Media kit: what to put in yours, and how journalists actually use it

By Zach Schleien

What goes in a media kit, what to leave out, where to put it, how to link it in a pitch, and how creators use the other kind of media kit with brands.

A media kit is one page or folder that gives a journalist everything they need to write about you: a short company description, a founder bio, key facts, photos, logos, past press and a way to reach you. You build it once, keep it current, and link to it every time you pitch.

It doesn't get you coverage on its own. The pitch and the angle do that. The media kit makes it easy for a reporter to say yes once they're interested, because they can get your facts and photos in two minutes instead of emailing you and waiting.

I've earned 200+ media placements in 25+ countries, including 18 TV appearances and 52 major publications, and I've never hired a PR agency. Here's what I'd put in a media kit, what I'd leave out, and how to use it.

I can guarantee you a placement in outlets like the Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald and MSN. Book a press call.

Key takeaways

• A media kit (also called a press kit) holds your company description, founder bio, fact sheet, photos, logos, past press and contact details.
• Its job is to save a reporter time after your pitch lands. It isn't the pitch.
• Put it on a press page on your site and link to it. Don't make people sign up or download a big file to see it.
• Every number in it should be one you can prove if a fact checker asks.
• You don't need past press to build one. Start with the facts and photos, then add coverage as you get it.

What a media kit is for

A media kit is a set of ready-to-use materials about your company, made for journalists, producers and podcast hosts. The reason it exists is simple. A reporter writing about you needs a lot of small things at once: how to spell your name, what year you started, what your company does in one sentence, a photo they're allowed to use. If they have to email you for each one, your story slows down, and a reporter on deadline may move on to someone easier.

Picture a producer who wants you on a segment tomorrow morning. It's 4 in the afternoon, and they need a headshot for the graphic and your title for the caption on screen. If your press page has both, you're booked. If it doesn't, they're waiting on your reply.

"Media kit" can also mean something different. Creators and publishers use the term for the sheet they send to brands and advertisers, with audience numbers and rates. I cover that version near the end. Most of this post is about the press version, for founders and experts who want coverage.

Media kit vs press kit vs press release

These get mixed up a lot, so here's the plain version:

• Media kit and press kit. Same thing for most people. Both mean the full set of materials about your company for journalists.
• Press release. One announcement about one piece of news, like a launch or a funding round. It can live inside your media kit, but it isn't the kit.
• Pitch. The short email you send to one journalist about one story. The pitch is what gets their attention. The media kit is what you link to in it.

What to put in your media kit

1. A one-paragraph company description

Write who you are, what you do, who it's for and one fact that shows it's real. Keep it to three or four sentences. This is the same paragraph you'd put at the bottom of a press release, so write it once and use it in both places. I wrote up how to write that paragraph, with examples, in Press release boilerplate: what to write in the About section, with examples.

2. Founder bios and headshots

Give a short bio (two sentences) and a longer one (one paragraph). Reporters often need just the short one. Add a headshot in high resolution, ideally one horizontal and one vertical, with a plain background.

3. A fact sheet

This is where a reporter goes to check a fact. List the basics: when you started, where you're based, how many people are on the team, what you sell and your biggest numbers.

For Filteroff, the numbers that told the story were things like 250K users, 2M+ video dates, 18,000 video speed dating events across 150 countries, and an average session of 200 seconds compared with Tinder's 110. Each one is specific, and each one could be checked.

4. Photos, logos and product images

Include your logo in a few formats, product screenshots or product photos, and a couple of photos of the team or the product being used. Say whether reporters can use them freely and how to credit them.

5. Past press

List your best coverage first, with the outlet name, the headline and the date. If you don't have any yet, leave the section out instead of filling it with weak mentions. Add it as you go.

One placement tends to lead to the next. When Filteroff launched on Product Hunt and hit #1, it had already been featured by the New York Times and the BBC, and that was part of the launch plan.

6. Topics you can talk about

List three to five subjects you can speak on with real experience behind them. Reporters looking for an expert quote scan for this. Make each one specific, like "how small companies get press without an agency," not "marketing."

7. Recent news and press releases

Add your latest announcements with dates. Take down anything that's out of date or no longer true.

8. One clear contact

Give a name, an email and a phone number that someone actually checks. If a producer can't reach you the same day, they'll book someone else.

What to leave out

• Numbers you can't back up. If a fact checker asks where a number came from, you need an answer. Round down if you're unsure, or leave it out.
• A 40-page PDF. A reporter on deadline won't read it. Short sections with clear headings work better.
• A sign-up wall. If a reporter has to give you their email to see your press materials, a lot of them won't bother.
• Big attachments in your pitch. Link to your press page instead.
• Vague claims like "industry leading" or "the best." Replace each one with a fact.

How to use your media kit in a pitch

Put your kit on a press page on your own site, at an address like /press. Then link to it in two places: one line near the end of your pitch, and your email signature.

The pitch itself stays short. Lead with the story and why it matters now, then make it easy to say yes. One sentence that got me booked on live TV was "Would you like to interview the founder?" Here's how I write the rest of the pitch: How to Write a PR Pitch That Actually Gets a Reply.

Don't expect the kit to do the pitching for you. In my Top Romp days, I sent roughly 20 to 40 generic press releases to company contact pages, spent hours on each one, and got zero replies. What changed things was my friend Michael, who knew how to pitch press. I watched how he did it, asked him a ton of questions, and started doing it myself. What lands coverage is the pitch and the angle.

Do you need press before you build one?

No. You're not too small for press, and you're not too small for a media kit. My first real press win was the Washington Post featuring 18percent, my mental health community, on July 2, 2018. At the time it had about 150 members and 11,000+ messages. Journalists cover stories, not company size.

So build the kit with what you have today: the description, the bio, the facts, the photos and the contact. Add the press section after your first hit.

A made-up example fact sheet

Here's a short fact sheet for a made-up company, to show the shape:

• Company: Northside Meal Co. (a made-up example)
• What it does: Delivers ready-to-heat dinners to families in Austin, Texas.
• Founded: 2023, by two former restaurant cooks.
• Team: 14 people.
• Key facts: Delivers six nights a week. Menu changes every Monday.
• Founders available to talk about: running a food business with two kids at home, what restaurant cooks know about meal planning, and how to cook a week of dinners in three hours.
• Photos: Founder headshots, kitchen photos and dish photos, free to use with credit to Northside Meal Co.
• Press contact: name, email and phone.

Use your press again after you get it

Once you land coverage, your media kit isn't the only place it should live. Put the outlet logos on your homepage and your landing pages, and use the coverage in your ads.

A matchmaking landing page I worked on converted at 15%, and I added logos, testimonials and a video above the fold to lift it. And for a real estate sponsor raising money for a nine-figure project, static ads built from the firm's press coverage brought in leads at $18 to $19, while the original video ads cost $133 to $186.

The other kind of media kit: for creators and publishers

If you run a newsletter, a podcast, a YouTube channel or a social account and want brand deals, your media kit is a sales sheet. Brands want to know who sees your content and what it costs to work with you. It usually covers:

• Who you are and what you make, in two sentences.
• Audience size on each channel, pulled from your own analytics.
• Who your audience is, like location, age range and interests.
• Engagement, like average views, opens or downloads per post or episode.
• Brands you've worked with before, with results only if you can prove them.
• What you offer and what it costs, or a line inviting brands to ask.
• How to reach you.

The same rules apply. Keep the numbers current, take them straight from your analytics, and never round them up.

Media kit checklist

• Write a three to four sentence company description.
• Write a short and a long founder bio, and take a good headshot.
• Build a fact sheet with numbers you can prove.
• Gather your logo, product images and team photos, and say how to credit them.
• List three to five topics you can speak on.
• Add past press, best first, if you have any.
• Put it all on one press page on your site with a contact that someone checks.
• Link to it in every pitch and in your email signature.
• Update it every time something changes.