Media Kit Ingredients

Media kits are the perfect way to help get your business known, whatever it may be.
A media kit is a collection of information, designed to answer all questions any media may have. A good media kit will grab the attention of the reader; it will leave a lasting impression and create enough interest to make potential investors want to contact you.

Here is a list of some essential ingredients every good media kit should contain:

1. A Cover to Blow Their Socks Off; 

Make it professional, make it eye-catching and make it relevant.

2. A Media Release;

Your media release must answer the 5 W's & H (Who, What, When, Where Why & How). The best structure for media releases is the good old inverted pyramid. Start with the most interesting and work from there. Make it newsworthy and satisfy your audience. Draw your readers in; use visual imagery and be creative and concise.

3. A Profile;

Your media kit profile should be about a person who has current involvement with your business - eg. your new CEO. Be sure to include a photo.

4. A Backgrounder;

A backgrounder is just that; a document which gives background information. There are three types of backgrounders; those about people, those about historical events and those about organisations/products/services. Backgrounders should include a combination of text and images and should be aesthetically pleasing.

5. Fact Sheets; 

Fact sheets should be a chronological collection of milestone moments your company has had. They are allowed to be a little quirky; stranger than fiction even. The purpose of fact sheets is to give the media additional insights, or colour, for a story.

There are many more elements you may wish to include in your media kit, depending on your business; extra photos, company merchandise, reports, fliers or brochures. The options are endless, its all up to you. Have a specific theme in mind for your media kit and stick to it. Be as creative as you can be. Go wild! Make your audience want to go wild with you. Good luck!

Technical Data - Caff-fiends!

Hey you there! Yes you, Public Relations worker. Are you a pothead too?

Recently, Dunkin' Donuts and CareerBuilder conducted their third annual study into the most caffienated professions of all. Their results concluded that coffee plays a big role in helping professionals perk up at work. The survey ranked Public Relations professionals as the fourth biggest coffee junkies in the US.. Surprised? I'm not! 

Food preparation/service workers topped the list, followed by scientists and sales representatives. PR and marketing professionals came in at fourth; next came nurses, media workers, business executives and teachers. 

63% of US workers claim to drink at least two magic cups per day, with 55% admitting to drinking at least one. 43% of workers claim they are less productive when deprived of caffeine  Results of the study showed younger workers were slightly more likely to be reliant on their coffee for motivation and energy than older workers. 

The survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive© on behalf of CareerBuilder.com among almost 5,000 U.S. workers (employed full-time, not self-employed, government and non-government). This puts the error margin for results at about +/- 1.43 percentage points.

Food for Thought:

They didn't survey students.

Students are the biggest bunch of coffee guzzlers I know! It would be interesting to see results from that demographic. Speaking of all this coffee, I think I need one now..

Media Conference 3 - The Life of Luke Royes

Luke Royes is man of many talents.
He is currently an ABC online journalist but has had much industry experience, previously working for News Ltd, The Gold Coast Bulletin, and City News at Quest Newspapers. His exceptional ability to do what he does is partly thanks to the wonderful Journalism program at the University of Queensland; Royes graduated from the university with a Bachelor of Journalism in 2005. 

His blog is a casual collection of entertainment yarns for inner-city publication. However, his real passion lies with investigative journalism and hard news. 

My class of UQ Public Relations students were lucky enough to have media conference with Royes where he gave some incredibly handy social media tips for the aspiring online blogger - 

'It is important to remain active and comfortable, and know the ground rules of whatever Social Media you are using - this way you will avoid making career threatening mistakes. As Mark Colvin, ABC Presenter advises; The golden rule is, just don't be a dickhead!'

· Twitter 

o Be sure to keep up to date on what’s happening with the latest news 

o Tweet about important things; press conferences, court cases 

· Facebook 

o The strength of the application lies with photos, videos, and detailed discussions - utilise this! 

o Facebook has a massive established network which may help your cause 

· Four Square 

o Allows people to check in at places they like; checking-In at places is popular these days and keeping up with trends is important 

o Business can give discounts if customers check in - gives incentive. 

· Instagram 

o Creating brand recognition through aesthetics 

o Assists in keeping events in the minds of people 

· Pinterest 

o People Still catching on - could be the next big thing 

o Good for showcasing business services 

o Things can be shared easily, increasing popularity.

Happy blogging kids!