If you are aiming for a career in marketing, you surely understand the concept of selling. That’s exactly what a digital marketing portfolio should do, sell you and your skillset to a potential employer.

A LinkedIn profile is one thing, but it’s far more effective to have a dynamic website with visuals and cutting-edge design. This is where your digital marketing portfolio comes in! Let’s review what you need to know about digital marketing portfolios, and why they are critical for marketing professionals.

Why Do You Need a Digital Marketing Portfolio?

Most digital marketers have a portfolio. So, if you want to be competitive in the job market, you should too. You’ll be glad that you did because it will allow you to always have great examples of your best work so you can impress potential clients. 

A website or portfolio can be updated and expanded, which allows you to build a historical record of how your work develops and improves. Keeping an up-to-date marketing portfolio shows recruiters, clients, and the world that you are professional, talented, dedicated, and engaged. 

So, what are the key elements of a great portfolio? The best portfolios shine. They immediately command attention, stand out from competitors, and entice the visitor to want to view more. In doing so, they get to know you a little more. That all boils down to creating a brand that people remember.

How to Brand YOU

Before you start to create your portfolio website, step back and think about what makes you unique. You might want to brainstorm words that describe you and your work. For example, you might be bold, eye-catching, or fearless. Once you think you have defined yourself, think about how you’d like your brand image to be perceived and how you can present that.

Your website or portfolio can have a theme that’s emphasized by using certain colors or a logo that appears on each page. However you design your portfolio, try to make the landing portfolio page striking. Show engaging images that reflect you, use words that emphasize characteristics of your personal brand, and add video.

THIS is how to make your portfolio dynamic and engaging!

The Components of a Portfolio

As much as your portfolio showcases you and a collection of your work, it should also showcase the clients that you have worked with and the projects that you have completed. 

The portfolio is a visual tool rather than a descriptive one. While a resume and cover letter explains what you do, the portfolio is evidence of your achievements and supports any claims that you make. 

Your portfolio is actually much more integral in the decision to hire you than your resume because it is visual proof that you can deliver what the employer or client is looking for.

You can build your website or portfolio using web store builders such as Strikingly, Wix, Network Solutions, and GoDaddy. These services offer ready-to-go templates that make it easy for you to add content.

How to Build Your Own Portfolio

If you use a web-building service, plan what content you want to include before you start to build your own website. You might have a vast amount of work to showcase, but it’s important to be selective and relatively brief so that you retain the interest of viewers to your site.

Here’s what to prepare.

A Bio or “About” Page 

Be brief when describing your education and your years of experience. This information is important, but what is more compelling to a potential employer or client is how you craft your marketing to influence the audience. 

Do you have a unique story? What sets you and your projects apart from the rest? What visual or language tools do you employ in your projects? You shouldn’t go into great detail but just giving a snippet of your thought processes will be compelling to the reader. 

Contact Information

List your phone number, email, and other social media accounts on your website or portfolio. Add a "contact me" button on most or all pages so that the visitor is encouraged to engage and ask you questions about your work.

A Sample of Products

Organize these in a logical way and on pages that are easy to navigate. For each project, give a summary of your thought process, your inspiration, and the result or impact of each work.

Testimonials or Feedback

Potential customers like to see feedback on your work. It’s like a built-in referral. If you don’t have big-name clients to list, you can use quotes from people you’ve worked with that show your value.

Try to get a diverse spectrum of testimonials that reflect the range of work you’ve done for clients.

Awards or Certifications

List your awards and certifications somewhere visible. Ideally, you’’ll have these on the landing page. Any awards are an acknowledgment of your skills, and these combined with testimonials will encourage potential clients to trust your brand.  

Cover Page and Table of Contents 

This will be the first page that a visitor to your site will see. It should tell them what they can find within, and it should make them want to dig deeper.

Steps to Building a Digital Marketing Portfolio

1.       Prepare and organize examples of your work and marketing campaigns.

2.       Choose a platform or website builder—many of these are free.

3.       Design a visually engaging homepage. Captivate your audience with web design elements that act as a doorway into your space. 

4.       Populate the site with your work samples. Organize it in a logical way. For example, you could present your work by sector, or present it according to the strategy and approach that you took for a client as a content marketer.

5.       Invite visitors to your site to engage. In addition to providing your social media contacts, you could offer a link that allows them to give feedback or to like or share your work on their own social media sites.

6.       Include a call to action on your pages. Explain your type of work in a few words and then have a button that says, “Click here for creative marketing of your brand" or something else to that effect.

If you engage visitors, you can follow up with them as potential leads.

Take some time to check out the designs of well-constructed digital marketing portfolio examples for innovative ideas for your own design. Here are some examples of content marketing sites to get you started:

Tasha Meys

https://www.tastefullytash.com/about-me/

Tasha Meys is a photographer, business owner, and social media marketer. Her brand is “Tastefully Tash.” The landing page of Tasha’s website accomplishes so many things. It’s eye-catching, intriguing, and inviting. It allows the visitor to get to know Tasha through a video that tells her "story," and then invites the visitor to “Join her community.” All of that information is conveyed in a thirty-second visit.  

Velvet Spectrum

https://www.velvetspectrum.com/

Velvet Spectrum is the creative studio of visual artist Luke Choice. The home page of this digital portfolio is full of vibrant color, which encourages the visitor to take notice and linger. Then, Luke’s work is easy to view and navigate. The website contrasts the visual complexity of the art with the simplicity of a straightforward website.

Melanie Daveid

https://melaniedaveid.com/

Melanie Daveid is a UX Designer and Art Director. Her portfolio landing page tells her story and explains her processes. It is simply designed and gives the key information on the home page so that the visitor doesn't have to click to find it. The viewer can scroll down and quickly see Melanie’s amazing work, and there is an easy-to-find button for “Contacts”.

Gari Cruze

http://www.garicruze.com/

Gari Cruze is a copywriter who’s worked with major brands like Lyft and Slack. His portfolio is a little more complex but still easy to navigate and fun to read. Gari blends images with words to great effect. His home page is colorful, and the “About” page includes Gari’s story and his approach to his work along with his contacts.

Bottom Line

The key takeaway is that an online portfolio should not be complex, but it should sell. Include your bio, your story, and your work in a well-organized and dynamic way. The creativity of your work should be enough to make your site engaging and appealing.

Be sure to include a call to action and a way to contact you with just one click.

Building a marketing portfolio is an obvious opportunity to sell yourself, your brand, and your work. Also, to be competitive, you really need a website. Think of it as an investment in your future and take the time to create a portfolio that you are proud of that you can expand as your work opportunities grow and take you in different directions. 

Once you pick up clients through word-of-mouth, email marketing could be a thing of the past. Your portfolio could be the only outreach and marketing you need. A digital marketing portfolio is an easy way to reach clients and find leads. Take full advantage of it.