Wouldn’t it be nice if all you had to do was to send your information-packed media kit to every ad agency and watch the insertion orders roll in? Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way, so as a rule of thumb, you should only send a media kit if you cannot arrange a face to face meeting.

Media kits don’t sell
Advertising agencies don’t have the time to study the hundreds of media kits they receive each year, so most of them never get read. And even if your media kit does grab their attention, do you really believe they’re going to read the entire package and analyze the data in the hope they’ll find a fit between your publication and one of their clients? At most, they’ll give your media kit a cursory glance. If the pertinent information doesn’t jump off the page, the kit will be discarded. 

Your media kit must focus on one client
Don’t send a generic media kit and expect the ad agency to study it and find a fit with one of their clients. If you’re sending a media kit to an ad agency, the information in the kit and accompanying cover letter must be tailored to address the marketing needs of one specific client. So only include the marketing data that is relevant.

Don’t post your media kit on your website
For reasons just mentioned, don’t post your media kit on your website If you insist on following this practice, then at least password protect it. You can give your existing clients access to your media kit by providing them with the password but have everyone else that wants to view your media kit fill in a short “Password Request” form. Your salespeople can then follow up on these leads.