Does your podcast need a media kit? Yes, definitely. A podcasting media kit is a package of information about your podcast that’s easy to share and consume. Think of it as an appetizer sampler platter. It’s a condensed, snack-sized, flavorful version of your work, that makes listeners want more.
You might shake your head, smile, and turn back to another one of these shiny AI tools that can generate your press kit materials for you. That’s fine; we have a guide to AI podcasting tools to help you evaluate which is best for your purposes.
But, knowing how to construct a podcasting media kit of your own will help you understand why and how a good media kit works. True, it’s added work. But whether your podcast is an income stream or a fun hobby, a media kit is worth your time and energy.
A good podcast media kit does all of the following:
Helps listeners to find and share your podcast
Builds a relationship with sponsors
Gives journalists key information for articles about your podcast
Shows your podcast’s unique value proposition,
Persuades guests to participate in your show
Condenses and sums up your podcast for future pitches
Bookmark this guide, because we’ll talk about media kit terminology, what goes into a media kit (along with how to construct those elements), and how to use a media kit to engage audiences, sponsors and guests.
What’s The Difference Between A Media Kit, a Press Kit, and a Press Release?
Let’s get some terminology out of the way up front.
Media kits are sort of like press kits, for those of us old enough to remember printing presses (hello!). But unlike press kits, which were mainly just text and statistics, media kits are more technologically sophisticated. You can introduce dynamic links to other platforms like social media. Free templates in Canva or other design software make a visually stunning podcast media kit that goes far beyond what’s possible in a Word document.
So, what’s a podcast press release?
A press release is part of your podcasting media kit. Press releases typically announce the launch of a new podcast, that a podcast has hit a certain milestone or made a big change. Press releases are important, and they may be the first place people learn about your show. But, by definition, they’re temporary, whereas a media kit endures.
How To Plan Your Podcast Media Kit Like A Story
So, how do you create one of these bad boys? First, draft out your thoughts. Ask yourself questions like a journalist: take a moment to write down the What, Who, Where, Why, When, and How of your podcast. Jot down some short answers in your podcast planner or notebook.
What is your podcast? (This is your podcast description. One meaningful descriptive sentence is perfect.)
Who’s involved? Who is this podcast for? (This is your bio, and it’s also your ideal audience. You should write a short version of both).
Where is this podcast from? Did the show grow out of a team-building workshop? Is it uniquely Minnesotan? Does it occur in an unusual environment (such as Hostile Worlds’ starship Tardigrade)? Is it recorded in an unusual place, like your home, a particular recording studio, or a van?
Why? What do you want your podcast to accomplish? For example, “Hostile Worlds is designed to teach the audience about the universe in an entertaining and accessible way.”
When? What’s important about your podcast’s past? When did you start, and how has your podcast grown? If you haven’t launched yet, what important dates are coming soon for your podcast? What’s your launch date? What’s your episode frequency?
How? How can people listen, get in touch with you, engage with the show? Write down your podcast website URL, social media handles, email address, and RSS feed. Link to your website’s “Listen Now” page: here’s an example of the “Listen Now” page for Podcraft.
Our free Podcast Planner tool will help you a lot, here. It just takes a few minutes to fill out and it’ll get you set up with your own personalized program.
Making your podcast media kit doesn’t require the attention to detail of William Shakespeare or Lorraine Hansberry, but it doesn’t hurt, either.
How to Make Your Podcasting Media Kit
Great! Now that you have drafted all these thoughts into condensed statements, let’s make the building blocks of the press kit itself. You want your podcast accessible to anyone, so you need the media kit to be the simplest possible multi-tool.
You are going to make:
A fact sheet, as a PDF, with a web page version.
A Google Drive or Dropbox folder
Copies of your podcast’s art and relevant images, optimized for web and print
The Podcast Fact Sheet
This is where the magic happens. No matter what kind of podcast you have, here are the building blocks of your fact sheet:
About (your podcast’s description)
Who’s involved
Target audience: who is this show for
Contact information (you’d be surprised how many people forget this)
How to listen
You can also add some of these, if you have them:
Awards and accomplishments
Measures of engagement, like how many followers you have on which social media platforms, how many downloads, or what countries your podcast has been played in
Reviews or positive social media messages about your content
Special episodes that are a good one to listen to first, if the audience only has time for one episode
Type the answers to the bullet points above in a Word doc. You’ll copy and paste each block of text into your design software. Design software can’t check for spelling or typos.
Copy and paste the text you typed in your Word doc into the relevant spaces of your fact sheet template. Adjust the colors to fit your brand, and add the images you want to include. When the sections are consistent, and everything looks neat and legible, save it as a PDF and put it in your podcasting media kit folder.
Essentially, you summarize your show and what it goes well with, then, gather the images. Once you put it all together, all you’ve spent is time and patience.
What if your podcast doesn’t have great reviews, huge download numbers, or armies of social media followers? Take the good things you have and put them in the spotlight. The rest will follow as you build your audience.
Your Podcasting Media Kit Folder
Make it easy for writers to promote you. Some journalists prefer to work offline and would rather have the data about your show in a format they can save to their own desktop, or print out and read.
Create a folder with a public link, such as a Google Drive or a Dropbox zip folder. Set the permissions as view-only. Test the link with a friend to make sure it’s accessible. Bookmark this link, or copy and paste it into a note on your desktop. You’ll be using it often.
You’ll also want to make a web page version of your media kit, which you can update quickly and send out to interested parties. The web page version of your media kit helps your SEO because search engines will index the information on the web page.
Your Podcast Art
A journalist might publish an article about your podcast in print media. If they do, they’ll want an image to make their article stand out. Images that are 300 dpi (dots per inch) or more work well for print media. Most art that works on a screen is 72 dpi and won’t be clear in print. So, you need one copy at 72 dpi and a 300 dpi copy of your podcast cover art or logo.
Save your podcast art as a .png or .jpeg to your folder, with a clear name(i.e., “podcast-title-media-kit-print-july2023′), so the recipient can find it easily. Put these in your podcasting media kit folder.
Visual Media for Audio Podcasters
Podcasters need to be conscious of the visual elements of their brand. Just like when you’re adding sound effects or music to your podcast, you want to be able to find and use your visual elements quickly. Make a folder to use as you build your media kit. Put in the images you want to use. Type up a note with the following:
Your brand colors and their hex codes
Your brand fonts
Put this folder on your desktop, along with your logo and podcast art files. Name it “[your podcast title] visual assets.” You can pull from this folder as you work on your fact sheet.
Here’s a deeper dive into creating artwork and logos for your podcast, too!
Should My Podcasting Media Kit Have Links?
Yes. Link to your podcast website’s “listen now” page, as well as to your podcast’s social media profiles. If you have a crowdfunding campaign, link to those, too, so interested parties can support you. It doesn’t matter if the recipient’s going to print the podcast media kit or not. They can still click on the links to get more information.
Additional Content
Over time, there will be different assets to add to the folder. Transcripts, press releases, photos, and updates can go into your podcasting press kit too. Make sure these items all have clear dates and file names.
Podcasting Media Kit Templates: Know Your Audience & Niche
When I first started looking at media kits in Canva, the variety and panache of the layouts were staggering. But don’t just pick whatever template seems the boldest or attention-grabbing – be sure your template suits the answers to the questions you initially asked. You want a template that looks exactly like the mood you want your podcast to convey. So, consider your podcast niche and audience when you pick one out.
You also want to think about content. If your media kit focuses on reviews and descriptions, you may want a template with more text boxes. A template with more image spaces would fit a podcast that needs images (such as a fashion podcast).
What To Do With Your Podcasting Media Kit
Upload your podcasting media kit folder to Google Drive or Dropbox. Make sure it’s publicly accessible but view-only. On your website, link to this folder. You can also link to it from your show notes.
Typically, podcast websites have an “About” page, since most users don’t think a media kit applies to them. But, the “About” page can repeat all the information from your fact sheet.
When you invite guests to your podcast, share the media kit with them. A fact sheet for your guests goes a long way to getting that one fantastic star on your show. Your podcasting media kit shows them what to expect, how to prepare, and what your show can do for them. Keep it short (why not pull some information from our guide to how to be a great podcast interview guest?) and positive, and they’ll be more likely to show up on time, prepared and confident.
Examples of a Podcasting Media Kit
Girl in Space’s press kit page echoes their podcast media kit fact sheet. It has a link to a downloadable zip file right up top.
The two-column layout makes it easy for desktop users to find the necessary information with less scrolling and fewer clicks.
Red Fathom has press kits for their shows Hannahpocalypse and Cybernautica. Each is crystal clear and accessible, to the point that these could be useful templates for your podcasting media kit.
Multitude Productions’ podcasts set a great example with their podcasts’ media kits. They hit all the important talking points for journalists and bloggers. But, they’re not labeled as “press kits.” Multitude puts this info in the “About” section of each site. Click on the “About” tab for their Spirits podcast, and you’ll find one of the most comprehensive and detailed podcasting media kits out there. Spirits’ press kit even includes a mission statement and a statement of values.
Your Podcasting Media Kit Makes Sharing Your Show Easier
You want to build your audience actively. A good podcasting media kit helps you build your audience passively: it makes it easy for your fans, search engines, and writers to share your show. Legacy media’s traditional press kit structure made it easy for anyone to write about and share the latest TV show, theatre project, or ice cream brand. When you plan the fact sheet’s content, package the information and images accessibly, and put it out there to share, it’s like packing a snack for your future audiences. When they understand your show, they’ll come back for a full meal – and bring their friends.
Looking for an enthusiastic and helpful group of like-minded creators you can run a few media kit templates by? Come join us in the IndiePod Community, where you’ll find support in many forms, from Q&A and live events, to courses and resources. We’d love to see you in there!
Originally posted on July 27, 2023 @ 12:25 am