[Photo credit: Mauritius-Villa.com.]
As a marketer, I frequently collaborate with travel bloggers. If I don’t have emails from bloggers to reply to or follow up with current collaborations, I’ll spend time on reaching out to more bloggers. More often than not, I find myself looking for a media kit for more information. It’s an important file to help brands understand more about blogger and whether there is a chance to collaborate. If you want to find out how brands look at your media it, read on below!
1. About page
Who are you? How long have you been blogging? What is the blog mainly about? What is your niche? The About page gives a brief understanding of who is behind the blog, and whom the brand is talking to. It helps in finding the right tone for the pitch. Is it friendly, youthful, or is it more corporate-like? Try to be specific. Within the realm of the travel industry, there are quite a few categories:
– Budget/solo travels
– Luxury travels
– Family travels
– Business travels
– Quirky adventures
– Excursions
– Ecotourism
– And more!
Do let brands know what exactly you write about. This also helps you filter irrelevant brands as most will not reach out to you if there is no synergy.
2. Target audience
Whom are you writing to? Is there a match between your audience and a brand’s targets? Here are a few ways brands segment their targets (and this is also what most brands are looking for in this page).
a. Geographics
Where is the majority of your audience? Indeed, travellers can come from any corner in the world, and we wish that we have the budget to target the whole world too! Unfortunately, when the budget is limited, brands have no choice but to focus on one or a few locations at a time – where most of their customers are coming from.
b. Demographics
Age group, gender, family status, education and income are part of what brands care about. Do include some statistics, like the percentage of male, female readers, age distribution, etc. Remember to cite the source of your data as well.
c. Psychographics
Psychographics pertains to lifestyle, social class and personality. Do you focus on luxury travels? Do they have specific interests like wine, quirky adventures, and the likes?
d. Behavioural
At which stage of the decision-making process is your audience in? Do they come to your blog for travel inspiration? Or have they already decided on the destination and come to your site for recommendations or deals on activities, accommodations and tips?
3. Reach
The next question brands always have is “what is your reach?” On this page, we will be looking for statistics of your monthly unique users, i.e. how many people are following your blog. How long do they stay on your page? On average, how many pages do you readers browse every time they visit the blog? If you are on social media, do include statistics of your followers on all channels. If you have a newsletter, how many people have subscribed to it? What is it about, what is the open rate and click rate? Another important point brands are looking for is how engaged your readers are. Do they often like, share and comment on your articles?
4. Ways of collaboration
It’s good to indicate the types of collaboration you are interested in, or not interested in and if you are open to other ideas and discussion. Generally, the availability of a media kit indicates that you are open for collaborations. Sometimes, I come across blogs that only indicate “contact us to discuss more about collaboration opportunities”, and that’s fine. Unless there are types of collaboration that you definitely don’t want to do, then it’s good to put it in the kit so that brands know and would not contact you about that.
5. Previous collaborations / Testimonials / Case studies (if applicable)
If you have collaborated with brands before, it’d be interesting for us to know what others talk about you, and if possible, an example of a previous collaboration. What was the collaboration about, what did you do, what kind of results were generated. The advantage is that it shows your confidence in yourself and your audience, and you know that that is the kind of result you can produce. The downside is that it may set the wrong expectation for the brands, since every collaboration is different and each brand has a different goal. For starters, it may be difficult to have an impressive list of previous partnerships, but if you have had your work published elsewhere or have been featured in any articles, do put that in the media kit.
6. Rates
As marketers work within a set budget, they have a specific amount allocated for each items. It’s good if you can list a few general items that brands tend to look for:
– Cost per link
– Cost per article
– Cost per social media post
– Sidebar advertising
– Banner advertising
– Newsletter inclusion
Brands will discuss more if they need big, tailor-made campaigns. Do indicate whether you are open to negotiation.
7. Additional information
Values: What do you believe in as a blogger/an online business? If we share the same values, it’s easier for us to talk and work together.
Experiences: Do you have relevant experiences in your previous occupations?
It doesn’t hurt if you don’t include this information, but if you do, it can be very helpful.
8. Contact
Which is the best way to contact you? Is it via the contact form, via email, social media, Skype, Google Hangout or phone call? Let the brands know.
9. Design
Last but not least, does design matter? Apparently, no one wants to look at a poorly designed media kit where information is everywhere and not well-organised. If style is part of your blog identity/proposition, then definitely show that in your media kit. Other than that, the most important thing is to present information and statistics in a clear and easy to understand way.
Follow Travel Bloggers Guide!