After our deep dive session on “Pitching to Media,” a fantastic conversation sparked about press kits.

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You have crafted the perfect subject line to pitch your vintage business to an editor, you have sent the email, and you have hooked one.. but what happens when they ask for more info? If you are scrambling to find high-res photos or typing out your bio from scratch, you might miss the moment.

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Think of a press kit as your shop’s polished resume. It’s the professional document that tells your story at a glance, proving to journalists, podcasters and potential collaborators that you are the real deal.

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Having this packet ready to go is a game-changer. Let's break down exactly what goes inside and how to build one.

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(And thank you to Courtney at Carmine & Hayworth Vintage for starting up the conversation about press kits at the end of the Pitching to Media: Get Noticed by Editors session!)

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What is a press kit/media kit?

A press kit and a media kit are the same thing. It’s a multi-page document (these days, a PDF or Word doc, or a page(s) on your website) that explains what your shop is all about to journalists, editors and other media.

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It contains facts, history, demographics/analytics, and an overview of your shop services. It is almost always a designed or semi-designed package with visuals — this is a chance to show off your shop in the best light.

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Someone reading your press kit should be able to get a pretty broad understanding of everything your shop (and you!) are all about without having to talk to you directly. You want them to equip them with as much info as possible so they want to talk to you, like a cover letter/resume deal!

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Why might a press kit or media kit be useful for me or my shop?

• Builds authority
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• Can attract media coverage (visibility/brand awareness) — you are making it easier for the media person to make a decision
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• Can build some buzz (doing something new? attending a huge show? putting on a market? Attach your media kit when you email your local news/bloggers/magazines to let them know)
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• Can lead to potential partners/collaborators
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• You can use it as a foundation for future kits (i.e. one targeted to investors or loan agencies)
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• Makes you more findable if you host it on your website and allow for it to be downloaded without request. Pop it into the footer or in your top navigation (I would suggest this for media kits where you are trying to attract media coverage…for kits designed to land clients, I would suggest having the user fill out a form or contact you to access it so you don’t lose the lead and you ensure it’s qualified).

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What should a press kit contain?

• Your boilerplate: Your standard shop blurb. What are you all about?
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• An idea of what you sell/any services you offer
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• Brief shop history/your unique selling point
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• Bullets about anything special you can speak on (your knowledge of vintage buttons and antique sewing techniques, or that you’re a Levi’s scholar, or that you know everything there is to know about Fire King, or whatever specialized things you know about)
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• Visuals (of your products, your services, etc.)
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• Any relevant stats that might be of interest to who you are sending it to (influencer agencies will want social #s, podcast hosts may want evidence of prior speaking engagements, etc.)
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• Any awards/charity work
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• Social links/contact info (email at least, website, phone # if you are okay with people calling you)
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• Not totally required, but when sending to media especially, it can be helpful to include a folder of downloadable high-res assets (i.e. a shop logo and a standard few shots with photographer credits that you don’t mind media using without asking — i.e. in the case of them running a news item, they’ll have a picture of your shop on file already.)

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Continued below

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Continued from above

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A few more tips

• Your media kit should be pretty free of marketing jargon (unless, of course you are talking to marketers — like I am with my kit, below). You’re selling yourself and your shop, authentically. Show the media your story and your personality!
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• Have someone proofread. This is kind of like a resume in that you don’t want errors to creep in
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• You can call out numbers, years, etc. in little bubbles or boxes as appropriate to mix up how the info is presented
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• Keep things simple and scannable when possible. Small blocks of text, subheads, bullets. If you have lots of sentences, think about what could possibly live as a bulleted list instead
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• Update the details once or twice a year, or quarterly if your info frequently changes. These are always works-in-progress and are never really “done”!
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• Press kits aren’t a surefire way to get covered, but coupled with a solid pitch can be a valuable asset in getting noticed!
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• Consider a one-pager (i.e. a speaker or service page) in addition to/in lieu of a press kit

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How can I make one?

Templates are an easy way to make your media kit look polished. Canva has lots of pre-made templates you can play with. Search “press kit” or “media kit” in templates or use their Media Kit Maker and you’ll have somewhere to start :) If you don’t want to use Canva, you can buy templates on Etsy, Adobe, Behance, etc.

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Examples of media kits

The templates at the above sites will all give you ideas of the types of information to include so they serve as not only good examples of what you can make a media kit look like, but what you should add inside.

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There are an overwhelming number of examples out there online, and a lot of the templates are perfectly fine examples of what looks professional.

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So I thought I’d distill down with vintage-specific/retail shop-type examples here to give you some more ideas of how to display info.

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Kate Pearce Vintage
This is a web-based kit, with all the info on an actual web page. It looks like editors would be able to use the photos right off her page.

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House on Valley Road
Great little one-pager PDF that is specifically designed to attract collaborations.

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Clark Hulings Estate
Another example of a web-based kit where images are available.

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Blogger/influencer example (link partway down page)
More text-based and basic, but has a lot of info that would be relevant to their audience — you could use this as an example for your own speaker/service sheet

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Hope this helps and if you are building a media kit I’m happy to provide some suggestions!

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