Press Kits- The Basics

personal photo of truffle truffle‘s press kit (received at Indie Wed)

Whether you are an artist, blogger, designer, crafter or vintage seller there will come a time when you want to get more awareness of your business in the media. Instead of waiting for the media to find you, you can contact them yourself with your press kit.

What is a press kit?

Press kits or media kits as they are sometimes called, are information packets that you can send out to prospective media to inform them of your business. If you are thinking of approaching the press, in particular magazines or newspapers, you’ll want to send them over some information about you and your company so you can get their attention.

Press kits can be sent out in a digital format or you can create a physical kit. Most media outlets will expect to receive a digital kit. They are easy to email over, don’t take up much space and they are also kind to the environment. Physical kits still have a place though. If you are sending out samples to tv shows, national magazines or potential stockists it makes more sense to send out a physical press kit with it.

Who can I send it to?

You can send your press kit out to reporters, journalists, magazine editors, bloggers and tv shows. These are busy people so you want to make it easy for them to write about you by supplying all the information they might need to put a story together.

You can also use your press kit as a marketing tool to send to potential sponsors or advertisers. Many bloggers have press kits and these will feature information trying to get an advertisers attention like reader demographics, traffic stats, sponsor rates and ad sizes.

What do you include?

Firstly decide who your audience is. A potential advertiser on your blog will want different information than a magazine editor.

As a general idea though all press kits should contain the following:

• Company information- a one page background to your business.
• A short bio on you and what you have done before.
• A press release for your latest collection or product range. This must be as newsworthy as you can make it. Think about how your products connect with something relevant in the press at the moment or consider what your products have to offer the wider market.
• An information sheet featuring details on your collection- here you want to share information on stockists, materials and pricing.
• Contact details- so they can get in touch with you. Journalists and editors can be working to tight deadlines so be sure to include a phone number so they can contact you quickly if they need more information.
• Details of quality press you have received so far. Start with features in the National press, high traffic blogs and websites. It shows that the media are discussing your work. If you are just starting out or don’t have any press yet, use client testimonials to show what people think of your products.
• Cover letter. Your cover letter will bring together each element of your press kit in a pitch. Write a short introduction to your business, what your products are and the benefits of them for your target customer. Then say where they can be found, what the press have been saying about you so far and end with a call to action. What do you want the viewer of your press kit to do next- contact you, make an order, place an advert?

How should you present it?

Your press kit can be a digital pdf which can be created using a design program. Using your best photos, consistent branding and a large dose of your brand personality, you can put together a simple but effective kit. Turn it into a web optimized pdf and you can not only email it out to prospective media but also have it available on your website or blog for people to download.

If you want to create a physical press kit you can get creative in how you present it. Think about your brand and products. You want your press kit to represent your brand so if you’re an eco-friendly business use eco materials like kraft paper or cotton muslin bags. If you are a colourful children’s brand, draw on this to inform your use of colours, materials and typography. The possibilities are endless.

There are lots of ways to get creative with your press kit but above all have fun with it and express your brand!

Do you have a question on press kits? Post them below and I’ll answer them in the comments.

Isa Maria Seminega –– Noisette Marketing

Isa recently founded Noisette Academy a learning community providing e-courses and mentoring services. Noisette Academy aims to empower creative business owners by teaching the skills they need to market, brand and develop their passion into a profitable business.