Why Bloggers Need a Media Kit (and What Should Go In It!)

Nick Making Money sponsored post, blogging 10 Comments

Today I’m discussing a subject that will be relevant to any of you who have blogs yourself or are thinking of starting one.

I’ve been blogging for almost twenty years now. I started off blogging about freelance writing and moved on to personal finance with Pounds and Sense. I make money from my blog by various means, but the most important (and lucrative) is through collaborations with businesses and agencies on sponsored posts, sponsored links, and so on.

Companies are always on the lookout for ‘influencers’ who can help get their message across to their target audience. They have budgets for this purpose, but before sending any money your way they will almost certainly want to see your blog’s media kit (also known as a press kit). If you don’t have one – or it’s not up to scratch – you can expect to lose out on many paying opportunities.

So What Goes Into a Media Kit?

As a blogger, your media kit is an advertisement for you and your blog and the services you can offer. It will typically consist of one or two pages you can send (or hand out) to anyone enquiring about potential advertising opportunities or collaborations

A good media kit will ensure you create a strong and professional first impression. Everybody’s media kit is different, but here are some things you should consider including in yours…

Biography

In this section you provide a brief account of yourself, including such things as your age, location, occupational background, hobbies and interests, family, and so on. Companies want to know whom they will be working with, to reassure themselves that you and your blog will be a good fit for their target audience. Let your personality shine through, therefore, quirks and all! You should also include a good-quality portrait-style photo of yourself (see the example in the header image).

Blog Description

In this section you talk about your blog itself – the subjects you cover, your target readership, and any other information that may interest potential advertisers. You may also wish to include your blog’s logo.

Stats

Advertisers want to know the size and nature of the audience you can deliver for them. So it’s important to share some key stats, including such things as total unique views, social media following, email newsletter subscribers, and so forth. Clearly you will want to pick the most impressive-looking stats – so if you don’t have many Instagram followers (for example) just leave that out. But don’t exaggerate either. Clients can and will check your stats, and if they don’t appear to correspond with the figures you have quoted, they are unlikely to want to proceed further

Collaboration Options

Here you list ways brands can collaborate or advertise with you. Some possibilities include:

• Sponsored Posts
• Sponsored Links
• Product Reviews
• Contests and Giveaways
• Banner Ads
• Social Media Campaigns

You can also include prices for these services in your media kit if you like. Personally I don’t do this, as I like to leave room to negotiate over price.

Testimonials

If you have worked for business clients before, I would strongly recommend including any testimonials you may have received. And don’t be afraid to ask for testimonials after a successful collaboration. This type of social proof provides invaluable reassurance for would-be clients that you can deliver on your promises and achieve good results for them.

Contact Information

The most important one of all! Don’t forget to include your contact details so that potential clients can get back to you. You will probably want to include your email address, phone numbers (home and mobile), postal address, and so on.

Media Kit Design

As a blogger you aren’t necessarily expected to have an all-singing, all dancing, media kit, but the smarter and more professional it looks, the better. Your kit should work both electronically (e.g. as an email attachment) and when printed out in colour.

Fortunately you don’t need to be a design guru to produce a great-looking media kit. There are lots of free and inexpensive templates available, which you can edit and personalize to your heart’s content. A great place to look for such templates is the Design Bundles website – just put “Media Kits” in the search box on that website.

Win a Design Bundle!

Here’s a great opportunity to win a media kit template and any other design resources you would like too 🙂

My friends at Design Bundles are running a giveaway to win a prize worth £100. This comprises a £50 credit for Design Bundles to use on Media Kit templates and any other products you’d like from them, along with a four-month premium subscription to Canva. As you probably know, Canva is a brilliant design website you can use to create a media kit and other amazing graphics for your blog as well. You can enter via the Rafflecopter widget below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Anyone world-wide can enter. All fields are optional, so you can choose which ones you’d like to complete. But obviously, the more you do, the better your chances of winning.

The contest is open now and will close at midnight on Tuesday 26th January 2021. The winner will be contacted by the end of that week to arrange their prize.

Good luck in the giveaway, and with creating an attractive and compelling media kit!

As always, if you have any comments or questions about this post, please do leave them below.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post for which I am receiving a fee.