Media Kits, Elevator Pitches, and Cold Outreach for Quilters

What actually goes into a media kit — and do you even need one? In this episode, Tori and Andi break down the nuts and bolts of building a media kit for your quilting business, from headshots and bios to class sample photos and social media handles. They walk through how your kit should look different depending on whether you're pitching a podcast, approaching a guild, or reaching out to a quilt shop — and why "make it about them, not you" is the thread that ties it all together.

Tori and Andi also share two frameworks for introducing yourself and your business: Andi's elevator pitch formula (I help ___ do ___ so that ___) and Tori's three W's for cold outreach (why them, why you, why now). They talk tools for keeping everything organized — Google Drive, Trello, Notion — and get real about the cold emails that end up in the trash because the sender clearly didn't do their homework.

Whether you're prepping for H&H Americas, reaching out to guilds for 2027, or just tired of scrambling to pull together your info every time an opportunity comes up, this episode gives you a game plan to get it done once and keep it ready.

Don't miss an episode! Like, comment, and subscribe for more quilting stories, tips, and industry insights.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Media Kits
04:09 Essentials of a Media Kit
07:01 Tailoring Media Kits for Different Audiences
10:06 Crafting Effective Pitches
13:01 Tools for Organizing Media Kits
15:53 Elevator Pitch Frameworks
18:48 Personalizing Outreach
21:47 Understanding Your Audience
24:47 Conclusion and Call to Action

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Co-Hosts:

Tori McElwain @heytori.tech & https://www.heytori.tech/

Andi Stanfield @truebluequilts & https://truebluequilts.com/ 

Transcript

Andi (00:06.466)
Welcome to another episode of Quilting on the Side, where Tori and I hope to share some business building tips and information. And today's topic is media kits. So Tori, what comes to mind when I throw that phrase out there?

Tori McElwain (00:26.91)
A media kit to me, sounds like a Google folder with like headshots, graphics you can share about you and your business, and definitely bios, like different length bios. That's what comes to mind first for me when I think of a media kit is what are you gonna share about you? What about you, Andy? What comes to mind with a media kit?

Andi (00:50.754)
Yeah, I have seen examples over the years of media kits as kind of that one page summary of your business and your business presence online. So it has a lot of those social media numbers and subscriber numbers and things just to lend that legitimacy to whoever you're giving this media kit to. And so that's really an important piece is

Why do we need a media kit? You know, what is it for?

Tori McElwain (01:23.262)
Well, we definitely need different, I think different types of media kits based off of our own interpretations, especially because media kits are used when you're approaching like another business or even a guild that's nonprofit, but it's still like a business transaction. So when you're approaching a business, you need to have these different pieces in place to help with promotion, communication, and all those pieces. So I think that...

There's some basics that come with all media kits, right? And then depending on who you're talking to, then you add more things. So definitely some basics are gonna be a headshot. You want a professional headshot that you can share with anyone, right? And I would suggest having the same headshot on all your social media platforms and on your website. That way it all looks cohesive so you look like the same person everywhere. What else, Sandy, what would you add for basics?

Andi (02:17.614)
Definitely the headshot is important and then your little elevator pitch, know, one or two sentence summary of you and your business. So whether that's your, you know, your logo and the tagline or something else that's a quick summary of your business. And then as I said,

consolidate all those numbers. A lot of us in business have those kind of monthly recap tracking days where we look back and touch all our different accounts and see how they're doing. So having the current numbers all in one place is helpful when you are reaching out to other businesses. So I think of media kits a lot of times as those online

platforms that you're reaching out to other quilt businesses for collaborations and events, whether that's a summit or a block swap roundup kind of event that we see popular in quilting spaces. So having those kind of numbers easy.

And then you mentioned having all your graphics. So yeah, if you're doing a guild lecture, you want them to promote you. you know, make up a quick specialized graphic, you know, whether that's an Instagram size or something that is a great title headline piece for that event. And then you can update and recycle those as you need to over the years.

Tori McElwain (04:07.454)
All right, so we got some really good basics there. We got definitely Headshot and your elevator pitch about your business. And then I would also add in a longer bio. I think having different size bios, because some people want to create like a whole poster for you. Like there are guilds that I've taught at where they set up a whole trifold just about me. And if I just gave them, know, like the two sentences, it's going to be a lot. Like they're like, nah, I can't do much with this. But if I give them a full length bio, they can take pieces of that or they can.

put a big one on that trifold. And then I like what you said about the graphics, especially when you're talking to guilds and doing specialized reach out, having specific graphics for classes, for lectures, for even your patterns can be really, really handy for that. I would also include for basics, all of your handles for social media. So not just the numbers, but also like the handles and

hyperlinked as well. So it can make it really easy for them to link back to you, especially if you're doing anything digital, because like on podcasts, one of the questions that we ask when you fill out a form to be a guest is to list all of your hyperlinks, not hyperlinks, but all of your links. Well, I guess they are hyperlinked, but all of your links for your social media. And that cuts down on my time of going through and finding all of the things that you're promoting. And it makes it so much easier to share. It makes it so much easier to be a guest, like on our podcast.

Andi (05:32.866)
Yeah, yeah, I'm reminded of a saying I've shared on the podcast before that I've learned from a business coach. or stay ready so you don't have to get ready because opportunities come up and you don't want to have to scramble and spend, you know, 30 minutes to an hour searching all these different places to grab your handles. Once you have them all consolidated, then it's easy to cut and paste and send that information out to whoever needs it. So.

Yeah.

Tori McElwain (06:03.102)
Definitely. So we're mixing a couple of different things there. So let's break that up a little bit. So we've got different things that you can use a media kit for. One is for podcast outreach or YouTube live outreach or basically social media platform outreach. So that is business to business. And that media kit is going to look different than reaching out to like guilds.

which as we talked about, that one is going to have your basic info, but it's also gonna have whatever class you're gonna teach with probably pictures of your class samples. So having those all together can be really handy too. So not only graphics, but also all of your samples. Any pictures of you teaching, I think is also a great thing to have in there. Specifically, if you got pictures of teaching that particular class is even better, but if it's just you generally teaching, I would also include a picture too.

of you doing that because I think there's a powerful way that they can promote you by showing that you're an experienced teacher. Anything else that you would add between either podcast outreach or guild outreach?

Andi (07:08.294)
Yeah, one piece and it probably overlaps a little bit is the as seen on or featured in collecting that social proof once you do have a collaboration, if you've been published in a magazine, if you've been a guest on a podcast, grab all those logos and

save them, you know, that can be a banner on your website or, know, but it's useful to keep that consolidated in what we're calling this media kit so that you show and remember all the places that you've you've shown up and all the work that you have done. But yes, podcast guesting, obviously, you're going to have a little bit different context than if you were reaching out to a guild.

or if you were approaching a shop, you're gonna want a little more pattern focus or details there that may be a little bit different depending on your audience, which then is a great transition point to remember that, yes, you're building a media kit that talks all about you, but you need to offer it as

beneficial to the other person. So you really need to keep your audience in mind as you share these details. So thoughts on how to craft that conversation.

Tori McElwain (08:39.422)
Well, I love that you said you're building it to show benefit for others. So I'm thinking guilds especially when you're writing your class descriptions and your lecture descriptions on your media kit and on your website. You want to talk to guilds, right? A guild program chair is a person you're talking to. So you're not going to say you're going to leave with an amazing project. You're going to say your guild members are going to be so excited to finish this at the workshop. Cause that's like a big thing, right? To finish a project.

And that's really like, that's kind of the frame you want to approach describing all of these things with. And same with a podcast, when you're writing your description of who you are, you're going to include elements that appeal to the podcast host. So if you're approaching us, if you're doing a business to business, we're helping businesses build up their businesses.

So we, yes, love to hear about your history with quilting. love to hear about what you do in the quilting world, but we also want to hear some advice you have on other people. So including that, I can give advice on, like when had Jamie, when Jamie applied and we had her on, her main focus was on summits. And she gave some amazing advice on summits. And that's something she approached us with was, hey, I could be a great guest because I do all this with summits. And I think that it could really benefit your people. So approaching.

it with the mindset of how is it going to benefit them to work with me? And now you may not want to come on our podcast. You may want to go on a podcast where it's quilter to quilter and everybody's a quilter and you're a pattern designer trying to get the word out about your patterns. That is going to be a different conversation, a different pitch than it would be to us. So you could talk about their audience and how their audience, what you've seen in the

Okay, so there's a way we can break this out. So let me step back here. Because if we're get into pitching, then I think we can bring in a couple of frameworks that we both know that can help you create a pitch. But for your descriptions and stuff, your media kit, that is how I would think about it as you're writing them. And as we're talking, I'm thinking this is a lot of different moving pieces that you could create. So what I would suggest is like make a basic one, copy it.

Tori McElwain (10:56.604)
and then fill in those details. So if you have five classes that you offer guilds, having a basic media kit across them all, and then dropping in those class pictures and those specific class descriptions, that way it's all in one place, it's all separated by class, and it's easy for you to go in and grab when it's time to go in and grab.

Andi (11:14.082)
Yeah, yeah, for sure. And so I want to take a quick detour before we get into kind of the structure of those pitches. Because you mentioned at the beginning of our conversation that you think of the media kit as your Google folder. And so let's talk about some specific tools because it came to mind that I've heard of people using Trello boards or Asana or one of those project management tools.

and that keeps all their class information, all their graphics are ready to go, all the information in one place. yeah, whether you use Google or Trello or one of the other software pieces, you want to talk to some of that nitty-gritty behind the scenes.

Tori McElwain (12:03.9)
Yeah, so Trello, I've heard, I've used Trello in conjunction with a couple of projects and it is very visual, which is why a lot of pattern designers like it. But like you're right, you can, it's basically, it almost looks like a stack of cards on the screen. So you can have those different pieces lined up under each project and you can see a little more visually what you have. And of course we have Google folders, which most of us have had a lot of experience with Google folders. We got one folder, one place that makes it easy to share. So.

That's why I like it because I can send it and they can pick and choose whatever files they want within that Google folder. And then there's like Notion, which is very similar to Trello, right? And you can share different pieces of Notion with people or you can just download it when you need it and send it over in a basic email or something like that. Is there anything that you use, Andy, that you prefer?

Andi (12:55.798)
Like you said, I've had a little bit of experience with Trello and it is really nice to organize with those kind of sticky note tile visual aspect of it. I just always fall back on Google these days because it's a free platform. Like you said, it's really easy to share folders with people. So if you've got those social media assets, if you've got photos formatted for Instagram, if you

got promotion graphics that you've already designed. It's really easy to just share those from a Google folder and people can put it out wherever they need. those things are really good. And I just have to have a side note here. We've talked about having things for your guild workshops and things, but when you're participating in an event like a summit or a

Instagram loop or a blog swap or something with a lot of participants it is really really nice to create those social media assets and have them shared so those are things like your Instagram posts your if you've got a YouTube thumbnail slide that you can share if you've got email snippets anything you can do to

ease the load on the other creators is much appreciated.

Tori McElwain (14:25.938)
I've also seen brand boards shared for those, which can help create a cohesiveness in graphics. Like if you get a graphic and you don't really like it, it doesn't really match your brand, but you can use their branding to help create one that matches you a little bit more. And it still feels cohesive for everyone. So a brand board has some of your basic colors, right, that everybody's using for this event. It also has fonts, so you can kind of match the fonts. It also has language, so description of the event.

description of like sign up versus register versus, you know, we want to use this same terminology so nobody gets confused. And that helps you build out social media captions and descriptions in your blogs and your email newsletters and in your social media. So all captions and social media, but still like I'm thinking graphics. So I say social media versus caption, which is the, you know, the writing underneath. yeah, brand boards, very helpful.

Andi (15:15.362)
Right.

Andi (15:23.198)
a great idea. Yeah, so we've kind of expanded our definition really from media kit to this whole idea of assets and just project descriptions and things.

Tori McElwain (15:37.534)
Well, think that's what comes in the word kit, you know, because you have it all in one spot and it makes it easy, right, to share what you need to share. And that's the whole point. We want to make it easy for you. want set all this up in advance. So all you got to do is go in and grab what you need. That way you can spend more time on your sewing machine than figuring out how to describe your class for 100th time.

Andi (15:57.93)
Right, right. Yeah, that's that's a great point. We want to make this process a little bit easier for people, especially for a lot of us. This quilting business is that side hustle and we're squeezing it into other times. So yeah, get it done once and then you have it ready. And updates are quicker than creating from scratch. So keep that in mind as well. But one of the other things that makes things easy is a

formula. So when we get started with this like little elevator pitch summary of our business that we need to put in or your little bio statement and that may be a little bit different that we'll have to come back to. But in terms of that elevator pitch, what are some tips you know and can share for people to come up with that statement?

Tori McElwain (16:56.69)
Now, whenever somebody says elevator pitch, my mind goes blank. I'm like, what was that again? So actually I have, so Andy, let's do your elevator pitch first and then I'll share how to put that in my framework that I brought to our discussion. So your elevator pitch framework, think is really, it's basic and it's very great to start with. can you want to pitch it to me? Pitch it to me, but let me know what it is and I can share my pitch as you go.

Andi (17:00.5)
Hahaha!

Andi (17:19.107)
Yeah.

Andi (17:23.424)
Yeah, so I use an elevator pitch as you know, you've heard that 30 seconds that's that's where it comes from the elevator traveling, you know, one or two floors. That's all the time you have to tell someone and for True Blue Quilts, I help people enjoy experiment and excel as they express their creativity with fabric and thread. So breaking that down, I identify who

I am helping. I help people. I help quilters. What they're gonna do, they're gonna enjoy experiment and excel. And then so what? So that they can express creativity. So those are the three points. You wanna tell who you're helping. You want to share the transformation and then kind of tie it up with a why. And Tori's taking notes. So she can.

break things down for us. But yeah, having that formula of I help blank, do blank, so that blank and you just fill in the blanks with the pieces from your business. And then you have a quick, easy sentence or two that you can share with people and write it down and practice delivering it smoothly and easily. And then you are not put on the spot.

as much with that deer in the headlights look as like, what? Let me, I do so many things. What, how can I summarize it?

Tori McElwain (18:57.082)
Definitely. And this is going to be really handy if you're going to age and age. I know we have like a whole age and age theme over our entire season, but it's such a big and powerful event. So yeah, this is going to be really handy if you're in a shop talking to people, if you are in person anywhere, if you do online networking. I've been starting to go to networking events every once a month on Fridays. There's a local networking event that I'll go to and I do my elevator pitch every time and I forget it.

Andi (19:02.126)
you

Tori McElwain (19:22.238)
Every time and I'm sitting there while everybody goes and I'm like what it was mine. What was mine? Anyway, because like I do so much because I have two main programs, but I do the same thing in both so While you're talking I was trying to write one down real quick. So again, I forget it every time So if you forget yours, I'm to don't feel bad, but we can work on this right? We'll do it together Okay, so my elevator pitch is um, I'm trying not going with well, I guess I don't need to introduce myself exactly but I'm Tori McElwain

Andi (19:22.83)
Thanks.

Tori McElwain (19:50.512)
I help quilting and crafting businesses with their digital marketing so that they can spend more time creating and less time on the computer. How's that?

Andi (19:58.452)
Awesome. Yeah. Yeah. So same thing. You identified the audience, you hit, you know, their pain point, what you help with, the transformation they're going to see, and then the why. So what, you know, so that we can create and not be stuck at the computer. That's so key to, and it kind of ties back to the idea of you want to make it about the audience and not about

yourself. Yes, I offer patterns and classes, but it's really because you get to create and the quilter gets to learn a new technique and bust their stash or, know, whatever it might be. So, yeah, what other tips do you have for crafting a pitch or summarizing your business in your bio statement?

Tori McElwain (20:44.476)
Definitely. That was great. That was fun.

Tori McElwain (20:55.014)
Yes. this is, so what I've got is a framework for when you like cold outreach to people. So this could be for podcasts. This could be for distributors, shops, even guilds. This would be good for it, but it's, three W's. And I learned this from a, I heard this from a,

Hold on. Media specialist. That's word I was looking for. Media specialist. It was on a podcast and for the lightening, cannot remember who it was on what podcast. I'm trying to be better about that stuff, but this one was a long time ago and it just kind of the W stuck in my head, the framework that she shared. And it was three W's, one, and they're all Y's. So the three Y's. Why them? So why are you choosing to reach out to them? Why you? Why you are good for their audience and why?

now. And that's a powerful piece that I think a lot of people miss is the why now. And it could be as simple as you have a schedule open, right? Like now, what, what, is it now? It's April, 2026. Maybe now is the time when you have opened up signups for 2027 guild meetings. Maybe now is when you are about to launch a book and you're reaching out for podcasts to share your new pattern or your new book.

or whatever. So you want to think of why them. So why would you be a good fit for them and their audience? Why you, why you are a good fit for their audience. I know I'm repeating that, but it's a really key framework. And then, and then why not?

Andi (22:30.68)
Yeah, yeah. And it really is important, as you said, to personalize your pitches to that specific shop, to that specific quilt business that you wanna collaborate with, that other designer. I think we could create a wonderful partnership in this type of offering.

because people would be interested and it would help them blah blah blah. Because you can't, we all see that generic, you know, people are accusing it of being AI written, that cold, impersonal, generic pitch email. You know, I always laugh when I get the emails that come through my business account that say,

Hey, your business would benefit from YouTube videos. Let me help you create it. I'm like, you don't know anything about me because I show up on my own on YouTube all the time. I don't need an outside. Yes, I mean, sure, there are businesses that could help me clean up my YouTube videos, but it just, doesn't hit well because you do, you, you will have better results if you take the time to research and personalize the discussion.

Tori McElwain (23:36.382)
You have an 18 thousand followers!

subscribers.

Andi (23:55.83)
you know, we don't.

Tori McElwain (23:56.95)
Like you said, we all get those like cold and especially if you don't know who the person is you're talking to but you put their email Like that's a red flag that is like, you know We all see spam like we all get spam and all of the spam not all of it But a lot of it starts with hey the quilt patch by Tori comm Or Tory and no it seems to Tori says the quilt patch at the cool patch by Tori comm like this way Like you're not talking to me. I mean, it's pretty obvious what my name is the quilt patch by

Andi (24:15.118)
or

Tori McElwain (24:26.022)
I mean, any human that was actually trying to reach me could figure out really quick what my name is, depending on the email they have in front of them. And if you're not leading with their name, it's a little like, if someone said, dear Tori and team, would be like, okay. So they may think that I have a team member who's taking over, but they do know that Tori is like me. And by the way, nobody does take my email. It's always me. So far, it's always me.

Andi (24:26.434)
Yeah.

Andi (24:48.771)
Yeah.

You

Tori McElwain (24:54.942)
Me who forgets to email you back. I don't have a team member that knows.

Andi (24:58.094)
Yeah, I know. Mine is awkward because I use a generic or a more descriptive term. My business name is True Blue Quilts. And so I'll get that, hello true or hello True Blue, which is fine. Certainly if you have seen me anywhere for more than 30 seconds, you probably know that it's Andy behind True Blue Quilts.

But yeah, my generic email is info at and so I get the hello info. Just like, okay, spam, delete, delete. So yeah, spending that time to personalize it, know, get the flavor of a shop if you're offering patterns and you know, I would not lead off with my, hey, learn a new technique of half rectangle triangles. It would not go over well in a shop that had all, you know,

30s prints or Civil War reproductions or that kind of atmosphere. You know, you need to, I have more modern elements in my designs. So yeah.

Tori McElwain (25:59.005)
Right.

Tori McElwain (26:06.814)
That's exactly where I was thinking of going next too, is like if you're, that personalized research goes past just the greeting, like you said, it goes into, is this guild more traditional? Now, how can you figure that out? Well, most guilds have a website. Most guilds have a social media presence. Most guilds have some kind of online presence where you can see pictures of the kinds of projects that their members are sharing. You can also guess by location a little bit, if they're deep South.

they may not have more of a modern feel. That's where you want to look a little bit harder. If their website is Civil War prints, but there's no pictures, then you may, it may be good to kind of default to your more traditional patterns. Just as a vibe match. I was using vibe a lot recently, but vibe match, right? If you are appealing to modern quilt guilds, which are all over the United States, you can lean more towards your modern colors, modern patterns, modern classes that are a little more exploratory.

Andi (26:54.542)
Mm-hmm.

Tori McElwain (27:06.398)
That doesn't mean don't ever reach out if the vibe is a little bit off. You can always tweak your projects, especially if you're teaching, to kind of go with that vibe. So if you have, I have a client who does like collage quilting. So like I would suggest for her like something bright, high contrast with saturated colors would be great for the modern quilt guild aesthetic. And then as she wants to reach out to more traditional guilds, maybe using more of those Civil War type fabrics in her same pattern, same project.

just having two different versions where one appeals more to one audience and another appeals more to another audience. And because that's one of her best selling classes. So you may not want to do that for every class, but if you have a best selling class, it could be worth doing two projects to have it to showcase to each vibe. It's aesthetic.

Andi (27:54.37)
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly. And you can, you know, and this is not to say that, like you were sharing the differences between quote traditional quilters and modern quilters, you know, there's so many of us that play in both atmospheres, you know, we, we easily, we're quilters, we like all of it, we can adapt, you know, so.

But it does pay to do a little bit of research get that personal contact find a name that you can reach out to and Just again with our whole point in this is to say Think about the audience. How are you helping the audience? You're not just doing this to make you know money for me and I want to be in the spotlight No, I want to help

other people enjoy quilting as much as I do. So lead with that and you should see some success. And we'd love to hear from our audience how they are pitching, you know, how do they find the different avenues to create these partnerships and what questions you have about media kits and pitching. We're here to help and we really want to hear from our audience.

Tori McElwain (29:19.166)
And can always come visit us at H &H if you're there. We can talk. Elevator pitches. You will be giving your elevator pitch if you go to H &H. So you will have lots of practice on pitching the people next to you. You can come up to me and give me your elevator pitch. And I'm going to be like, my gosh, you did it. I'll be so excited for you.

Andi (29:35.948)
Yep. Yep. Where can we find you at H &H, Tori?

Tori McElwain (29:39.164)
I'll be at booth 1707.

Andi (29:41.066)
Awesome. Yeah, yeah, I'm looking forward to it. I get to see Tori in person at that event and some of our other podcast guests I'm looking forward to seeing them in person as well. again, you can participate live with Tori and I in our Patreon group. So I would encourage you to join that and we will see you next time. In the meantime, I hope you get to do a little quilting on the side.