Updated in 2023
As the number of applicants for new grad and entry level marketing positions grow, it’s imperative that you differentiate yourself from the competition.
Your marketing resume is a good way to tell recruiters and interviewers about your background and experience. But, if you want to stand out, you need a strong portfolio to show them all of your hard work. At Pathrise, we have helped 900+ people land great jobs in tech. Therefore, we wanted to outline everything you need to know to build your portfolio so you can become a digital marketer.
Where should you build your marketing portfolio?
The site you use to build your portfolio should depend on the type of work you are planning to showcase. If you are a content writer, a WordPress blog or Medium page should be a good place for you to house your posts.
For a more robust marketing portfolio, look to Squarespace, Weebly, or Wix to build your own website. With these sites, you can have more freedom with the look and feel of the page. Though you might have to spend more time building and designing, it will be worth it when the recruiter reviews your work on a professional portfolio.
What should your portfolio homepage look like?
Just like anything else, you should make your portfolio as easy as possible for your reader to navigate and understand. The homepage of your portfolio should be neat and clean. It should clearly demonstrate:
- What skills you have
- Your experience applying those skills
- The results
Don’t be afraid to show your personality as well! It lightens the mood and reminds the reader that you are human. In addition, this should be a living, breathing website, so keep it updated with your most recent work or even what is inspiring you lately.
A good example of an effective portfolio homepage comes from marketing strategist Sarah Karp Ward. When you enter her site, she has her name and skills at the top so you know who she is and what she does. She includes an easy navigation bar and a photo of her dog and the NYC skyline, showing her personality.
The goal of the portfolio homepage is to pique your reader’s interest about you and your work. Once that is accomplished, they will click into your projects to learn more about your experiences. These pages are extremely important because they give a look into your real-world work and how you have made an impact.
Checklist: Outline of strong portfolio
- Who you are
- Your skills
- Projects / experiences (this is where you show how you demonstrated those skills)
- Resume or link to resume
Checklist: Outline of a strong marketing portfolio page
- Setup & context
- The challenge & problem
- High level goals
- Your role
- The team
- Process
- How did you work on this campaign, task, problem?
- Launch, impact, results
- Final outputs
- Results
- Next steps
Continuing with Sarah’s portfolio, let’s dive into one of her pages where she describes a campaign that she worked on for the jewelry company Maison Birks. First, she explains the background of the project, which is that Meghan Markle has been wearing this jewelry in almost all of her public appearances. Then, she gives the campaign setup, which is posting the photos of Markle on social media for the brand with trackable links to the products. Sarah highlights her role in the campaign and finally, quantifies her impact with the results of the campaigns.
You can also see an abbreviated portfolio page from Anthony Chiaravallo, a marketing strategist. This is a portfolio page for his work on a Timberland content marketing campaign. He provides a link to the campaign and a handy checklist of information so that you do not need to spend too much time reading.
With these examples and checklist, you should be able to ready to showcase your work in a strong marketing portfolio that highlights your real world experience. Don’t forget that you should be continually adding to your portfolio with every new project you do, either on your own or in your new work experiences.
Pathrise is a career accelerator that works with students and professionals 1-on-1 so they can land their dream job in tech. If you want to work with our mentors to get help with your marketing portfolio or with any other aspect of the job search, become a Pathrise fellow.
Apply today.
Featured image photo credit: Campaign Creators
