The Press Kit: Make It Easy for Influencers, Event Planners, and Media to Put You In Front of An Audience

Marketing works best when the prospect is given a clear call to action. When you want influencers, event planners, and media to put you before an audience, your call to action needs a strategy.

It might seem simple: you want them to get in touch with you, so that should be your call to action.?

But that may not be enough. The person who responds to your outreach or marketing might be the media personality themself, or they might be someone screening guest ideas for them. Either way, they need to know more about you than what your outreach or marketing told them.?

They are intrigued, which is great, but they are not purchasing a product or service. They are matchmaking people. Three parties are involved. The media personality, their audience, and you.?

So before they contact you, they will want to have a sense of who you are. They want to understand what you bring to their audience. They want an indication of your personality, and they want to know what topics you’ll be able to discuss entertainingly and expertly.

They also need to know if they can integrate you into their programming and marketing.

To increase your chances of getting an enthusiastic contact from them, you can address all of those questions and concerns with your Press Kit.

If you have a Press Kit, it will be the first thing event planners, influencers and media will look at when considering you as a potential guest or speaker.?

In many ways, even if your call-to-action is “contact me,” interested prospects will check your Press Kit before considering you.

What Does A Press Kit Do?

A Press Kit contains everything the media will need to do the following:

• Understand who you are
• Understand what you bring to their audience
• Understand what you can do to help them expand their audience
• Prepare content promoting your appearance
• Promote you to their audience easily and professionally?
• Motivate their audience to want to hear what you have to say
• Motivate their audience to watch or attend your appearance
• Prepare questions or topics for your appearance

If a media professional, influencer or journalist can find out all of this before they talk to you, they will be far more likely to get in touch with you. And when they do contact you, they will have already decided that they want to book you.

You have made their job much easier and shown that you are serious about being an authority in your field who is ready to be heard and confident in what they say.

So, how do you provide all of that??

You need a set of digital assets you can share with the media by giving them a link.?

The easiest way to do this is with a Google Folder. Create one on your drive, and change its share settings so that anyone with a link to it can open it.

You may be tempted to collect emails from people who want access to your Press Kit. It’s easy to set up a Google form for that purpose and to edit the Confirmation message to include the link. But many people who come to your Press Kit will find that off-putting.?

Generally speaking, it’s better to give prospects the Press Kit link without any fuss.

Let the person reviewing you as a possible guest or speaker see that you have already created all the marketing materials they need. This makes their life a lot easier.?

It also makes it possible for them to book you on short notice, which, somehow, is often the way people get their first media exposure.?

What’s In A Press Kit??

Bio

Of all the copy that’s nearly impossible to write, your own bio is at the top of the list. I have an upcoming article that might help, so please subscribe.

The person looking at your Press Kit needs a bio that will make you attractive to their audience. So don’t worry about your life story. Think entirely in terms of what people should know about you so they will believe you are worth listening to regarding the topics you will cover.?

As with all marketing copy, you need three versions of it. Put them all in one document entitled “[Your Name] Biography – 45, 125 and 750 word versions.”?

Some pointers on creating these:

• 40 to 45 words. It needs to be in this range. Forty words gives you substance, while the 45-word limit is strict. Include your “why” and draw people to you. This bio will be used everywhere in the media outlet’s marketing, and if the person reviewing you sees that you’ve got this ready for them, then they know that you have made their job very easy.?
• 125 words. Add in social proof, more substantiating experience, and one fun fact.

This one has to be there, too. Anyone who reads this is seriously considering you for one reason or another, so make it count.

• 750 words. Include a complete list of relevant experience and achievements. Include a testimonial if you have one. Include a story. Include something about how you give back. Bring it to a conclusion, so the reader fully appreciates your “why” and wants to meet you.

Images

These images will be used next to your bio and the title of your segment. Put them in a sub-folder titled “Promotional Headshots.”

The photo will be an important part of the media professional’s marketing of you, so provide high-resolution files.?

As you’ve certainly seen, there are AI apps that can start with your day-to-day photos and create a set of professional-looking headshots.?

A media pro will be able to tell at first glance that they’re AI generated, and while that will certainly be better than selfies or shots taken by friends, photographs taken by a professional will always make you stand out the most.

Book?

If you’ve written a book, that is probably why the media professional is looking at your Press Kit. Book-related items also go in a subfolder titled “My Book: [Title].”

Include high-resolution images of the cover straight on, and a staged cover shot.

Provide a single document entitled “[Your Name], [Book Title], Tagline, Logline, Book Blurb, and Reviews.”

The title explains what should be in that document.?

Company?

In the main folder along with your Bio, entitle this document, “[Your Name], [Company Name], Tagline, Logline, Mission Statement, History, and Links”

The title is the outline. The company’s “History” should include founding, funding, growth rate, and testimonials.

Topics of Expertise

This is also a document in the main Press Kit folder. In it, you outline up to five topics you feel qualified to speak about.?

For each, explain the professional and life experiences that enable you to guide others.?

Include 3 FAQs with their answers, which will help the media personality come up with interview questions.

Also include links to any interviews or references to you in the media relevant to that topic. If you use the same video for more than one topic, include a timestamp below it indicating where you cover each topic.

If possible, establish your authority with links to your blog or anything else you have written.

Obviously, if you have a book, your authority is unequivocally established across all your topics.

Contact

Be sure to include this document!

Below one of your professional headshots, put your name and all of your contact information, your LinkedIn profile, your professional Facebook Page, your Twitter Account – everything in a single list, with nothing extraneous added.

Now Your Call-to-action Will Get You Called

With a Press Kit in place, your efforts to get influencers, event planners, and media to put you in front of their audience will be more likely to produce results. They can get everything they need to promote you right away, understand who you are and what you bring to the table for their audience, and know you can be trusted.?

Now, when your call-to-action solicits a contact, you can rest assured that your Press Kit will be examined first, and when it’s found to be excellent, you will get the contact you asked for.?