How to Put Together a Media Kit for Your Small Business

Pitching your business to the media can help boost your company in many ways. It can get you media placements and the equivalent of free advertising if it is done correctly. This is why it is essential for your business to have a media kit that is available for media personnel and/or potential clients upon request.

The media kit is needed when your company is offering a new product or sponsoring a major event. It should be detailed and elaborate and give media representatives a thorough background of the business and it should deliver this information in various formats. Media kits are also great for handing out at press conferences.

To put together an effective media kit, it should contain the following items:

• Company Information. The media kit should contain a backgrounder on the company and a fact sheet on any tidbits of information relevant to the success of the company and its products. Other information that should be included is biographical information on the officers of the company.
• Press releases. The media kit should have a press release on each product that the company has introduced and all of the major events the company has sponsored.
• Articles and Publications. Recent press coverage on your business is appropriate for your media kit. Placing reprints of articles or printouts of online articles in your media kit is can give the media ideas as to how to write about your business. Putting video and audio clips of media coverage and interviews on your company's Web site is a good idea as well.
• Photos. The media kit should contain color photos of the major products produced by your business. Black and white photos are sufficient too.
• FAQ. A list of frequently asked questions should be included in the media kit. An FAQ sheet helps to prepare your interviewer with what questions he/she needs to ask. It is also a great tool for any of your prospective clients to have on hand.

Other miscellaneous items that can be included in the media kit are: awards received, white papers, business logos, promotions and events and mission statements. Every element of the media kit should have the business' logo and contact information on it. Since most media kits are comprised of several pieces, placing the business name and contact information on everything will help to make sure that the kit stays together.

The media kit items should be put in a folder that's eye catching and attractive. Media personnel receive hundreds of media kits and you want your media kit to grab their attention. The media kit should be professional, but put together in a unique way that sets it apart from other media kits. Another good idea would be to make all the elements of your media kit available online via your company's Web site.

After sending your media kit, follow-up with the contact to make sure they received your kit. This will again get your company's name out to the contact. It is also a good idea to do a follow-up call to make sure that the person the media kit was sent to is indeed the right representative that should have received it.

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