Media kits that advance your sales offer certain components designed
to give a clear picture of the benefits of advertising with you. It paints a
picture of what the prospective customer will receive and how the customer will
expand his/her customer base due to exposure to your subscribers or site visitors.
A media kit usually contains the following:
Stats page
Press release or advertisement copy
Business card
Company profile
Photos or samples
Testimonials from customers
Cover letter
All enclosed in a folder (unless it's an online media kit)
Let's take a look at each component and how they help to build an
impressive image of your advertising offer.
Stats Page
Consider the questions you would have if purchasing advertising from
others. You would most likely want to know the circulations of an ezine, or the number of
hits or page views a site receives. You would be curious as to how many new subscribers or
visitors they receive monthly. You would want information on the target audience this
outlet reaches (including ages, sex, occupation and education level). Finally, you'd want
to know the cost of the available advertisements.
Laying out all this information in an easy-to-read style will allow your
prospects to view, at a glance, the pertinent information they need to make a decision.
Press Release
A press release or advertisement copy (called a tear sheet) is generally
included in order to show the customer that you are actively promoting your publication or
site. Media/advertising buyers understand that a business which continually increases its
circulation or page views is more likely to provide good results.
Make sure your release or tear sheet is recent. It won't make much of an
impression to send outdated material.
Business Card
Yes, your contact information may be on your site, or you might have
provided it to the customer via email or phone. However, including a business card is a
simple courtesy that prevents the customer from having to look for your information. For
online media kits simply provide a link to your contact information. The key is to make
contacting you and placing orders simple.
Company Profile
This document should include a brief company history along with other more
recent news about your business. Growth ratios, estimated sales figures, percentages of
circulation increase over the last several months, etc. can all be included to show the
advertisers that our business is a good investment for his/her advertising dollars. The
profile should be approximately two pages in length.
Photos or Samples
Everyone likes to see what they are purchasing. Providing a sample issue
of your ezine or a few photos (screen shots) of your Web site displaying banner ads, etc.
is a good visual motivator. It also allows the advertiser to experience your product first
hand.
Testimonials From Customers
Showing the end results from other's advertising experiences will make
quite an impact on your customers. When they see that current customers are getting
excellent results from their ads, you demonstrate the effectiveness of your offer. If you
don't have any testimonials, ask your current clients for some. Suggest that they include
the length of time they've advertised with you and what their average results have been.
Cover Letter
If you'll be mailing paper media kits, be sure to include a cover letter.
Thank the prospect for their interest and make specific references as to how your
publication/site has provided success for others in related industries.
All Enclosed In A Folder
A professional presentation is vital. Unfortunately, I've seen far too
many "cheap" looking media kits. They were simply printed on standard copier
paper (or worse yet... were photo copies of originals), stapled or paper clipped together
and shoved into an envelope. That approach won't convince anyone to purchase from you.
Print all your materials as originals onto laser (or better quality)
paper. Place them neatly in a heavyweight, pocketed folder.
For online kits, create a downloadable pdf document in Adobe.
This will allow your visitors to quickly get your information in a convenient form that is
readable by both Mac and PC.
Remember... these prospects don't know you. They are trying to make a
decision, and the only thing they have to base that decision on is what you offer them.
Make sure professionalism is a primary consideration in everything you do.
Once your complete media kit is professionally prepared, it will offer
your potential clients all the information they need to see why your advertising offer is
one that will be well worth the money!
Most buying decisions are emotional. Your ad copy should be, too!
Karon is President & CEO of Marketing Words, Inc. who offers targeted
copywriting, search engine copywriting, and ezine article writing. Subscribe to Karon's
free ezine at http://www.marketingwords.com/ezine.html or visit her site at
http://www.marketingwords.com. You can also learn to write you own powerful copy at
http://www.copywritingcourse.com. |
