2014-11-12-young-women-in-digital-portfolios.md

Online Portfolios for Digital Marketers

Wednesday, November 12, 2014 6:40-7:30pm

Susan Buck (susan@thewc.co)

Women's Coding Collective

Twitter: @WeAreWcc

Short URL for this outline: http://thewc.co/s/ywd-2014

Intros

• Name
• What you do
• Do you have a portfolio?

Outline

• Planning
• Execution
• Examples and inspiration

In your opinion...

• What makes a portfolio successful?
• What elements should a portfolio have?
• What mistakes do portfolios make?

Planning

Identify your goals

• Obtain a job
• Obtain clients / freelance
• Networking / online presence / reputation

Identify your audience

• Think about your target audience and consider different, catered versions of your portfolio.
• Who is receiving this? An HR department? Founder of a small company? How might your approaches differ?
• Are they proficient in what you're selling? Ex: Applying to a marketing firm vs. applying to do marketing work for a clothing store.

Strategies

Function

The focus is on the work; the portfolio itself is subtle and lets the content shine.

• Valerie Jar
• Hick Design

Form

The portfolio itself is the star; the work becomes almost secondary to the presentation of it. Often, very experimental:

• rleonardi
• sagmeister.com - Live view of office

Identity (Virtual Business Card)

• Amit Gupta
• Rob Young
• Petra Sell

Pitch

Your work alone does not always get you the job. You could have the most fantastic work, but if you can't apply that work to the context in which you're aiming for, you're not going to stand out. Aim to show your target how your skills and experience can work for them.

• Loren wants to work at AirBnB

Content

Minimum requirements

• Your name
• Contact info
• General location info
• Some idea of who you are/what you do

Might-haves

• More indepth details about who you are/what you do
• Call to action
• Your services
• Examples/case studies
• Resume/experience
• Social media links
• Blog

Maybe-haves?

• Photo
• Prices

Showcase your work

• Brief description
• Your role in the project (if it wasn't 100% you)
• What were the results/gains?
• Testimonials
• Snapshots (ex)
• Process breakdown (sketches, iterations)
  • Jen Hayden logo iterations
  • Chad Pugh's Science Machine
  • Book: Show Your Work

Example: http://freshnotcanned.com

Quality over quantity

Lacking work to showcase?

• Create your own projects
• Enter competitions
• Do an internship
• Volunteer for a non-profit you support

Technical Logistics

Little/No coding required

• Carbonmade (Pricing)
• ProSite by Behance
• Weebly
• Krop
• SquareSpace (Pricing)
• Resume.io (Free)
• About.me
• Tumblr (Free)
• WordPress.com or WordPress.org

Code your own

• Hosting: SiteGround
• Templates

Domains

• Domain names: Hover
• Custom domain email hosting

Cultivate your online presence

• What do you see when you Google your name?
• What can you do to build your online presence?
  • Work on your SEO - Google SEO Starter Guide
  • Blog
  • Write thoughtful Amazon reviews on books in your field

Inspiration...

• foliofocus.com/tag/marketing
• logopond.com
• One Page Love
• Behance Examples

Useful reads..

• Smashing Mag's Portfolio Design Patterns & Current Practices
• creativebits.org - Unique business card designs
• 4 Tips to Create Successful Landing Pages
• Unique resume / cv approaches
• Steven Stevenson Challenge
• http://theworstportfolioever.com/