You've heard the saying; you’ve got to be in it to win it.
When it comes to getting free publicity, this means you have to be everywhere to be seen and found. That's why, with so many businesses vying for media space, standing out is the key.
Having an Expert Profile on SourceBottle is a big step in the right direction. In part, that's because it offers you an easy way of getting your comprehensive bio in front of a journalist and blogger exactly when they're looking for someone with your expertise. But it's also because getting free publicity is all about leaving as many breadcrumbs as possible so that the media (and your prospective client/customer) can find you.
And one of these 'breadcrumbs' is a 'digital media kit'; also known as a press kit.
Journalists are accustomed to 'digging' for information to flesh out a story. After all, it's a recognised part of the job. But with life growing more and more hectic and newsrooms growing more demanding with pressing deadlines, making it easier to get found through a simple Google search is ever more powerful. If your website is armed and ready with a media kit, complete with all the information a journalist would need to write their story (including images and background information), EVERYONE'S a winner.
As someone keen to get into a journalist's good books, a great tactical approach is to provide as much information as possible to make their job a cinch. And a good media kit goes a long way to doing that. (Think of it as a little like your online business resume.)
An obvious place to host your digital media kit is on your website. That way, when a journalist goes searching for someone with your product or expertise, everything they could want to know about you is at their finger tips - featured on a single page. You don't want them to have to go flicking between pages to find your bio, or more information about what you sell and who to.
Your media kit needs to have all the resources and background information a journalist would need to run a great story about you - short of interviewing you! That's because the best ones make it easy for the media to quickly learn about you - your why and what you do - and get access to images, profile photos and marketing materials that they can use.
So, despite exploring publicity tactics like podcast interviews, Facebook Lives and online TV shows, a media kit remains a very effective tool to help you be found.
But what makes up a good media kit?
Make it easy and comprehensive by including:
That's it.
For more, check out my user friendly tipsheet to Create a Great Media Kit.