How to create a media kit for your internet radio and attract sponsors

If you’re trying to monetise your internet station, having a media kit to share with potential sponsors is a must-have asset. It will be the to-go document for all your negotiations with sponsors and funders. Why? A media kit has all the information needed to convince potential sponsors that investing in your station is smart. Read on to find out the most important things to include in your internet radio station’s digital media kit.

10 key things to include in your internet radio station’s media kit

#1 Station History and Description

Give a brief introduction of your internet station and its history. Focus on what sets your station apart from others.

#2 Key facts

Paint a picture with numbers. You can share years in business, number of listeners, number of social media followers, or any other fact that is worth mentioning.

#3 Demographics

Highlight the data you may have about your listenership. If you host your station on your own website you can get great insights through Google Analytics. Some key demographics to share: genre, statistics, age range, geolocation, household income, education, radio mobile app downloads. To find information about the audience’s age and genre you need to sign in to Google Analytics, and then head to ‘Audience’ >> ‘Demographics’ >> ‘Overview’. To learn about geolocation you need to go to ‘Audience’ >> ‘Geo’ >> ‘Location’. You can find more facts about your audience through the ‘Interests’ section.

#4 Metrics

Include all important data about your listeners such as: number of listeners per day, month or per show, average listening time, social media followers per channel, newsletter subscribers and other stats that can be important for advertisers. Consider using professional tools to manage Instagram accounts and have all these data stored in one place.

#5 Channels you use for marketing

Mention all the channels you use to connect with your fans. It can be: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, your site’s blog, Livestream, Ustream, email marketing. You can also mention total reach, if it’s a large number.

#6 Programme highlights

Are there particular shows that attract most of your listeners? Highlight them in this section. A short description about each show, about the presenters and maybe some statistics about the listenership (if the numbers are good enough) would do the job.

#7 Bios and Headshots of Key Staff Members

If you have radio hosts that are popular then you can take advantage of their popularity and emphasise their ability to influence.

#8 Important Links

Make it easy for the sponsor to find all important links related to your station’s online presence, such as your station’s website, pages for key shows, your social media pages, on-air personalities, and events.

#9 Testimonials

Highlight your track record.Why should someone work with you? If you have testimonials from existing sponsors, fans, artists, clients and/or important figures in your station’s industry then you can add them in the media kit.

#10 Reasons for becoming a sponsor / Benefits

Why should a brand form a collaboration with your station? Try to think of all the benefits they get. For example, if you have a loyal listenership, you can mention that here, if your station is reaching a local or global audience you can mention that here as well. If your station is a non-profit, their support can be tax deductible, etc.

Sponsorship options:

When it comes to sponsorship options, the tricky part is coming up with the pricing for each promotion. This depends on the popularity of your station, the number of listeners as well as the followers on social media. Also, the prices will be different depending on the country you’re broadcasting to and the geolocation of your listeners. To get an idea of rates, you could contact a similar internet station to yours (similar in popularity and traffic) and ask for their advice. Another way is to ask on forums, relevant groups on Facebook or on question-and-answer websites like Quora.

Below are some sponsorship options to mention in your media kit.

Tip: Try to identify for whom it might be the right ad format. In that way your clients can identify themselves with one or more of the below options and it will be easier to convince them.

On-air ads

On-air ads are the most common revenue stream for an internet station. These ad spots can be a great option for local businesses like: restaurants and cafes, pubs and bars, local venues, etc.

Infomercials

Infomercials are long-form advertisements, often including a discussion or demonstration. They are usually on-air for 30 minutes long, without interruptions. For example, it could be an entrepreneur who would pay you to be interviewed on your station in order to promote their product or service, or a band who would pay you to promote their new album, or an author who wants to promote their new book.

Like endorsements, in some countries like the US, infomercials or selling airtime is considered illegal unless you disclose the sponsorship publicly.

Banner placements

These are banner advertisements that can be placed on your radio’s website. First you will need to decide the size and the placement of these ads on your site. Banners placed on the homepage should cost more than banner placements on other pages of your site. Also, banners on the top of the page should cost more than the banners placed further down the page. In terms of banner size, the bigger the banner the more you should charge. Finally, you may want to include as an option a skin ad (or background ad) which is a full sponsorship of your whole site The ad will appear in the background of your site and will be clickable.

Design

If you have design skills and you’re familiar with illustration, Photoshop, or even Canva you can offer banner design service to your potential sponsors as an additional service.

Sponsoring an Event

You can have an option for sponsors to sponsor upcoming events of yours. The option can include posters or roll-ups at the venue, their logo placed on the event’s flyer and digital assets and also give them on-air ads and endorsements. You can also create brochures with their logo by using a brochure maker. You can be flexible with this type of sponsorship and mention that a custom deal can be made for this type of advertisement.

Social Media Mentions

The way this works is that you offer social media mentions and get paid for each post, meaning that you mention the sponsor’s products or services in the social media channels of your radio station.

To make this attractive for a potential sponsor, you will have to list all your social media channels and some important facts about each one, like number of followers, and engagement rate. You will also need to mention the cost per social post and any other post requirements/restrictions. The fee you will ask per social media post depends on the amount of your followers of your social media channel. You can offer one-off mentions or packages for a period of time (for example 5 social media mentions in a month’s time).

Email campaign Blast

If you have an email list and a newsletter that you send out regularly you can sell banner placement and mentions in your email. You will have to mention the amount of subscribers, the banner options and prices per option as well as how often it is sent out. Note that some countries have laws against selling all or part of your email list to third parties. Also be sure that your subscribers have given their consent to receive promotional content.

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