An influencer media kit is your CV for brand deals — and like a CV, it gets skimmed, not read. The brand manager deciding whether to reply to your pitch is looking through many of them, so every choice comes down to one question: what can they learn about you at a glance? This guide covers exactly what belongs in the kit (and what quietly kills deals), which numbers matter at every follower size, and how to price the rate card that goes with it. If you want the design solved before you start, our Media Kit Studio is a one-page kit, rate card and audience page in Google Slides and Canva — type your stats, export the PDF, pitch.
The one-page rule
The single biggest media kit mistake is length. Six pages of every collaboration you've ever done reads as insecurity; one confident page reads as professionalism. Page one carries everything a brand needs to say yes to a call: who you are and your niche in two lines, a strong photo, your headline stats, a taste of your content, and contact details. The rate card lives on page two (or arrives on request), and the deeper audience breakdown on page three for the brands that get serious. Nobody has ever lost a deal because their kit was too easy to skim.
The stats that matter (at every size)
Brands stopped buying follower counts years ago — they buy audiences that act, and audiences that match their customer. Lead with these, in this order:
| Stat | Why brands care | Rule of thumb |
|---|---|---|
| Engagement rate | Proof your audience is real and listening | (likes + comments + saves) ÷ followers, shown as a percentage |
| Audience demographics | Does your audience match their customer? | Top age band, gender split, top locations |
| Monthly reach | Actual eyeballs, including non-followers | From your platform insights, last 30 days |
| Follower count | Context, not the headline | State it once; let engagement carry the pitch |
This ordering is why a small account with a tightly matched audience can still win deals: '4,200 followers' is unremarkable on its own, but the same page showing a high engagement rate and an audience that is mostly UK women aged 25–40 is exactly what a UK skincare brand is looking for. If your niche is tight and your audience is loyal, the kit's job is to make that impossible to miss.
Keep the numbers fresh
A kit with April's numbers sent in July tells brands you're not on top of your own business. Update monthly — with a template it's a five-minute job, and it's exactly the habit that pairs with the weekly analytics row in our Social Media Content OS.
Rate card maths (without underselling yourself)
Pricing paralyses more creators than pitching, and there is no official rate: formulas based on follower count circulate widely, but they are rules of thumb, not standards. Start from what a post realistically delivers — its typical reach, engagement and saves — and your time to make it, then adjust for niche authority, production quality and exclusivity. Price each deliverable separately (reel, carousel, story set, link in bio), offer one bundle that's obviously better value than the à-la-carte sum, and always — always — list usage rights and whitelisting as their own line. Brands running your content as paid ads extracts far more value than the post itself; giving that away free inside a £150 collab is the most common money leak in creator deals. On the eternal 'rates in the kit or on request?' question: printed rates filter out no-budget enquiries; on-request lets you tailor. 'Collaborations from £X' is the honest middle. And when the invoices start arriving, treat it as a business: the Bookkeeping & Profit Dashboard tracks collab income, and our CRM guide shows how to stop losing brand contacts in your DMs.
The mistakes that kill pitches
Four things make brand managers close the PDF: stale numbers (see above); screenshots instead of design — cropped analytics screenshots say 'I made this in five minutes', while typed stat blocks in a designed layout say 'I do this professionally'; no audience information at all, which forces the brand to do your homework; and the humble-brag essay — a 300-word bio where two sharp lines would do. None of these are talent problems; they're presentation problems. A designed template such as our Media Kit Studio, with three themes to match your feed, takes the layout decisions off your plate.
No past collaborations yet? Show the content instead
A kit with an empty 'past partners' section feels like a CV with no experience — so don't include the section. Replace it with your three strongest pieces of content presented as case studies in miniature: the post, its reach and saves, and one line on why it worked. Brands are buying your next post, not your history, and strong recent content with honest numbers beats a logo wall of one-off gifted collabs every time. Your first paid deal will fill the section soon enough.
Label paid posts properly, in the UK and the US
Once the deals arrive, the posts need labelling, and the UK and US rules differ in ways that matter if your audience spans both. The UK Advertising Standards Authority's guidance on recognising ads says labels such as "Ad", "Advert" or "Ad feature" (with or without a #) are very likely to be acceptable, and expects them to be prominent and upfront, which usually means at the beginning. It rejects "#sp", "spon", "Gifted", "Supported by" and "In association with", and advises against "sponsored" because it can be read in different ways. In the US, the FTC's Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers says to disclose any financial, employment, personal or family relationship with a brand, including free or discounted products, and to make it hard to miss: in the image or video itself, not buried in hashtags or behind "more". It accepts "advertisement", "ad" and "sponsored", warns against "sp", "spon" and "collab", and says not to rely on a platform's disclosure tool alone. Using "Ad" at the start of the post satisfies the plainest reading of both.
The kit is one third of the machine
A media kit converts interest into deals — but it works best as part of a system: consistent content brings brands to your profile (that's the Instagram Kit Studio's job), organised planning keeps you posting through busy weeks (the Content OS), and the kit closes. Creators running all three stop chasing collabs and start fielding them. For the wider toolkit — invoicing, client pipelines, planning — browse the Small Business collection or start with our small business planner roundup.
Frequently asked questions
What should an influencer media kit include?
One page that a busy brand manager can skim at a glance: who you are and your niche in two lines, your audience (size, engagement rate, top demographics), three strong content examples or past collaborations, and how to contact you. Rates usually live on a second page or are sent on request.
Do I need a media kit with under 10k followers?
Yes — arguably more than anyone. Micro-influencers win deals on engagement rate and audience fit, not reach, and a professional kit is how you reframe the conversation: '4,200 followers' looks small until the same page shows a high engagement rate and an audience that closely matches the brand's customers. The kit does that reframing for you.
How do I work out my rates for the rate card?
There is no official rate. Start from what a post realistically delivers (typical reach, engagement and saves) and the time it takes you, then adjust for niche authority, exclusivity and usage rights. Price stories, reels, and bundles separately — and always list a rate for usage/whitelisting, because that's where brands quietly get expensive value for free.
Should I put my rates in the media kit?
Both approaches work: printed rates filter out brands with no budget and save you emails; rates-on-request lets you tailor to the brief and negotiate. A good middle path is 'collaborations from £X' — it sets a floor without boxing you in.
What stats do brands care about most?
Engagement rate first (likes + comments + saves ÷ followers), then audience demographics (age, gender, location — brands need to know your audience matches theirs), then reach and story views. Follower count matters least of the four, because on its own it says nothing about whether the audience responds.
How do I send a media kit — PDF or link?
PDF attached to the pitch email is still the standard: it's skimmable offline, forwards cleanly to the decision-maker, and looks intentional. Keep it under 5MB, name the file professionally ('YourName-MediaKit-2026.pdf'), and update it monthly so the numbers are never stale.