Media Kits

[Tartarus]

I was wondering if anyone had some expertise in doing media kits?

1. What all should it include
2. Who all should i send it to
3. Eye catchers that ensure they look at and use the kit
4. Etc......

[drfrightner]

Wow finally someone actually talking about somethign related to a haunted house... LOL

Let me take a crack.

1) Keep the brief because you want peopel to read them.

2) Mention how big Halloween is, mention about how great you haunt is, the media coverage you got the year before, the money you spent on marketing.

3) Outline the things you will offer the sponsor and don't list prices perse get them interested first then try to land the deals.

4) Contact info.

5) Make sure you update your website prior to sending out anything because they will visit your site.

6) Make sure you offer free tickets with every package same value in tickets to the money you want them to invest.

7) Your logo, a few photos, some cool images...impression is everything.

Larry

[Boni]

Larry,

It sounds like your media kit is more geared for sponsors than media.

I thought a media kit was something you send to the local TV, Radio, and Newspaper in hopes they do a feature on your haunt.

Do yo use the same format for both, or do you have a seperate kit for actual media?

[drfrightner]

Ahhh I thought he was talking about a sponsorship kit...

Media kit we don't typically send them out, we hire a PR firm to call the media and pitch stories. The media can be lazy so you really need to hand deliver them stories and tha is exactly what our PR firm does.

In the past we sent the media free copies of Halloween, or Friday the 13th, or a severed hand with a note about the haunt inside.

One year we sent a pair of underwear called the 'Spare Pair' just in case! LOL

But if we prepare a media kit this year it would include a DVD with high rez photos, video of the attraction, and a brief description of the highlight of the attraction and story angles.

Larry

[mindtumor]

When you hire a PR firm do you generally pay a flat fee or is based upon the type of exposure they land you, news stories, articles, etc?

[UnDeRTaKer313]

keep this thread going im really interested in the sponsorship side of it that larry started to talk about.

Would you really give them the same in tickets as they would invest?

[Kevin Dells]

I won't go into deep detail but the haunt i worked for last year hired a PR lady and she booked us so solid we didn't get any sleep during october! Very early mornings with the news crews and radio personalitys.

I know i was on the news at least 5 times last year,and radio once and i missed a few mornings due to oversleeping. Week 3 was Grueling as hell! Not sure what we paid her but she was dam good at getting us seen!

[UnDeRTaKer313]

hmmm.
thats interesting.
Totally going to look into that.
What is there official title?

[Haunting Copy]

Seems like that would be an awful lot of tickets for people who are requesting large sponsorships!

Sarah

(referring to Undertaker's question)

[Haunts of Richmond]

Seems like that would be an awful lot of tickets for people who are requesting large sponsorships!

If you can't take care of your sponsors/clients, you won't have any! Sponsorships are a partnership... if they are writing you a check (no matter how large or small) you have to make them feel like they are apart of the process. Inviting them out to experience your haunt at no charge goes along way!

[MidnightEvil]

Hi Sarah
You need to think of your tickets as free money.

Lets say you need pizza to feed your crew or you need paint
for your haunt. You can pay for it out of your pocket :-(
and hope to sell enough tickets to cover the cost.

Or you can go to the Pizza place and tell them you
will trade them $100 of tickets for $100 pizza than
go to the paint store and do same. There you go free
money.