How To Create A Media Kit For Your Blog

Do you want to work with brands? Have you considered reaching out to a brand you absolutely love or want to build a relationship with? Do you find yourself unsure of how to market yourself to brands when they contact you to find out more about you and your blog? Well, I have a solution. Create a Media Kit. I didn't realise how important one was when it came to working with brands until I made one myself. Now I know I always have my kit there to present to brands. I'm going to run through with you in the simplest way possible how you can make your own media kit for your blog, as well all the information you'll want to know about why you should have one.

You might be sitting there thinking, well what even is a media kit? She's running on and on about how great they are and the importance of one, but she's not actually telling us what they are! Well, a media kit is like a document that outlines key information about your blog. This is the kit you send to brands and advertisers you want to collaborate with or who have shown interesting in wanting to work with you. It's like a digital version of a business card.

A media kit gives others the chance to find out about you and your blog, the topic areas you cover, your stats/followers and any other additional information you think would be suitable to share;such as your schedule, target audience and the service/collab packages you offer. 

A media kit enables you to share all the important parts of your blog with potential brand partners in one place. It's a great idea to not only send it to brands, but have it within your contact or PR page on your blog. This will give brands a chance to find out a little bit more about you, before they approach you to see if you are what they are looking for. It also creates the impression that you are aware of not only yourself, but what it is your blog is about and what you are looking for when it comes to sponsorship deals. Plus if it reflects your image well, then you'll already make a professional impression.

You don't have to be a fancy graphic designer to even make one. There's a number of ways you can easily create one for free. PicMoneky, Canva, Microsoft Word, Powerpoint & Publisher are all free to use tools that will give you the opportunity to create your kit. You'll want to at least have some sort of program/tool that will enable you to add text and images into your kit. Other bonus features like icons, shapes to build around your text or images and any other details you want to include can be added as you wish. Of course, you can also make one on paid for software like Photoshop or InDesign.

An image of yourself - This doesn't have to be a professional image, but any clear and good quality image of yourself, maybe from your latest outfit post or your favourite selfie of yourself will be your best option. Providing an image of yourself will give brands a chance to see the person behind the blog. Ensure you look friendly and approachable!

A short bio - Not only do they want to see the person behind the blog, they also want to get to know you. Treat it like an introduction about yourself. Write a compelling brief piece about who you are, what your blog is about, how your blog began and how old it is, the topics you cover and any other information you believe will appeal to your target brand(s). This will help you to connect easier.

Add photos from your most popular posts - Showcase your photography talents by including a few photos from your most popular or favourite posts. You could link this up to your blog topics feature. This will give brands a clear idea of your style and what you are capable of producing.

Throw in your blog logo - If you have a blog logo, then feature it somewhere within your kit. Or you could also include your header somewhere in there so potential sponsors get a real good idea of your overall theme. 

Stats - Gather your latest traffic statistics together, either from Google Analytics or another traffic monitor. The type of stats you'll want to find out and put on your kit, include overall blog views, unique visitors, average views per post, average page views per month, any social media impressions; such as average daily Twitter or Pinterest impressions.

Following - No doubt you'll have your blog linked with your social media. If so, include your links to your social media profiles and the number of followers you currently have. Brands will most likely want you to promote a particular product or service not only on your blog, but also to your social media audience. If brands can see your credibility, then they'll be super impressed with you.

Reader demographics - Including your reader demographics will give brands a clear idea of whom your target audience is/the type of people who visit and enjoy your blog. Make note of where your readers are coming from, the gender of your readers, the average age group and even perhaps where their interests may lie.

Past brand collaborations - If you worked with brands in the past, don't be afraid to highlight this on your media kit. It will show that you are not only have the knowledge and skills of how to work with brands, but the experience and reliability. 

Testimonials/Media features -You might have also had the opportunity to be featured in the media, such as your local newspaper or an online magazine. Maybe you've been lucky enough to win an award for your blog. Please do include this within your media to show off your achievements and demonstrate how trustworthy you are and the good reputation you have.

The services/packages - It's always important to remember to note what services you offer. Things like product reviews, sponsored content, giveaways, social media coverage and advertising should be included. You might also want to add how much you tend to charge for these types of services. This will give any brand a clear idea of what investment they will need to make when working with you.

Accurate/up to date contact info - Now you've told them all about you, then they're probably going to want to get in contact with you (if they haven't already) to discuss things further. Make sure that you provide all up to date and correct contact information on your media kit. This includes your name, email address and any social media links that brands can contact you through. 

Next you are going to want to save your media kit in PDF format to your computer. You can either do this through the software you are using. For example, on most word documents you are able to save the document in a PDF format. However if you are using an online tool, you might find this slightly more tricky to do. But there are free PDF converters available online that will convert your file for you if you can't do it through the tool you used to create your media kit.

Once it's PDF ready, you need to sign into GoogleDrive. This won't take long to do at all and it's pretty straight forward. Now you're logged in, you'll need to upload your PDF file to your drive. Once it has been uploaded, the file should be highlighted and you should also be able to find an icon bar in the right hand corner. The first icon you see is the one you'll need to click on, it should say 'Get a shareable link' when you hover over it. Click this icon and copy & paste the link. With this link, head on over to your Contact Page on your blog or wherever you feel most appropriate. Copy and Paste the link to this page under the name 'Media Kit' or whatever you want to name it. Now it is complete!

In terms of sending it over to brands through emails, you can just easily share the link with them and they will be able to view it in the PDF format just like others will be able to by clicking through your blog.

Brands will love if you keep your media kit theme reflecting well with your overall blog theme. This includes using the same colour palette as your blog. For example, my blog's colour scheme includes pink, grey, white and black. On my media kit, I have included this colours to reflect what my brand is about. This will ensure you're keeping professional.

Other features you might want to add include your blog schedule (the days or average amount you tend to upload weekly) and some of your favourite posts that you've wrote to date.

Be as creative as you want! Don't be afraid to show off your skills when it comes to designing your media kit. It will impress.
But also, remember you don't have to be a computer whizz to create something great either. Experiment and create something you're proud of!

Lauren x