5 Things that Every Marketer Should Have in Their Portfolio

February 24, 2023, | By Erika Glysz

A portfolio is like a window into the freelancer's soul, it's a collection of pieces that showcase all the hard work and talent we have as freelancers. All jokes aside, a portfolio is an essential item to have when applying for jobs as a freelancer where your work samples can really set you above the competition.

It's quite standard for all marketing, advertising, and creative industries to have portfolios but if you've never made one before you might not be sure where to start or what to include in it. I've provided a quick guide to the top 5 things that you should include in your portfolio from portfolio pieces to a completing 'about me' section, we cover it all.

1. Think about how you want to present your portfolio to clients

There are many sites out there that offer a portfolio option in their designs such as Adobe Portfolio, Wix, Squarespace, WordPress, and more. When I was trying to figure out what site I wanted to have my portfolio on I played around with all of my options before choosing what I have now. Some things I would consider when choosing a site for your portfolio would be the User Experience (UX), you want your viewers to have an easy time navigating your portfolio. In reality, a portfolio shouldn't be super complex anyways, unlike a website, a portfolio is just to showcase you and your work so it's not meant to be super complicated.

PRO TIP: Look for portfolios which you already have subscriptions for. Apps such as Adobe allow you to access their portfolios and domains for free as long as you have an account and this way you don't have to pay extra for another site.

2. Always have an About Me and Contact section

This may seem like a no-brainer but these two sections often get looked over. I feel like a good portfolio is about 3 pages; your home (or portfolio page), an about me section, and a contact me page. When an employer or potential client is looking at their page they also will look over the about me section. This happens in larger companies a lot when they'll ask you to submit sample pieces of your work but they are also looking to find out more about you as a freelancer.

Here are some things that you can talk about on your about me page that will highlight your skills:

- Your current or past education

-Any degrees or certifications you have

- What current experience do you have in the desired field

- Your overall interests

You want to be professional but it's also okay to make your about me section more personable.

As for your contact page, it's quite simple, and here are some easy things that you can include:

- Any social media handles relevant to your field (business accounts are good, just try to avoid personal ones)

- A current phone number and email address

- Your office hours and timezone so any potential clients will know when to contact you

3. Samples, samples, samples!

Probably the most important thing to have in your portfolio is samples of your work. A good portfolio will have multiple work samples that showcase all of your talents. Types of portfolio work can include logo designs, advertisements, social media posts, brochures, business cards, the list goes on. A good idea is to try and organize your samples by company or by project that way it's easy for the viewer to see what you did for one project versus another. Having a portfolio that is easy for the viewer to follow along with will perform better than one where you have sections all thrown together of miscellaneous work.

Instead of Organizing by type try Organizing by project: Rather than putting all the logos into one segment, think about grouping all of the projects under the same brand together. If you made 3 items for company A, then put them all together to help establish better branding. Clients like to see the progression and from personal experience, my portfolios have always done better when I've grouped my projects by brand and not by the type of project.

4. Include Mockups to really set your portfolio apart from the competition

If you haven't heard of the term 'mockup' don't worry you aren't alone, I didn't either before creating my first portfolio piece. The term mockup refers to putting your piece where it's actually supposed to be made for. For example, if you created an ad for Instagram you could put your ad in an Instagram mockup to show it what it would like to be used. This works great for bigger projects such as posters, billboards, and other traditional media that you can't just throw it on social media and edit it after.

Adding mockups to your portfolio isn't hard either. Use sites such as smartmockups.com to help elevate your work. I always found that mockups helped me visualize what my design would look like in real life and it's a great tool to use to present to a client as well.

5. A portfolio doesn't have to be all graphics, there's more to include!

Lastly, most people think that your portfolio has to be graphics only, but I'm here to tell you that it doesn't have to be. I currently have about 9 companies that I feature in my portfolio and they all range from school work, current clients, or fictitious clients made up for the purpose of my portfolio. I like to showcase my designs but I also like to include the strategic side of my talents as well and I do that by including documents such as marketing or advertising campaigns, social media strategy, internal marketing reports, or market analysis. This shows future clients that I am well-rounded as a freelancer and it also shows my thoughts and processes on the strategic side of marketing.

PLEASE NOTE: Ensure that you are getting consent from current clients to have their strategic work put into your portfolio as some information can be private. I also make it a habit of not including any compromising information or anything sensitive such as financials.

I hope that you found some of these tips helpful in starting your portfolio and if you've started one, tag me on your social media so I can visit it!

If you're looking for some portfolio inspiration, feel free to check out mine here, and don't forget to subscribe to my website for more digital marketing and freelancing tips!