How to build a great portfolio as a creative
As a creative, you may find it challenging to build a portfolio, especially if you’re doing something like social media management or brand content creation.
Here are some essential tips to help you go from having no portfolio to building something good enough to share with prospective clients. 😊
#1: Figure out the platform of choice
There are a host of free and paid portfolio creators out there, and if you have a personal website, you can dedicate a page on it to this. However, if you're looking for a free and simple solution, I'll recommend creating a Google Slides document. It's easy to use, and you can download your portfolio as a pdf document or share a link with anyone you want.
#2: Contextualize your experience and add some data
So you’re creating content, managing a social page, developing engagement strategies, tracking page growth, etc. Show all of that! Use sentences like “I grew the ABC brand page from 1% to 15% in 3 months.”
This will give whoever sees your portfolio a good idea of how much impact you made on the brands you’re working with.
#3: Document everything
It’s important to back up your words with visuals. So you created a social media calendar? Include it in your portfolio. Created social media graphics? Include them too. Document all the assets you’ve created for the brand and include the best ones in your portfolio.
#4: Add your reviews and feedback
Last but not least, if you’ve received great feedback on your work, whether directly or indirectly (indirectly meaning other people outside of your employers complimenting your work), please include it in your portfolio. This helps reinforce your work in a positive light.
Portfolio for Creatives
During a job search, a professional portfolio enhances who you are as a candidate, helps you stand out from other applicants, and presents evidence of your relevant skills and abilities to your prospective employer.
Early in my career, I found building a portfolio with minimal resources challenging, especially since my work encompassed social media management, brand content creation, and content marketing.
This is why I created Portfolio for Creatives, a collection of slides to help early-stage marketers quickly showcase their skills & value proposition to prospective employers. This template enables you to organize your work and achievements in a way that's easy to interact with, putting your value proposition front and centre and showcasing all your skills to your prospective employer.
Read the slides carefully and duplicate them as necessary to create your brand-new portfolio.
