We read a lot of media kits. Most of them answer a question nobody asked, which is “how impressive am I”, and skip the one the buyer actually has, which is “will this work for us, and what will it cost”.
Here is what the person on the other side of it is checking, in the order they check it.
What it is for
We wrote separately on follower thresholds, which is the number most kits lead with and the one buyers care least about. A media kit is a sales document. Its job is to get a brand from “who is this” to “let’s discuss it” without a meeting, and to answer enough questions that the reply is a brief rather than a list of questions.
It is not a portfolio and not a CV. Two pages is plenty. Nobody has ever been rejected for brevity.
What a buyer checks, in order
| Checked | What they want | What sinks it |
|---|---|---|
| Who you reach | Age, location, and what they care about | No audience data at all |
| Geography | Concentration in markets they sell to | Audience where the brand does not ship |
| Engagement | Rate, and whether comments are real | Follower count alone |
| Fit | Evidence you understand their category | Generic kit sent to everyone |
| Past work | Results, not just logos | Client logos with no outcome |
| Price | A range, so they can qualify you | “Rates on request” |
Geography is the one that kills most kits silently. A creator whose audience is largely outside the markets a brand ships to is worth nothing to that brand, whatever the engagement rate — and if you have not included location data, a cautious buyer assumes the worst rather than asking.
What to put in it
One line on who you are and who you reach. Not a biography. “I make short-form video about home coffee for a mostly UK audience of 25 to 40 year olds who buy equipment.”
Audience data, from the platform’s own analytics. Size, engagement rate, top locations, age split, and the balance of the audience across platforms. Screenshots are fine and are more credible than typed numbers.
Two or three examples with outcomes. What you made, what it was for, and what happened — views, clicks, sales, or a quote from the brand. One example with a real result beats eight logos.
What you offer and what it costs. List the deliverables and a range for each. Say what usage is included and what costs extra.
How to reach you. One email address. Not a form, not a DM.
What to leave out
Impressions and reach as headline figures — buyers discount them automatically. Mood boards. A long personal story. Every platform you have ever posted on, including the ones with four hundred followers. Testimonials that praise your professionalism rather than your results.
And do not inflate the numbers. Anyone serious can check engagement rates against public posts, and a kit that does not match what they can see ends the conversation permanently.
Format and upkeep
PDF, under 5MB, named with your name rather than “media kit final v3”. A linked page works too and has the advantage of always being current.
Update it quarterly. A kit citing figures from eighteen months ago suggests either nothing has changed or you are not paying attention, and neither reads well.
Tailor the first page
The single highest-return habit: change one line for each brand you send it to, naming them and why your audience fits what they sell.
It takes two minutes and it is immediately obvious to the reader, because almost nobody does it. A kit that names the brand reads as a proposal. One that does not reads as a mailshot, and gets treated accordingly.