WHY GET VISUAL

Think about what your media kit has to do for clients and, therefore, also for your sellers.

A great media kit shows that the advertiser needs the publication and will engage with an important community.   As Katzgrau says, “Don’t make them think. Don’t make them work.” Anything that looks complicated is a deal killer. But images can do most of the heavy lifting. As Shanfelt says, cut the text in half, then cut it in half again.

1.  START ON THE ADVERTISE PAGE

Once you’ve put the “advertise” link in the top navigation, put your value proposition on the advertise page. Below is what’s behind the advertise link at Claims Journal.

Customers see who they will be working with and can watch a video when deciding whether to call or fill out a form.

The page does it all. It’s also a top takeaway from our research on Creating a website that sells.  

2. HOW TO SHOW PRODUCTS

Digital products are often difficult to show. We liked this view of multiple units from 417mag.com:

The newer and more innovative the product the more images can do the explaining.

Greater Long Island’s  allow customers to sponsor a town or neighborhood, so below they show how a customer logo appears on every news story on the sponsored town’s site, plus “what else you get.”

New Jersey Monthly’s kit has also found a way to show four kinds of sponsorships:

 

Along these lines, Village Media’s kit has a super visual slide for its “Community Leaders Program,” a content marketing package:

Here’s one for a product they call “alert banners” look, “anchored to the top of the page across platforms.”

Finally, there is no better visual marketer than Spotlight Media, so it’s worth a look at some of their materials in this sample.

 

 

For magazines selling content marketing, Spotlights’ visual that shows the total reach is outstanding and can be  downloaded  here. 

Finally, don’t forget to show email ad units. Here’s an example that shows basic unit placement:

Village Media group took it one step further with photography of a real email ad in an email on a mobile device.

The combination of the icon that visually says EMAIL PRODUCT and the phone image that shows the ad size at the top of the email is more exciting.

4. SHOWING VIDEO

How do you show video on a static page? Here’s how Voice Media Group does it:

ParentsCanada, whose media kit shows four different video formats.

 

5. MAPS

A map is a great way to show, not tell,  the distribution area. From MetroFamily, the distribution area is visualized with a pin-point map.

Below’s an example of geographical territories deployed at New Jersey Magazine.

FreshCups, a magazine for coffee shops owners shows this map of where they send “Welcome boxes” to new shop owners. Advertisers can pay to be in the box.

6. SHOW YOUR PEOPLE

As in the example above, we love showcasing sellers so advertisers can seewho they will be talking to. Here’s how Vegnews shows images of the sellers for the West and East coasts, along with their cell phone numbers.

This best practice is also a page in Eric Shanfelt’s generic media kit, that also serves as a call to action:

7. CLIENT LOGOS AND TESTIMONIALS

This is a neat way to organize client logos and testimonials on one slide in a deck, from Shanfelt’s media kit template:

We also like how Katzgrau often uses stunning photography to create a single compelling testimonial. The image does most of the talking here!

 

8. MESSAGE FROM THE PUBLISHER

Again, making text BIG with a strong message and an image is often better than a long, text-filled letter.

Below is one publisher’s message that conveys the mission statement of Metro Family magazine in Oklahoma City.

Wow, what a lot of work gets done here in one slide: The mission, the personal commitment, and an image that conveys what it’s all about—the kids—all in a conversational tone.

 

 

9. PACKAGE OPTIONS THAT MAKE BUYING SIMPLER

A full discussion about showing packages and pricing is over at How to get rid of your rate card. 

If you do use packages, their main purpose is to make it easier for a customer to decide by removing additional options. Below are just two options. When the customer is sold on the media, all they have to do is pick one.

10. DISPLAY ACROSS-THE-BOARD INCENTIVES

Another visual pricing solution is a chart that shows across-the-board discounts based on spend, an idea contributed by Shanfelt.

Below is an extra discount we found inside one media kit, for a total of 10% off for a credit card on file with auto recurring billing.

 

FINALLY, A WORD ABOUT STYLE AND DESIGN

Design may not be free, but it is probably one of the most cost-efficient investments you will make, and you only need to do it once.

A rule of thumb is that the more white space, the higher-end the look. The State is a magazine that showcases the North Carolina lifestyle using a combination of great images from its own archives, white space, and an elegant font.

 

Village Media’s kit for national advertisers has a different style, but uses great design to jump off the page, even when showing  numbers.

Whatever style is appropriate to your audience,  a few tips from Katzgrau are to start his or Shanfelt’s  generic templates or your own.

Then, find a style and design that matches your vision. To get started, you can use the downloads in the Media Kit Library or Katzgrau and Shanfelt’s list of media kits.

 

You can also use some of the really great designs at MediaKits.com, which is aimed at influencers, but gives and idea of what new ideas on visual style are now in play.

Once you have a look and feel to copy, you can hire any designer – about $100 to $300 to change the fonts and match the look without violating a copyright issues.

As we often quote from Katzgrau, no one ever has a great day every day, but the media kit can!