What Is a Media Kit?
Once upon a time, in a blog so far away (in the past) there was this item on websites called a media kit. It appeared on several prominent websites. This website browsing dude (Yours Truly) had all but ignored these options on websites, not thinking much about them at all. What this website browsing dude discovered later was that it was a HUGE mistake to ignore this option on websites. The good news is this website browsing dude (now this blogging dude) is going to let you in on what is a media kit.
A media kit is just as the name implies. It is an information packet that advertisers and the media can use to learn about aspects of the website that aren't easily assessible. If you have been glossing over media kits in the past, it's time to put that practice into the past and start perusing media kits. They offer a wealth of information.
What Is a Media Kit?
A media kit, also known as a press kit, is a document or web page(s) that provides useful information to the media or press. It is often created for specific events to generate buzz from the media. But with the advent of the web, many companies use the same terminology to attract advertisers.
You'll likely find an option for media kits on many online magazines and publications.
The information provided in this type of media kit is invaluable as it often specifies the correct demographics. That is something advertisers look for when they seek out media kits.
Why Put One Together for Your Website?
If you haven't considered a media kit option for your website, now maybe a good time to change that. It's not meant for every website, but in some instances, it can attract the right crowd to your website, and may even set you up for advertising space that you can sell.
The press often looks specifically for the term "media kit", so having a page may help gain information for this crowd of people, too.
Find Out Intel on Your Competitors Using Media Kits
As mentioned, online media kits have transformed into a dossier for advertisers to determine if the website is the right target audience. But this information also can be used to gain insight about your competition. If you know group of competitors that publish media kits, you can compare each of these to see how closely they match your competition space.
Of course, just because a company has a media kit available on their website doesn't guarantee that the information about their target audience is completely correct or applicable to your needs. That's where comparing multiple competitors for similarities can help.
Do All Websites Need a Media Kit?
You'll need to be cautious when creating a media kit that it makes sense to do it. If you do it simply for attracting specific groups of people, but the substance of the media kit or even the website isn't what these groups were expecting, this can adversely affect your promotional efforts.
The biggest question to ask is what will my website provide to these groups when they view my media kit? If you can't answer that or your website concept is too vague, then you may want to hold off with creating a media kit.
You'll likely notice that this website does not yet have a media kit. At the time of this writing, that was by design, for the purposes just discussed. But my I am in the process of repurposing this website and will be including a media kit within the next several months.
How Should You Construct a Media Kit?
I thought about offering specific tips on how to create a media kit. But the are so different from one site to the next that I don't believe I could do it justice. Besides, there are plenty of websites that offer advice on how to construct a media kit and trying to replicate that would not make a lot of sense. Instead, I'll point you to a few resources below.
But the two main considerations as I have mentioned are whether to construct a media kit for the press or for advertisers. Another consideration is to do both. But I cannot express enough that you should have a purpose set up before embarking on creating any type of media. Otherwise, it can be more detrimental to your website or marketing campaign than not having a media kit defined.
Conclusion
You may feel a bit short-changed by this coverage of media kits. But my ultimate purpose in writing this is to simply make you aware of the option. Many people are not aware of them or they may have seen them, but like me, didn't think much of them.
This post is really meant as a stepping stone for your marketing efforts (with respect to media kits). Sometimes, this is better than trying to cover every possible aspect of a topic. I believe I have given you enough information to explore the topic further and hopefully, you learned something new along the way.
Resources
Canva - leave it to Canva to have a template for media kits. They have a template for many concepts in promotion or advertising. If nothing else, the templates can give you inspiration into what information to include in your media kit.
Pinterest Board on Media Kits - This board shows more than just templates. You'll have plenty of resources to dig deeper by clicking on the links from this Pinterest board. What I like about this resource is it is not just the pinner's website that is referenced. You'll have access to several resources specifically included for media kits.
