3 Jan, 2020
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If you’re a Kardashian, landing a brand deal might be as simple as getting out of bed in the morning and having your people contact…well..whoever you want. You’re a freaking Kardashian! Brands are lucky to work with YOU!
For the rest of us, unfortunately, it’s gonna take a little (ok, a lot) more finesse to landing a brand partnership. While it’s no secret that being a flourishing influencer (or even micro influencer) has its advantages, how do you begin to develop relationships with brands when you have no built-in connections?
The answer is an old classic:
Business cards.
But not in the sense of your father’s traditional 16-point cardstock. No. A digital business requires a digital business card. In this case – an influencer media kit.
An influencer media kit is your professional influencer business card. It’s also your resume, portfolio, and cover letter.
Essentially, it’s a comprehensive package that highlights your influencer stats, details your demographics, and provides a quick snapshot of your brand and why companies might want to work with you.
So, if you want brands to slide into your DMs for collaborations, you need to entice them with a really good media kit that sells you.
Besides, media kits are an industry-standard these days. If you’re serious about your career as an influencer (or brand), you’re going to need one sooner or later.
Brands are companies trying to earn a consistent profit, and they’re willing to do that through strategic influencer partnerships. But at the end of the day, a sponsorship is a business transaction, no matter how much influencers and brands want you believe they’re all BFFs IRL.
It’s a job. And there are plenty of fish in the sea. So you need to be able to market yourself and sell your value quickly and efficiently to stand a chance.
We already know that social media influences purchasing decisions and most brands are expected to start focusing more on influencer marketing in 2019 due to the impressive ROI. Social media influencing is a thriving field, but it’s also a competitive one.
Brands just don’t have the time to individually vet every influencer that crosses their screen – if one is going to take the time to seriously chat with you about a collaboration, it’s because they think you’re a potential match.
But without having spoken to you first, how would a brand even know anything about whether you’d be a good fit for their products or not?
Well, like your mom who keeps getting confused by that new roundabout they just put in, we’ve come full circle.
The reason we’re all here: influencer media kits.
If a brand is going to reach out to you about a legit paid collaboration, one of the first things they’re likely to ask for is your media kit. And if you’re pitching to brands, you definitely need to be including a media kit.
If you can’t provide one, there’s no guarantee a brand will wait for you to start compiling that information, organize it, and get it back to them in a coherent document. Especially when other influencers are chomping at the bit and they already have all that info ready to send out at a minute’s notice.
Plus, like we said, you’re expected to have a media kit anyway. In fact, not having one may cause you to appear unprofessional or inexperienced. And that can be a turn off to brands.
Media kits aren’t just for influencers! Brands can and do use media kits to propose collaborations, too.
You’ve just launched your startup and want to invest in a bunch of marketing campaigns, one of which is influencer marketing. So you contact a few well-known influencers to get the word out about your brand.
Let’s say these influencers are so big in fact, and so in demand, that they’d be doing YOU a favor. In that case, they might be the one to request a media kit since you’d have to prove to an influencer with millions of followers and collaboration requests why your brand is worth working with and leveraging their followers.
But even if your brand doesn’t provide a traditional product, that doesn’t mean you’re off the hook from having a media kit.
Successful blogs and magazines need kits, too. They should include your readers’ stats, your unique page visits, the type of content you host, and all the other juicy deets of your audience habits and website performance. This is the info you’ll need on-hand for both brand collabs and advertisers.
But there are plenty of other reasons a brand might want to keep a media kit on hand, too:
Up until now we’ve just been glossing over the basic info that your media kit needs. But now we’re about to break down exactly what messaging you should include to have brands falling in love with you faster than a misguided Disney princess.
As an influencer, you’re playing wingman. Brands want to work with you because you’re friends with the people they want to be friends with.
But the thing is, brands need to make sure your friends actually value your opinion.
So a convincing media kit should educate brands about you, let them know the strength of your reach, show that you have an engaged following, prove that you’re able to influence your fans, and provide information as to why the brand should be interested in leveraging your followers.
65Just like your Instagram bio is an important part of your profile, you should include a snapshot of yourself in your media kit, too.
Obviously it should mention the type of influencer you are and the kind of content you produce. But your bio section is also your chance to convey your personality and general tone of your brand.
So if conveying a message through words isn’t your strongest skill, you might want to think about hiring someone like a copywriter who specializes in written brand communication. A good one will be able to include any relevant information while also incorporating the feel of your brand and personality.
If you want to convince brands that you’re an influencer in your space, you absolutely HAVE to include your social media stats. But don’t think that means you need crazy high numbers to stand a chance (and definitely don’t try to inflate your numbers!), because remember, you can be successful as a micro influencer, too.
But it is important for a collaboration partner to know how many people you’re able to reach and on which platforms. So include your total follower count and a breakdown of followers by each social media channel you’re on.
And if you can, it’s a good idea to include your engagement, too, which is a KPI you should be monitoring anyway.
Victoria’s Secret probably isn’t interested in selling a bunch of frilly underwear to America’s hottest grannies. And let’s be real, your granny probably isn’t interested in climbing into an elastic contraption of straps and lace.
That’s because different groups of people make different purchasing decisions and are fueled by different motivations and pain points.
Telling brands exactly who your demographic is lets them know if your audience is worth tapping into. And if you’re a brand, telling potential influencers who your demographic is can help them decide if they’re a good fit for you, too.
Demographics include information like:
For help figuring out more detailed demographic information about your followers, check out the analytics pages from the social media channels you use:
If you’re a brand, you should include this same information about your customers.
You’re out to lunch, living your best life, per usual. And you see breakfast potatoes on the menu, with no other description. Are they fluffy chunks of starchy goodness? Are they shreds of salty, crispy potato? Are they tater tots? Maybe if you could see what they looked like, you could make a better decision.
We all know a picture tells a thousand words, so when you can’t spell out your information clearly, show it!
If you’re an Instagram influencer, include a few pics of your better performing images and the typical type of content someone could expect to find on your page. If you’re a brand, consider including pictures of your products or happy customers.
And obviously, if you’re a personal brand, include a headshot of yourself, cutie. 📷
Assuming you’re not a Jedi karate-chopping mind tricks in every direction, you can’t just talk your way into brand collabs. So as flattering and helpful as your media kit is, decision makers still need to see your account in action before they can commit to a partnership. Make sure you include links to any and all pages connected to your brand – that means your social media accounts and websites.
People want you to have experience. What else is new? If you’ve done any influencer marketing before, definitely mention the brands you’ve worked with in your media kit.
That tells potential brands that you’ve been able to pull off successful campaigns before, and that you have experience in the industry. But it also works as social proof to back you up and make you more legit.
But it’s not a deal breaker if you’re the new kid on the block. Just leave out this info until you get some experience to brag about.
Speaking of past partnerships, if you had some that worked incredibly well or that your audience really resonated with, use ‘em again, by suggesting them to brands right in your media kit. And you can also provide a few examples of other types of content and collaborations you’d be willing to do.
This might include offering content/collaborations like:
This section should go without saying. But you know what they say about people who assume (and we’re not ready for Victoria’s Secret to come for us just yet!), so we want to make sure we remind you.
You don’t have to share all of your personal information but unless you only communicate with brands through astral projection, you might want to include any contact info people will need if they want to get in touch.
Minimum, you should at least provide a direct email address that you check regularly. Regularly. Don’t use the one from your LiveJournal account that’s been collecting spam since 2007.
Money can be uncomfortable for people to talk about but it’s an important discussion to have when the conversation becomes about business.
You don’t have to include static pricing in your media kit if you’re super flexible on what you expect or haven’t nailed down your fees just yet.
But some people like including their prices because it weeds out brands whose budgets aren’t a good match. Plus, it’s also just one more piece of information that can be addressed without having to interrupt your work to reply to inquiries all the time.
If you’re a brand building a digital media kit then you’ll want to include a lot of the same information that influencers do, although some of it will need to be tweaked.
Here’s where to start:
Offer a company bio instead of a personal one. It should feature information about your products or services, the founding of your company, and who some of the key players are.
You might also want to include your mission and vision statements, and what your future plans for the company are. And like an influencer media kit, this is still a good opportunity to really show your brand personality and tone.
If your brand plans to use your media kit to connect with the press then you want to provide the type of information journalists are likely to be looking for.
This includes info like:
Speaking of press connections, feel free to brag about any media mentions or include links to press releases in your brand’s digital media kit. This is just another opportunity to quickly provide a lot of relevant info in one easy to distribute package.
The links to your good media mentions provide more of that social proof we mentioned earlier. And linking to your press releases helps make sure you always get the most timely information out.
Brand consistency is important. And when you have (or are planning to have) a big brand, it’s important that consistency is maintained, even when you’re not the one distributing content.
That’s why a lot of brands like to provide guidelines for other people and companies to use when referencing them. Some companies intentionally make their brand guidelines readily available like Netflix –they go so far as to make visitors agree to their guidelines and conditions before even entering the site.
If making sure your image is consistent no matter where it is or who shares it, you should definitely include a few of your brand’s official assets in your digital media kit. Your color scheme and logo should be enough. But if you want to get really detailed you can share exact color codes, specific fonts, sizing details, and more.
Another no brainer but we’re including it just to be safe. What may not be as clear though, is whose contact information to provide.
If you’re using your company’s media kit to distribute to press, make sure to include the contact info of your press liaison – whoever that person may be. If you’re using it for influencer and brand collabs, then provide contact info for your marketing person. And of course provide a contact just for general information.
If you’re a brand that offers a product or service and you have testimonials, share a couple in your media kit. Proving to potential business partners that you have a legitimate product that actually works can quell reservations, especially if you’re a new brand.
Your media kit is equal parts design and messaging to communicate the overall feel of your brand. When creating one, your design goal should be consistent with your existing branding. Even if you don’t have that totally nailed down yet, at least chose some colors and language that’s reminiscent of your style.
From that point, you can go fairly traditional or stray so far out of the box your cats have turned it into a playhouse.
The most important things to keep in mind are that you provide any and all relevant information potential partners might need to make a decision. And in order to provide that information in the most digestible and accessible way, keep the design streamlined and easy to read.
Most media kits are stylized in one of a few ways.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? There’s no denying that fun branding and cool designs are par for the course when it comes to media kits. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a black and white straightforward one.
As long as you provide all the pertinent information and have it organized in a structured, scannable way, your media kit is good to go.
In a Google doc, arrange all of your content into separate sections with headers and subheaders, and break up lists with bullets. Include any links as hyperlinks with clear display text that indicates where each will lead. Finally, if you can, still try to neatly incorporate a headshot or logo somewhere inside the doc.
Of course you can still spruce up your Google doc media kit if you want.
Either way, once it’s complete, don’t forget to set your sharing option to “View only” so that your kit can only be edited by you. Then share the link to your doc with anyone you want to see it!
The most popular influencer media kits you’ll see floating around are one-sheets (but don’t let the name fool you – they can be one to a few pages long).
These are the ones that tend to have really stylistic design choices that both align with branding and create deliberate sections. These types of media kits are also super convenient because you can save them as a PDF and send them out as email attachments, or host the image right on your website or social media profile.
If you want a one-sheet media kit you can either hire a designer or make one yourself. Hiring a designer is obviously the more expensive option. It’s also the most customizable and hands-off option if you’re not interested in designing one yourself.
On the other hand, if you’d prefer the DIY approach, but the thought of creating an entire media kit sends you spiraling into unimaginable depths of panic, well first, relax. Then, sit down and start working anyway. Because there are plenty of user-friendly image editing platforms where you can custom design a media kit, either through a pre-made template or a drag and drop box.
We recommend Easil or Canva because they’re free to use the basic plan, and you can upload your company colors to make sure your design stays on brand. Plus, they have TONS of free media kit templates you can customize so that you can build your kit from scratch or plug and play and go!
And for a similar one-sheet style but a different feel, you can also create a slide deck media kit. You’d design it in PowerPoint or Keynote, and save it as a PDF to share.
If you’re a brand or a blogging influencer with your own website, then it might make sense for you to host your media kit right from there.
Buzzfeed uses this modern approach to publicly share their brand information with anyone who wants it. And the benefit to hosting their media kit on their website? They put a Call-to-action button right on the page so that potential advertisers are led right through to next steps straight from the kit itself.
Hosting your media kit on a website has several benefits. For one, it can help keep people on your website longer, lowering your bounce rate. Especially if, like Buzzfeed, you continue to lead people through your site with CTAs.
Also, people want the path of least resistance. If you can get them to your site to check out your brand, view your media kit, and then sign up for next steps all from one place, you’re creating an easy path that’s harder to say no to.
Of course, using a website to host your media kit means creating new web pages. So you’ll either need to know how to create them yourself or hire a developer – the latter of which can be time consuming and costly.
Got all that? We hope you were taking notes (or you just bookmarked the page) because that’s everything you need to know about media kits for influencers and brands. You have all the information and tools you need to go make one right now.
But we get it. Building out a media kit from scratch can be paralyzing when you don’t know where to begin and haven’t ever done it before. Don’t worry. We wouldn’t leave you hanging. Check out these free media kit templates and graphic design platforms we curated for you below!
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