The do’s, the don’ts and the tips that will have you sounding like a pro
Having a good media kit should be an important part of any company’s strategy. The online media kit serves an important purpose by providing all the information media will want/need to know that can’t be fit into a single news release.
According to a 2017 survey by TEKGROUP, 95 per cent of Journalists feel online media kits are important for businesses to have. Thirty per cent of those journalists say they use online media kits every day and over 50 per cent say they use them weekly. With journalists being desk bound more than ever it is important they can access this information quickly and easily.
Photo caption: Elements of what goes into creating a good online media kit
Photo credit: dHz Media
The kit will often include such documents as:
- Fact sheet
- Company or project backgrounder
- Economic backgrounder
- Photographs
- Executive bios
So what goes into making a good media kit? Many journalists will look to a company’s media kit to fill in any information gaps in a story so it’s vital that documents within the kit provide the most accurate and up-to-date information. A journalist should be able to read through the media kit and gain a full understanding of what the company does, who the main players are and its history. Here at dHz Media we have some do’s and don’ts for creating a good media kit:
- Do be concise
- Don’t use overly wordy language
- You only have so long to catch and keep your readers’ attentions so don’t bore them with unnecessarily wordy sentences. Get straight to the point!
- Don’t use marketing jargon
- Journalists and other readers don’t care for fluff so keep it out of your writing
- Don’t use adverbs
- Journalists don’t use adverbs in their writing so don’t waste your time by putting them in yours
- Do lead with the most important information first
- Get the important information out there while your readers attention is still fresh
- Do site statistics and facts
- You can’t just put stats without a source and expect journalists to just believe it’s true
- Don’t clutter your documents
- Use bullet points and good use of space for readability
- Do tell the reader what services the company provides, what makes the company special and how it has been successful
- Do be specific
- Name specific projects and work the company has done that has made it a success
Photo caption: Elements of what goes into creating a good online media kit
Photo credit: dHz Media
Along with providing solid and useful information on the company the most important thing when creating media kit material is good writing. Rick Riddle gives us 13 rules to sharpen your PR writing in his article for PR Daily. Listed below are the rules we feel are most important that haven’t already been mentioned above.
- Focus on the “5 W’s.” Who, what, when, where and why
- Make your writing scannable. Use sub heads, bullet points, numbered lists, etc.
- Always use active voice. It sounds better and has more impact
- Know your audience. You most likely have several audiences so know what’s important to all of them
- Tell a good story. Your company has a good story so convey that to your readers
- Use a thesaurus. Writing the same words over again is boring so find fresh new ones
- Edit carefully. This is IMPORTANT. Read everything you write out loud and have someone else edit it afterwards
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