It’s a great question and the question I get asked the most, for good reason, as the majority of creators I speak with are recent graduates, and aspiring marketers.
So how do we build a digital marketing portfolio WITHOUT any experience?
First, let’s find a fitting scenario and example and work our way through it together.
Let us imagine that you’re a few months from graduating from University, you have done a non-marketing related degree and you want to apply for an in-house, social media marketing position at a local business because you love working on social media platforms - a typical story of the graduates I speak with!
Now, at this point, you could just prepare your CV, a cover letter with a rationale about how enthusiastic and willing you are to do the job, but you’re not going to do that, because you are reading this, and you know that by just submitting a CV and cover letter, your application will probably fall short.
You know that by submitting something that SHOWS a prospective employer that you can do the ‘thing’ that will provide you with a much greater chance of getting an interview and hopefully securing the job you want.
Obviously, at this point, you have personal experiences with social media platforms, which is helpful, but from a professional standpoint, that’s not going to work for your new professional digital marketing portfolio.
You need something that you probably don’t have at the moment. What you need is ONE social media project. Just one social media project that will work to highlight your knowledge, skills and abilities that we can place into your portfolio ready to show the world.
Sure, I can hear you from here shouting “What, just ONE project...? Is that enough?”
Yes. If structured correctly, ONE social media project will be enough to get you noticed by the prospective employer. (Also, remember that time is of the essence here. You need to get something created in good time).
So, here is how to build a marketing portfolio WITHOUT any experience!
Break your ONE project up into THREE mini-projects.
Creative copy/writing skills
Here you can show off your copywriting skills. Employers want to see that you can convey all types of subjects clearly and concisely. With your project, you can do just that with your beautifully crafted social media captions.
SEO/SMO skills
Your hashtag strategy is very important and you can use this to show how you researched and found the keywords required for your hashtags. You can also discuss how you incorporated your overall keywords strategy into your posts.
Graphic design skills
With your social media project you should show off your graphic design prowess. Here you can explain the software used and the ideas around your designs. Make sure that you incorporate concept designs if you can.
Remember. The ultimate aim of your portfolio is to show employers what you CAN do but also what your POTENTIAL is. Employers also use your portfolio to gauge how you could fit into their team, looking at your methodology, your working practices - it’s a powerful tool!
PS. Always ensure that you include the following in your projects.
Brief
Desired outcomes
Deliverables
Rationale and methodology
Any results
As always, have fun creating your digital marketing portfolio, and I can't wait to see what you build. Please feel free to share on your socials using the #AtomicPortfolio hashtag!