Are you a health professional that is interested in working with other brands?

If you answered yes, then you need a media kit!

In today's online landscape, a media kit is essential when it comes to pitching and landing brand collaborations.

Here, I talk about what a media kit is, who needs one and the 7 elements you must include in yours to make a lasting first impression on a brand.

What is a media kit?

A media kit is a digital document that acts as both a CV and portfolio in one. It showcases your brand, who you are and what you do, your achievements, services, rates and examples of your previous work.

Media kits can range anywhere from two to ten pages, depending on your level of experience and the amount of information you have to showcase. However, just because a media kit can be lengthy, doesn’t mean it should be! 

Much like you would approach a job application, I would encourage you to only include information in your media kit that is important and has a purpose, rather than filling it up for the sake of it.

Who needs one & why?

A media kit is not something that only influencers and media personalities have. 

If you are a small business owner with an online presence and a goal to collaborate and work with other brands, then you need a media kit. Whether you are just starting out with a small audience or you are more established with a larger audience, a media kit will enable you to communicate the value you can offer a brand in a succinct and professional way.

Any health professional with an online presence should have a media kit because brand collaborations span far more diverse areas than just social media campaigns.

What should be included in your media kit?

Media kits will vary based on the individual because they should represent you and your individual brand. However, there are seven key elements that I believe all media kits should include as outlined below.

1. Images

Visual connection is so important in your media kit because brands will want to identify who they are talking to before entering into a collaboration.

At a minimum, you must include a high-quality headshot of yourself in your media kit. Additional imagery that showcases your work may also help to support your application and showcase the quality of your work. 

Including examples of your work or images of you in action helps to validate your service offering and gives brands a visual representation of the value that you can offer their business.

2. About Me

An ‘about me’ section offers you an opportunity to formally introduce yourself to a brand or PR agency and show them who you are, what you do, and what you stand for. 

Never assume that the person reading your media kit knows who you are.

It is not uncommon for media kits to be shared within a company or among other companies, so it is important to highlight the most important things that people need to know about you in order to make it easier for them to determine whether there is enough alignment between your brands to enter into a partnership together. 

3. Social Media Stats

Social media statistics provide brands with a snapshot of your social presence and allow them to gauge the potential exposure their brand could receive through a collaboration with you. 

Brands will often want to partner with people who have a presence across multiple online platforms. Therefore, I would suggest that you include stats for every social channel that your business is active on (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Podcast, yourBlog etc) so you can show a brand that you are available for multi-channel campaigns. 

However, the question is – what stats should you include?

• On platforms such as Instagram: Include the number of followers you have, your average engagement rate and your reach or impressions (either by a 7 or 30 day period). You can get this data from Instagram insights.
• Blog posts: Include the number of unique sessions or page views your content is receiving along with the number of unique visitors. This information can be accessed via Google Analytics, if installed on your website.

4. Audience demographics

Demographic data includes the average age, location and gender of your audience. 

In the context of collaborations, the whole point of a partnership (from the brands perspective) is to engage your audience. Therefore, a brand will want to ensure that your audience aligns with the demographic of their target audience prior to running a campaign.

5. Services that you offer

The services that you are willing to offer in a brand collaboration should be included in this section. This may include things such as ambassador or spokesperson roles, workshop or seminar presentations, public speaking, photography or food styling, recipe development, writing, resource development, and product reviews to name a few.

Instead of listing all of your service options, I would suggest including several of the most relevant offerings to avoid overwhelming the brand. Include the services that you would like to offer and pursue through a collaboration whilst keeping in mind that you can always add more to your media kit depending on the brands desires. 

6. Rates 

Whether or not you should include your rates in your media kit  is something that is often debated. At the end of the day, it comes down to personal preference as there are pros and cons for each argument. 

Personally, I like to include rates for my services in my media kit. Here's why:

• It saves you time going back and forth via emails by allowing you to promptly and effortlessly reply to collaboration enquiries 
• It’s a great way for the brand to see whether they have the budget to work with you.

If you are willing to adjust your rates if the right opportunity were to come along and fear scaring off a brand by including your rates in your media kit, then you might like to include your baseline rates only (e.g. ‘workshops starting from $1000). Every brand and every collaboration is different, so you can use these baseline rates as a discussion starter to allow for adjustment and negotiation. Alternatively, you can also choose to have two copies of your media kit (one with rates displayed and the other without) to share at your discretion.

7. Examples of past work

Including examples of your past work is a great way to showcase the type of value you can offer a brand. This point may be considered optional, however I believe that it can help to make your media kit stand out from the crowd. 

You may like to include an example of a previous campaign you were involved in with the results you achieved or simply include logos of some of the notable brands that you have worked with. 

However, be mindful of the brands that you do showcase in your media kit. It is important to ensure they are aligned and aren’t direct competitors to a brand so that it won’t disadvantage you to secure future opportunities. 

If you are just getting started, then you may choose to omit this section altogether until you get some experience under your belt. 

How do you construct a media kit?

Now that you know the seven key elements that I recommend you include in your media kit, it is important to consolidate this information in a professional document.

Canva is the best program to assemble a visually beautiful and impactful media kit. Please don’t create your media kit in a word document. Your media kit needs to have a visual impact!

If you would like more guidance in building your own media kit, I have created a customisable Media Kit Template that will help you to communicate your value with confidence and monetise your online platforms effortlessly. This template is completely customisable, making it suitable for both early-stage business owners who are just getting started online, as well as more established business owners who have multiple online platforms and brand collaborations under their belt.

Take home?

If you are a health professional who has a desire to work with brands in any capacity, then you would benefit from having a media kit. 

To learn more about pitching to brands, check out my blog ‘How I landed a $14K brand collaboration'.