How to create a portfolio 💼

Hello friends,

Greetings from Ottawa.

Summer is creeping upon us—and the temperatures keep on increasing.

But I guess anything is better than the cold. Plus, the patios are open.

So hopefully, we should be back to some form of normalcy.

I don’t think we’ll ever go back to pre-COVID-19 times.

But back to the business of the day…

Today, we’ll be talking portfolios

Some weeks back, a reader asked (Hi Bayo):

How can digital marketers create and manage an online portfolio of their work/campaigns?

I’ll try to tackle this from my experience of building a portfolio as a social and content strategist and content marketer.

Paraphrasing the great Mark Pollard here—Your strategy portfolio has one critical job: Surprise!

(Not sure I have been able to pull that off in my portfolios so far, but it’s a WIP)

A portfolio is not an excuse to gather together a bunch of stuff. Instead, it’s an opportunity to show a potential client/employer how you think.

Creating a portfolio as a content writer/content marketer

That you haven’t run a content marketing program from start to finish doesn’t mean your portfolio has to be boring.

Here’s a portfolio I have on Jon Morrow’s Certified Writers database:

Notice what I do here:

• A professional “LinkedIn type” headshot

• An introduction with the benefits you get from working with me

• My areas of expertise

• Links to my writing (that have bylines)

• And testimonials

You don’t need a database of writers to create yours. Instead, you can set one up on Medium or a Google Docs page - and share the link with your clients or potential employers.

Suppose you have a website (even better). Create an “About Me” page and include these various sections. I am sure you could make it way better than mine.

Creating a portfolio as a social and content strategist & content writer

If you want to create a portfolio that combines your digital marketing case studies and published work, that’s also doable.

Here, I use Google to host a PDF that’s split into the following sections:

• An about me section ( A mini personal mission/purpose statement)

• A section that highlights my key skills

• A section with case studies of campaigns I have worked on

• A section with links to my best-published work

• A testimonial

• And a section with contact details.

You can view my portfolio here.

Here’s what my case study section looks like:

Let me know if you need any clarifications or would like me to review your portfolio.

Content tools

A content tool I discovered this week

The Interactive Content Idea Generator helps you generate ideas for quizzes, chatbots, recommendations, and assessments.

Not Enough Writers

Tomorrow, we have the awesome Daisy-ree Q talking about crushing customer research as a content marketer.

She’ll be sharing how to:

• Find customer insights

• Use secondary research to find audience insights

• Apply these insights to keywords, messaging, blog topics, and distribution

If you haven’t joined the Not Enough Writers community, you can join us here.

Or, if you prefer to join the session directly, here’s the link to the Zoom Webinar.

See you tomorrow.

Content writing jobs (Remote/Freelance)

✅ Freelance Writer, Staking Rewards | Apply here

✅ Freelance Writer, Cat5 Commerce | Apply here

✅ Freelance Writer, Affinity Sites | Apply here

✅ Content Writer, Crowd Content | Apply here

✅ And here’s a Google Docs link that also includes high-paying pitching opportunities.

(Seeing that we all have been learning to pitch our skills, now it’s time to put all you have learned to practice. I’ll update the doc weekly)

All the best, folks. And please share with any of your friends/colleagues who might find this useful. 🙏🏾

Testimonials 🙏🏾

I’m spicing up my “About” page on Substack.

If you find these weekly newsletters useful, could you reply with a testimonial along with your full name?

My biggest takeaway this week 🚀

Motivation usually comes after you start, not before. So get going— because action builds momentum.

What I’m thinking about?

"Tell me what you pay attention to and I will tell you who you are."

Philosopher José Ortega y Gasset

What’s your biggest content marketing challenge?

Reply to this email. Let me know what you’d like me to cover next.

I read every reply.

Thanks for reading this far. I am grateful!

Stay safe and sane.

I’ll be back on June 25th.

Dozie

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