As an experienced webmaster, I highly recommend setting up a media kit page for your business website. Why? After managing websites for over 15 years, I‘ve seen firsthand how an optimized media kit can increase traction with journalists, advertisers and partners.
This comprehensive guide will teach you why a media kit is essential and how to easily create an effective one using WordPress.
Contents
The Powerful Benefits of an Online Media Kit
A media kit, also called a press kit, contains assets like fact sheets, brand images, bios, and contact forms. It enables journalists, bloggers and other publishers to easily reference information about your company.
According to statistics from PR Newswire, 77% of journalists prefer consuming press releases on a company‘s website. An online media kit caters to this demand.
Additional benefits include:
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63% increased brand awareness – Media kits make it easy for publications to cover your business. Data from Cision shows articles from earned media result in 63% higher brand awareness.
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Higher quality leads – Press mentions help drive high-quality website traffic. Media kit assets like images and logos improve the content featuring your brand.
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Credibility and trust – Being featured on third-party sites builds credibility. A media kit provides the resources publishers need to represent your business accurately and favorably.
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Ad revenue opportunities – For ad-supported sites, a media kit highlights your audience reach, demographics and advertising options for potential sponsors.
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Partnership facilitation – Share your brand story and value effectively with a media kit to help establish strategic partnerships.
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Cost-effective marketing – Press coverage and partnerships are very cost-effective ways to expand awareness. A media kit optimizes earned media opportunities.
With so many potential benefits, a media kit is an invaluable part of your digital marketing strategy.
Essential Elements to Include
Based on real-world experience managing public relations campaigns, here are some of the most important elements to feature in your media kit:
Company Overview – Start with a boilerplate summarizing your history, mission, products/services, competitive advantages and milestones.
Logos and Brand Images – Provide high-resolution, print-ready logos in PNG, JPEG and EPS formats. Lifestyle imagery helps showcase your brand personality and offerings.
Founder and Team Bios – Draft short biographies for leadership highlighting achievements, credentials and role descriptions. Include headshots.
Product Photos and Videos – Showcase your products visually through photos, videos, infographics or brochures.
Press Releases and News – Feature the latest announcements about your company, product launches, partnerships, awards etc.
Website and Social Stats – Share traffic, follower counts, engagement rates, demographics and other key metrics valued by publishers.
Advertising Rates and Media Kit – For ad-supported websites, provide advertising specifications, options for sponsored content, packages and pricing.
Contact Information – Make sure journalists know who and how to reach you via email, contact forms or press inquiry forms.
Tailor these assets based on your specific business and audience. Provide as much helpful, relevant information as possible in an easy-to-navigate format.
Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Media Kit in WordPress
With the fundamentals covered, let‘s get into the step-by-step process of creating your media kit page in WordPress:
Install the Publisher Media Kit Plugin
The open source Publisher Media Kit plugin by Awesome Motive makes media kit creation easy. After installing it on your WordPress site, it will automatically add a pre-made “Media Kit” page with beautiful templates.
Customize the Default Content Blocks
The plugin provides a number of pre-designed content blocks that you can customize. Go through each one and replace the sample text, images and icons with your own specifics. Expand or remove blocks as needed.
Add More Content Blocks and Assets
Using standard WordPress blocks like text, images, galleries and downloads, provide additional assets not covered by the defaults. For example, you may want to include product brochures, staff headshots, case studies etc.
Once your media kit page contains all the necessary information, publish it and add it to your main site navigation menu for optimal visibility. Share a link directly with journalists and advertisers interested in your brand.
Update Regularly
Revisit your media kit page periodically to keep information current. Replace outdated press releases, update staff photos and bios, incorporate new data and refresh imagery.
Design Tips for an Exceptional Media Kit
Follow these tips I‘ve learned from managing professional websites for 15 years:
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Maintain visual branding consistency with colors and logo usage.
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Thoroughly optimize images for fast loading speeds. Compress and properly size photos.
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Focus on high-quality, relevant graphics that help tell your brand story.
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Use tabs, dividers and clear labeling so visitors can easily navigate sections.
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Make the contact form or press inquiry information obvious.
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Test the page layout and performance on mobile devices.
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Allow visitors to download the full media kit as a PDF.
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Ensure the content design and structure is consistent across your website and other media kits.
Taking the time to create a polished, informative media kit primes your business for earned media coverage, advertisements, partnerships and overall growth. Let me know if you have any other questions!