If you’re a Blogger, Influencer or content Creator, you need to know that a blogger media kit is one of the most valuable marketing assets to land partnerships and clients. Having a kick ass media kit is a sure way to get noticed and show that you not only have the street cred to deserve the job, but that you are a true professional.
We like to think of blogger media kits as resumes – you wouldn’t apply to a job without having an updated and polished resume right? Then why would pitching to a brand partner or client be any different?
Here at Sidewalker Daily we on both sides of the Influencer equation—helping Influencers and Creators grow their business and pitch to brands and consulting with brands on their Influencer campaigns— so we know the value in creating an amazing Influencer or Blogger media kit when trying to impress brand partners. We receive tons of media kits when working with our brand clients and you can tell right away which content Creators take their job seriously… and which don’t.
Since media kits are such a hot topic in this industry, we’re going to shed some light on all the things you need to know to start making partnership magic happen sooner rather than later.
So what is a Blogger Media Kit, anyway?
Basically, a Creator and Blogger media kit is a presentation or set of promotional materials that includes important information about your online brand, blog or business that is used to pitch your services to potential brand partners or clients.
It’s a summary of all the aspects of your content creation or blogging business that a brand would need to know when considering whether to work with you or not. In the Blogger and Influencer world, it doubles as a visual resume that also represents your brand vibe and aesthetic.
Just FYI – a media kit is sometimes referred to as an Influencer or Blogger press kit. Just in case you get asked for that, you’ll know what they mean!
Why Is A Blogger Media Kit So Important For Your Business?
When pitching to brands to land a paid partnership, you have a limited time to really “wow” them and tell them everything they would ever need to know to even consider you for the job or deal. Since there are most likely many other Bloggers or Influencers in competition for the partnership or collaboration, a professional blogger media kit is a great way to set you apart from the crowd. It allows you to show the decision makers what makes you the perfect fit to work with their brand.
Also, since a media kit is a summary of what anyone would want to know (ie. stats, engagement, followers) they can quickly look over everything without having to spend time searching for your accounts and trying to figure out that information on their own. Trust us, no one has time for that. The easier you make it on them, the better.
Media kits are a great way to let brand partners know that you take blogging and being a social Influencer seriously! At this point, sending over a media kit is not only professional, but expected by brands (even if they don’t look at it). And don’t just take it from us – full-time content creator, Amy Marietta, shares her personal experience about using her media kit when pitching to brand partners in this article, so keep reading. :)
If you’re just starting out and looking to stand out as a micro Influencer, creating a Creator or Blogger media kit is still a good idea. Micro Influcncers have become increasingly powerful for brand campaigns, so brand expect to see a media kit, no matter what level you’re at.
Let’s Break Down What Goes Inside A Media Kit.
Now that you know more about why it’s important to have a media kit as an Influencer, let’s talk about what actually goes into one. There’s a lot that you should have in your blogger media kit, so it can get complicated quickly. We hope that our professional media kit advice makes the whole thing easier for you, but we’re always here to help you create a killer media kit that lands you paid deals.
Here are 7 things you should talk about in your blogger media kit:
1) ABOUT YOU AND YOUR BLOG/BUSINESS
Of course, you have to tell anyone reading your media kit who you are! This is your chance to shine and capture the brand’s attention. Why work with you over someone else? Tell them about yourself, what kind of content you create, and why you’re special. It’s important that you make it easy to understand—remember that the brand may have absolutely no context to your work at this point. If you haven’t niched down or figured out a direction with your content plan, you’re going to want to nail that down and express it in your About section.
2) STATS AND DEMOGRAPHICS
Brands may feel aligned with your content and love your creativity, but at the end of the day they have a goal with their Influencer campaigns. So this is the part of your media kit where you can quantify your influence with hard numbers and let them know what kind of people view/interact with your content. Brands are eager to know this information to see if your audience is similar to the audience they target with their brand and their business. For example, it doesn’t make sense for a bikini company to do a partnership with a Blogger or Influencer that has a predominantly male audience, you feel us?
You need to include stats on your followers, engagement, website, and demographics. It can even be benefical to add screenshots so that the person on the receiving end can verify that your numbers are real. If your blog has significant traffic, definitely include that information too.
We recommend avoiding including stats just for the sake of including them. For example, if you have 45 followers on Twitter, but 10,000 on Instagram – we would recommend not including the Twitter information.
Don’t have many stats yet? You can highlight the impact of your influence and how you’re able to drive your followers to action or even showcase the amazing growth of your social accounts or readership monthly. For example, “I double the amount of readers on my blog or email list monthly,” or “my Instagram following increases 30% monthly.”
3) SERVICES
As an Influencer, Blogger, or content Creator, you have many, many creative ways to make money on social media. Since there are so many possibilities, a media kit is the perfect place to let brand partners what types of services you offer. You should make it clear which creation services you’re willing to do or have the expertise to execute quality campaigns in.
For example, you could offer
- social media photoshoots
- video production (Reels, TikToks, YouTube videos…)
- photo editing
- blog writing
- podcast content
It’s also a great idea to really highlight any special services that set you apart from anyone else as well as showcase your niches (fashion, food, romance, adventure etc.), if any.
4. EXAMPLES OF YOUR WORK
Don’t just list your services, show them! It’s time to show off what kind of content you create by providing specific examples. Include some of your best work and, if possible, cater it towards the type of brand that you’re pitching to. For example, if you’re pitching to a hotel, include past examples of work you did with a hotel company or destination.
Media kits are meant to be flexible working documents, so always have a standard media kit you send and then feel free to add or remove pages/slides based on the specifics of a pitch. When we work with our Creators one-on-one on their blogger media kits, we often end up deciding to create at least two different media kits for this reason. It can be helpful to have varying lengths or specific media kits for certain situations.
We believe it’s best to help people envision the types of things you can do and create for their company. Many people aren’t as visionary as you are as a Creator. (That’s why they need you!) It’s good to think of this section almost as a portfolio of your best work. For example, if you’re an artist and a gallery in NYC offered you their space for a week, you would only display your best paintings, right? Same goes for your media kit.
5) PAST WORK/PRESS
It’s normal for people to want to validate their decision to work with you by looking at things like:
- your past work
- professional relationships
- props and recognitions
This just gives them more confidence to pull the trigger. So you need to let brands know what other companies you have worked with and include testimonials if possible. And of course, highlight any press or features your blog or social accounts have received. Include brand logos if possible so they can easily identify the brands you’ve worked with and the times you were in the press.
If you can include a case study for a past partnership even better! Case studies are a great way to prove your influence and give companies the confidence to work with you. And if you want to go the extra mile, rather than just showing off the logos of brands you’ve worked with, how about creating a slide that gives them the exact scope of the project and what you delivered for the client. They will be impressed!
6) RATES
It’s up to you if you want to include rates for specific services you offer or if you would prefer to quote brands on a case by case basis. Figuring out how much to charge for an Instagram post or other service might not look the same for every collaboration. Since every brand has different goals and objectives, not every partnership or collaboration is treated equally.
It seems earning money from social media is sometimes more of an art than a science. Of course, if a brand requests your rates and you haven’t sent them your media kit yet, definitely include that page/slide when you do.
7) CONTACT INFO
Yes, you’ve spent pages telling them how amazing you are, but what good is that if they don’t know how to contact you to find out more?! Make sure you include all of your relevant contact information in your blogger media kit. You want to have your:
- social media links
- email address
- contact page
- phone number (if you use this for collaboration purposes)
This is especially important if your media kit gets forwarded to the decision maker. If your your contact details get lost in the shuffle, the potential partnership could either disappear or get delayed.
Figuring Out The Length Of Your Media Kit
One of the top questions we get asked here at Sidewalker Daily is how long should a media kit be. There are plenty of media kit myths out there, and the best length of a media kit is usually one of them. The truth is that there’s definitely a split in the industry on what people prefer. If you’re pitching to a brand in an email, you can always include the important highlights in the body of the email and then attach your long version just to play it safe.
We’re in the opinion that your media kit needs to be as long as your media kit needs to be. Don’t squeeze everything onto 2 pages if there’s more that you need to share with a brand. A cluttered, text-heavy, two paged blogger media kit is not a document that someone wants to read.
Everyone’s media kit will look a little differently depending on the type of work they do, how many previous examples they have, and a variety of other factors. We can promise you that a well-designed media kit is the way to go when you’re sending a pitch to brands every single time. If that means more pages, then that’s okay.
But what if you’re a travel blogger attending a travel conference? Or you have some sort of in-person event that could be a networking opportunity? In-person meetings happen, and you want to be prepared for those. It is imperative that you have a one page version of your media kit for these situations. It can be double sided, but please make sure to print it on resume style, luxe paper. At in person events, no one wants to receive 12 pages of a media kit to carry around all day. You can always follow up with an email after, including your longer (and prettier) version.
When we design media kits for Creators and Influencers, we recommend that they have at least two media kits to use based on how they’re pitching.
Presentation is EVERYTHING.
Is everyone going to read every word inside your media kit? We can tell you honestly and truthfully from experience: no. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have an amazing looking media kit. In fact, it might be all the more reason to have a beautifully presented document put together. Here’s why:
- It shows that you take this job seriously.
- It triggers the reader to believe that you definitely deserve to get paid for your work.
- People skim. A well-put together document will draw their eyes to the important stuff and they’ll learn about you without having to read every word.
Would you show up to a job interview in your pajamas? We didn’t think so. Then you definitely don’t want to send a poorly put together blogger media kit because you’ll get them thinking…if you can’t even put together a media kit, can you really put together that brand campaign you’re pitching?
Since Bloggers and Influencers are content creators, every piece of content they create and all visual materials need to be spot on and polished. At the end of the day, everything reflects your brand and on your ability to create content, or at least put it all together.
And please, please, please don’t forget to send it as a PDF – sending it as an editable file type like a word document is just a bad look. If you’re sending a link, make sure it’s “view only” and not something the person can edit.
Putting It All Together – How To Make A Media Kit For Bloggers And Influencers.
Everyone has a different opinion of what the best media kit design is and there are tons of different options to create yours. Let’s quickly look at some of the ways you can go about building your media kit and best practices for coming off as the professional creative that you are!
Use Good Photos
You probably get it by now, but your media kit has to look good! Of course this means showing off your best photos that you’ve taken. But if you’re a writer and photography isn’t your skill set, or you don’t necessarily take professional-quality photos all the time, then you should take advantage of all the beautiful free images on stock sites, like Unsplash, to help make your presentation more aesthetically pleasing. With free stock images you run the risk of using photos that people have seen before, so keep this in mind.
Should You Use A Media Kit Template?
If graphic design isn’t your thing you could use a media kit template, although we don’t necessarily recommend this because you want to stand out as an Influencer as best as you can. You want to be unique and true to your brand message with everything you create. Our design team knows media kits inside and out and can help you create one that’s perfect for you and your work! Your work as an Influencer isn’t cookie-cutter, and a template can really limit you if you don’t consider your entire business in the creation process.
Here are a couple of examples of media kit templates from Canva that are completely editable and customizable.
Remember though, if you use a template, chances are other people will be too and there is nothing like showing up to a party in the same dress…LOL.
A media kit that is uniquely YOU is the best way to go.
Proofread Your Blogger Media Kit
Don’t forget that one of the main goals of having a media kit is to showcase your professionalism. Brand managers don’t want to see typos on your media kit. We all make mistakes, but you are trying to convince them that you can create content to represent their brand, which is important to them. If you make mistakes during the campaign it could look bad for them, so they may see a typo or mistake on your media kit as a red flag.
Please have someone proofread your media kit to check for typos or mistakes before sending it out. It would be a bummer to work so hard on your media kit, only to let a couple loose ends throw everything off.
Update Your Media Kit…A Lot
Since your stats and demographics likely change as often as social media algorithms, make sure you keep your media kit updated and always showcasing your best work. This is SUPER important. Any time you gain a new partnership, make sure to update your media kit. We also recommend updating your media kit at least monthly with all your new relevant social media stats and website analytics.
If you’re looking for more Influencer media kit examples, you can always search the web or Pinterest for some inspo. Remember not to copy anyone’s media kit though so you avoid legal issues…just do a little sleuthing to get inspired. Looking at examples is also a great way to help you understand what you like and more importantly…what you don’t like. :)
Drum Roll Please…Here’s An Example Of A Media Kit From Full-Time Influencer and Content Creator, Amy Marietta.
Full-time travel, fashion, and lifestyle Influencer/content Creator, Amy Marietta, has been working in this industry for the past five (5) years and has partnered with major brands such as Starwood Hotels, Adidas, Uber, Harrods, and Jaguar. She has also been featured in publications such as Cosmopolitan, Glamour, GQ, Elle, and Refinery 29.
Sidewalker Daily asked Amy a few questions about how she uses her media kit to get more partnerships.
Sidewalker Daily: How has improving your media kit helped you professionally?
Amy Marietta: “I can’t even begin to explain how much more work I have gotten by just taking the time to improve my media kit. It has 100% increased my ability to secure a partnership. Brands not only look at me with more respect, they are confident that I have the creative vision to enhance their brand.”
Sidewalker Daily: “How has having a media kit helped you with earning income as an influencer?”
Amy Marietta: “You can definitely charge more because it shows you have the ability to put together something that looks cohesive and gets the message across- basically if you can do it for yourself you can replicate it for them. Also, having a put together media kits helps me get more hotel collaborations paid rather than just free stays.”
Sidewalker Daily: “How can a media kit help an influencer stand out?”
Amy Marietta: “Every content creator has something different about them that makes them special, which may not be obvious from their social media accounts. They may have done work that’s more behind the scenes of the industry, like creating video content for a hotel or writing an article for a major publication or even managing social media accounts for another client. You can use your media kit to show a diversified portfolio of work that the client may be interested in and end up booking more jobs.”
Amy has one of the best looking media kits in the game and she is gracious enough to share it with the Sidewalker Daily community as a media kit sample. Not only does she highlight all the relevant information that a brand is looking for, she put it together in a way that drives home her ability to create amazing content!
Ok…So What Does It All Mean?
On the brand and business side, media kits are an important tool to help them easily evaluate whether a particular Influencer, logger or content Creator is a good fit for the partnership or collaboration. On the Influencer and content Creation side, a Blogger media kit is an important marketing tool to help you stand out and showcase why you’re the best fit for the job.
Although having a Blogger media kit doesn’t mean you’ll get the job automatically, it definitely ups your chances of being considered and landing brand partnerships and clients. It’s quite a bit of upfront work to put it all together but when its done…its done. Woop woop!
Since we covered a lot about media kits in this post, here’s a quick recap of the major takeaways we want you to remember:
1. A media kit is an essential piece of successfully pitching to brands which consists of promotional materials that showcase what a brand would need to know in order to decide to work with you or not.
2. Media kits are important for many reasons; they make your case as the one to work with, they show that you mean business as an Influencer or Creator, and they summarize need-to-know info because no brand has time to look it all up themselves.
3. What to put in your media kit? About you and your business, stats and demographics, services, example of your work, past work/press, rates (sometimes), and contact info.
4. The length of your media kit should vary for different situations, but always to organized well and easy to read quickly.
5. Your media kit is a reflection of you and your ability to do good work – make sure it looks good and don’t solely rely on media kit templates.
6. Frequently update your media kit – this is a living document!
Feeling better about putting together your media kit and start pitching to brands? We hope that this post cleared up some of your burning questions about creating a media kit, but we know that sometimes you just need to talk it through one-on-one. Book a coaching call with one of our experts and we’ll start building a personalized game plan for you to land paid brand deals.
And if you’re in need of some extra media kit help, we have an entire design studio dedicated to helping you build materials that will get you paid brand partnerships. We can’t wait to help you secure your dream brand partnerships!
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