How to Create a Kick-Ass Media Kit

Back in June I was a named speaker at Ice Lolly’s Blog at The Beach event in Leeds. As my very first speaking job, it was an incredible experience and a challenge that I embraced. My talk was called ‘How to Monetise Your Blog’ and one of the points I touched on in the talk was the importance of a kick-ass blogger media kit. After receiving tonnes of feedback on my talk, the media kit element of my talk seemed to be the biggest take-out and has remained a hot topic on social ever since.

Because of this, I thought I would dedicate this post to all the bloggers that attended my talk, and all the bloggers who sadly couldn’t make it. I want to expand on the points I made in the talk and explain why creating a media-kit is one of the first steps in positioning yourself as a professional content creator who agencies want to work with. Whether you love being a hobby blogger or hope to one day turn your blog into a full time business, a kick ass media kit will help you to monetise your blog. So let’s get started!

SHOP MY LOOK

What is a Blogger Media Kit?

Let me start with the basics because I want this blog post to make sense to every blogger, even if they are just starting out. A media kit is essentially a CV for your blog. It shares all of the vital statistics and information about your blog that brands and agencies want to know. It’s a document in which to sell yourself, show off your achievements and consolidate what your blog stands for. It also demonstrates that you understand your audience and know what it’s worth. Blogger Media kits are usually designed in a way that mirrors the aesthetic of your blog and can showcase some of the high quality content that you create.

Top Tip: Whenever a new brand or agency emails me, I always attach my media kit to my responding email – even if they don’t ask for it. Doing this will immediately put you on a more professional level. Show you mean business!

Nailing Your ‘At a Glance’ Page

Some fellow bloggers have asked me how long a media kit should be. There is no real right or wrong to this. I know some try to keep it to one page, others like to make it lengthy and in-depth. Either way, it’s important to make it skimmable. I recommend creating an ‘At a Glance’ page, which should be the very first page of your blogger media kit (or perhaps after a title page).

The ‘At A Glance’ page should include all of your meaty top line statistics and readership demographics for the people that only have time to take a quick look. This page will help you to make a big impact in a short amount of time. Statistics worth including on your ‘At A Glance’ page are;

• Monthly page views
• Monthly unique users
• Amount of social media followers combined
• Amount of social media followers on each channel
• Total reach (combine social media followers combined and monthly unique users)
• Demographic by Gender
• Demographic by Location (e.g. top 3 countries)
• Demographic by Age

Top Tip: Google Analytics is the best place to find accurate information about your blog traffic and demographics. If you haven’t already synced your blog up to Google Analytics, add it to the to do list!

What Else To Include in a Media Kit

Once you’ve got your ‘At a Glance’ page down, your consecutive pages can expand on additional aspects of your blog. Below is the structure that I have just for my own media kit which I would also recommend to others;

Page 1: At A Glance

See Above

Page 2: About 

Now the numbers are out of the way, use the next page to show who you are. What is your background? What are your passions? What kind of content do you love to create and what makes the backbone of your blog? Don’t write what you think brands want to hear, be honest and just be you.

Page 3: Achievements

Use this page to show off! Include things like blog awards, blog nominations and press coverage. If none of these are relevant to you yet, you could pull out some top achievements from social media e.g. you’ve grown from 1k followers to 7k followers in X amount of months. Demonstrate that you are hot property and that you are going places!

Page 4: Brands You’ve Worked With

This page is about showcasing all the brands you’ve previously worked with. It paints a more rounded picture of your blog and your positioning in the blogosphere. It’s important to keep your media kit as visual and skimmable as possible, so instead of writing the names of the brands, consider using their logos instead. In this page you could also list the ways in which you like to work with brands e.g. gifting, press trips, sponsored social media posts, sponsored blog posts, events and reviews.

Key Point: As well as including what you are willing to do, you can also mention what you aren’t willing to do e.g. I do not offer coverage in exchange for free product. Establish your boundaries.

Page 5: Evidence of Influence

Anyone can call themselves a blogger, but how much influence do you actually have? This is possibly the most valuable page in your whole blogger media kit, and one that lots of bloggers currently haven’t thought to include. Evidence of influence basically means evidence that you have influenced your audience to make a decision (preferably one that involves some sort of purchase). These pieces of evidence might by found in your tweets, in your Instagram comments or on your blog comments e.g. someone letting you know they bought the same dress as you or they’re heading to a restaurant based on your recommendation.

Comments like this are absolutely invaluable as they demonstrate your influence. Screenshot all comments that fall into this category and begin to build up your evidence of influence. If you don’t have anything like this at the moment, don’t worry! You can add this page further in down the line.

Page 6: Brand Case Studies (optional)

If you’re already at the stage of collaborating with brands, think about adding a case study page. Include information about what the collaboration objectives were, what kind of content you created as part of the collaboration and what the results were. Show how much of an impact you made.

Page 7: Fees (optional)

Established bloggers who are at the level of charging for their content have the option to include a page about their fees. This is a personal choice that is completely down to the blogger but it’s not something you definitely need to have. I don’t include my fees on my blogger media kit because I like to quote fees on a case-by-case basis. Often the requirements are quite unique so often one fee doesn’t fit all. Some bloggers prefer to put their fees in writing on a separate document often called a Rate Card. Just work out what you feel most comfortable with!

Page 8: Testimonials

Testimonials is another essential part of creating a kick-ass blogger media kit. If you’ve previously worked with a brand or an agency that you’ve developed a good relationship with, go back to them and ask them to write a testimonial about you and your blog. It’s really reassuring for brands to read that other brands have already had a positive experience with you, and it’s just another way to convince them that you’re worth their time! I have a total of 3 testimonials in my media kit; one from a PR agency, one from a blogger network and one from a brand.

Page 9: Contact Page

Now that you’ve put all your cards on the table, make sure they know how to get in touch. Include links to your social media channels as well as your email address. If you’re comfortable with including your phone number you can add that in too. I would recommend keeping this page fairly simple.

How to Design Your Own Blogger Media Kit

So now that you’ve worked out what you need to include in your media kit, it’s time to design it! The look of your media kit is really important and luckily there are some great online tools which can help you create a gorgeous aesthetic without any fancy design skills.

I absolutely swear by Canva.com. It’s a free design website with endless templates for lots of different needs. On Canva you can design everything from a classic presentation or CV to a web banner or a social media thumbnail. The options are endless and there is also beautiful imagery which you can include free of charge. I designed my media kit on Canva and regularly update the stats then re-download a new version of the document.

Adobe Illustrator is another good platform to design media kits on, but you need to be a little more advanced in the design stakes. If you feel like both options would be impossible for you, there are some lovely people on the internet who can design you a bespoke blogger media kit for a pretty reasonable fee.

Key points on the blogger media kit topic;

• Let your media kit embody everything that your blog is about
• Don’t be afraid to show off! List all of your achievements, no matter how big or small
• If brands or agencies email you, always reply with your blogger media kit – even if they don’t ask for it!
• Reach out to new brands and agencies by sending them your newly designed media kit. It’s a great conversation starter
• Try to keep your stats up to date. I create a new version of my media kit at the start of every month to keep it fresh and current
• Check out Canva for an amazing tool to design your media kit
• Be original. Don’t try to copy someone else’s blogger media kit design. There is only one of you so make your media kit as unique as you are!

What did you think of my tips on how to create a kick ass blogger media kit? Do you currently have a media kit or is it something you are thinking of creating? If I have provided you with any new ideas or inspiration, please leave me a comment in the box below. Jess x