit:
Contact Information: The most important thing to have on your media kit is your contact information: your email address, website/blog, and your main social media platform are key.
Introduce Yourself!
A Little About You: You should also have a section where you write a little bit about yourself and what your mission statement is. This gives brands the opportunity to get to know you a little better and understand whether you’d be a good fit for them. This section is important because brands don’t necessarily hire someone just because they have the most followers and the best photos on Instagram, they are more likely to work with you if they connect with you! At the end of the day, we’re all people that are influenced by connecting with others.
Introduce Your Audience
Audience and Demographics: Arguably the most helpful information you can give to a brand right off the bat is your audience demographics. What is a demographic? It’s the breakdown of the types of people that follow you. This is so that the brand can determine whether or not you influence members of their target audience aka will partnering with you be beneficial for them? You should include your impressions, reach, the age range of your followers, and the percentage of men and women that follow you. This information can be found in your insights for platforms like Instagram and Youtube and for your blog, I recommend connecting your site with Google Analytics to get a reliable breakdown of your audience demographics.
Presence on Social Media Platforms: This one is simple, on what platforms can the brand find you? On Instagram? Facebook? Youtube? Snapchat? This is a great place to link to your accounts so they can see your content.
Photos: It is a media kit after all! Your media kit should only include your absolute BEST high-quality images of yourself and your brand for two reasons:
- You want them to see your past work!
- This is the only visual impression you are giving them before they decide to hire you! So it’s important that you’re showcasing high-quality content
Show what You Can do!
Range of Content Creation Capabilities: What can you do for them? Instagram Post? Story? Youtube Video? Stand-alone content creation portfolio for their website? Instagram Takeover? Dedicated Podcast? This is where you need to get specific and only offer services that you are capable of! For example, don’t offer to do a feature film level project for a brand if you only have an iPhone to work with! (Unless that’s what the brand is looking for, of course!)
READY TO GET YOUR FREE MEDIA KIT TEMPLATE…?
SHOULD I PUT MY MEDIA KIT ON MY WEBSITE?
Well… you can, but… I wouldn’t! It’s good to have a contact link on your site where brands can reach out to you for business inquiries and since you just downloaded an amazing media kit template (yes, I’m tooting my own horn) you can send a brand new media kit that represents your brand right away! Since your media kit has information regarding your audience demographics, I wouldn’t have that sitting on your website for the whole world to see!
HOW DO BRANDS GET MY MEDIA KIT?
This works two ways: you pitch your ideas to a brand or they pitch their ideas to you! Roughly 30% of the projects I’ve booked have come from brands reaching out to me and the other 70% have been from me pitching to the brands that I want to work with! So pitching is usually the heavier focus!
But pitching can be a whole post by itself!
HOW DO I MAKE A MEDIA KIT?
You can make your media kit on any graphic design-oriented program! I personally use Canva Pro but you could also use programs like Adobe Photoshop or InDesign to make your own media kit template!
That’s it! I told you it was fairly simple! Leave me a comment about how you’re loving your FREE media kit template and how you’ve customized it to start pitching brands right away! Happy creating!
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As someone who loves to use Canva, this is very helpful. Thank you so much for this!
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