The Art of Portfolios: How to Market Your Personal Brand
- Katrina Swafford
- Jun 6, 2023
- 3 min read
As a marketer, your portfolio is a visual resume. A portfolio is where you will showcase your skills, experiences, and creativity to help you obtain your dream marketing role or expand your career opportunities for the future.
With technology dominating the marketing industry, it is essential to consider creating a portfolio digitally. Your portfolio is the key to your success!
In this article, I will walk you through the beginning steps to creating your digital portfolio, what types of content you should include, and the final key tips to up-keeping a portfolio.
The First Steps
Find Your Vision
Before starting the process of building your portfolio, think about who you want to see your vision. Ask yourself, who are you trying to impress? What type of marketing roles will the opportunities you pursue have?
Once you have an idea of your vision, it will be easier to search for the right software to create your digital portfolio.
Choosing the Right Software
In BrainStation’s guide for 2023, the author mentions how there’s a large variety of free, or cost-effective websites that have customizable templates to create a digital portfolio.
In my search, I found that Wix was the smoothest platform for me, and it was easy to create all the pages I needed to showcase my work. Of course, the most important page to consider is the home page - where you and your most important tabs will be shining right in the middle!
Portfolio Content
Your Personal Brand
A blank canvas may look intimidating, but it’s always best to start thinking about what your personal brand looks like. Think of what represents you and how you can express that across your portfolio.
When choosing the style for my website, I thought about what color palette best represented me and the feeling I wanted to give the user when navigating my portfolio. Find out what best fits you, and see how the user will react to your brand.
Showcase Your Best Work
When creating your portfolio, showcasing your best work will highlight how experienced and professional you are. As mentioned in an article by Victoria Rusnac,
“It helps you stand out in a crowded market, open up new career opportunities and build credibility in your industry.”
Include examples of marketing campaigns and projects that feature your skills and expertise.
Emphasize the results of your work! That includes:
Website traffic
Impressions
Increased conversion rates
Any successful key performance indicators worth displaying in your portfolio
Tell Your Story
This is your chance to tell your story as a marketer! Along with your collection of projects, let the user know how passionate you are about your work and share what sets you apart from other marketers. Take this moment to be confident in your skills and demonstrate why you are the best fit for any business opportunity!
Encourage the user to keep the conversation going and include a “Contact Me” page! This is where users can contact you and inquire more about you to discuss the marketing role you seek possibly.
The point of a good story is to create good conversation!
General Upkeep
Keep it Clean and Easy to Navigate
A cluttered or confusing portfolio can distract from your work and hinder your chances of making a strong impression. Keep your marketing portfolio clean, professional, and easy to navigate.
The best rule of thumb is to use clear headings, bullet points, and sections to guide the reader through your digital portfolio and keep a nice flow.
Make sure your portfolio is mobile-friendly, as there may be recruiters and employers that view it on their mobile devices.
Update and Customize
Your marketing portfolio will constantly be changing as you progress through your career. Updating and customizing your portfolio for each opportunity you pursue in your life is essential! Remember to leave room for more projects to add and campaigns you complete.
A general note; whenever you’re adding work done with a client or company, always ask permission before adding it to your portfolio.
The Final Tips
I hope this article will help you create a professional portfolio! The portfolio I have at the moment has gone through more changes than I could count! But that’s the beauty of developing your skills and growing with each opportunity you work through as time goes on in your career.
Find out what best works for you and what represents you as a marketer. A portfolio is a work of art, and when you add your creative touches to it, it will become a significant representation of who you are deep on the inside.
This is the time to inspire!
Sources
Rusnac, Victoria. “Why Do You Need a Marketing Portfolio?” Acta School (blog), September 3, 2022, https://www.actaschool.co.uk/post/why-do-you-need-a-marketing-portfolio#:~:text=Why do you need a portfolio%3F,build credibility in your industry.
Saraco, Francesca. “How to Build a Digital Marketing Portfolio.” BrainStation (guide), 2023, https://brainstation.io/career-guides/how-to-build-a-digital-marketing-portfolio.
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