3 Tips to Consider When Creating an Online PR Portfolio

By Thalia Lauzon

The need for a convenient, one-stop-shop of all things “you” is becoming increasingly important when applying for internships and jobs in the communications industry; this is particularly true for your first job with few references or referrals. At its base, an online portfolio showcases your work, biography, and contact information for prospective employers and clients to see experiences and skill levels. On a larger scale, an online portfolio is proof of your abilities to brand, write and design, so employers will ultimately remember and hire someone. A great, impactful portfolio can be the difference between two similar resumes or cover letters to get you the job. 

Starting an online portfolio is the most complex part; there are hundreds of factors, from font types to actual content. Here are some tips that will help you create or refine your portfolio into the deliverable hiring managers look for:

1. Stand Out: Brand and Platform

The first step to any online portfolio is finding the look you want –– the right platform and template to use. The most commonly used website builders include Wix, SquareSpace and Weebly, which all have pros and cons depending on the price, the look and the customization features you want. Wix tends to be the best, most unique option for the uninformed. Its wide array of free, easy-to-use templates and editing options makes it the best choice for a unique brand that will help you stand out from other applicants. 

And the need to stand out (without being too outrageous) is high.  

The best advice I received when refining my portfolio was to approach it like a personal brand. That includes customizing your color scheme and font type that you continually use, adding graphics and animations to engage the viewer and creating a logo or key website title to put an image to your brand. 

At the time, I struggled the most with creating a logo, which you can use as a personalized marker, professional watermark and on business cards. It was a lot of pressure, especially for someone who wasn’t as adept in InDesign or Photoshop. However, my old manager gave me some easy and creative ideas: 

• If you are interested in design or photography, choose an image or layout with clear lines and trace the piece using the Photoshop brush tool or neon line filter, creating a simple line logo from your own work.  
• Choose an image(s) or spell out your name or initials and use the warp tool on Photoshop to distort, merge and blend the design to create a unique image. Even if you don’t use the final image, you can mimic the shape to brainstorm a simple, creative design to add with your name. 
• Or, when in doubt, keep it simple. There’s something endearingly professional and clean about a simple shape and name interacting.

2. Show Over Tell

Actions over words. Accomplishments over tasks. Images over paragraphs. 

The best portfolios contain clear evidence: images, clips, PDF documents and results. There are no questions about what you did or accomplished if you display the work you’ve created –– anything from published work to class presentations. 

The best practice is to feature a compilation of “best work” on a single page with imagery, links and download buttons to streamline the review process by busy hiring managers who are unlikely to go through each tab and article. You may also create one in-depth look at your best work –– like a PRLab client project –– on one page.

It’s also imperative to explain your successes rather than simply what you did. It’s the difference between: “I created social media content for client platforms” and “I created X number of Instagram posts, averaging to Y number of likes and Z% engagement.” The latter shows you get results. Along these lines, adding metrics, like unique visitor per month (UVM) numbers –– the estimated number of eyes reached –– with print clips and links to article placements help showcase your impact. 

The evidence of your results provides credibility to your experiences and backs up your claims that you will add value to the company. 

3. The 3 C’s: Concision, Consistency, Creativity

Lastly, the three holy C’s of website design:

• Concision –– the lack of excess, the removal of outdated projects and the strategic choice of what to showcase;
• Consistency –– clear themes, styles, font sizes and grammar;
• Creativity–– the unique presentation of data.

While the “Brand and Platform” and “Show Over Tell” tips make your portfolio stand separately from the pack, practicing the three C’s helps ensure your portfolio does not metaphorically fall off a cliff. As emerging and established communication professionals, the need for all three is constantly preached and practiced. Those rules should also move to your online portfolio, which becomes supplemental proof of your writing, design, organization and branding skills. If you write poorly or create a sloppy design, it can be perceived negatively –– you don’t pay attention to details, or you don’t care enough to try. To deter this, make strategic choices in what you choose to add to your portfolio –– add the best you have and constantly update it –– create a consistent style for the details on each page and find the best, most creative way to present bulky information. 

As you begin creating or editing your portfolio, you can set personal templates to help on Wix or design a personalized style guide to note the use of color, fonts and even the space between paragraphs. 

Attention to detail is the first step toward finalizing a personalized, professional portfolio that helps you make memorable connections with hiring officers and, hopefully, earn your next job.