Organize Your Copywriting Portfolio
An organized copywriting portfolio allows potential employers to assess your skills at a glance. Advertising agencies, large and small businesses, and entrepreneurs hire copywriters to articulate their messages clearly and concisely. A polished and organized copywriting portfolio highlights your talents and work experience. Here are a few ways that you can organize your copywriting portfolio to capture the attention of prospective clients.
Steps
- Highlight your excellent work.
- Gather your published print clips. Always highlight your best work. Written pieces that have received awards or have drawn in advertising revenue are ideal choices. If you have ghostwritten copy, always ask your client(s) for permission before including the work in your portfolio.
- Include web writing samples. Select your best work as evidenced by client feedback and advertising conversion rates.
- Categorize your clips.
- Decide on a logical way to organize your clips. Separating them by industry, by publication type or by topic are all possible options. Depending on how much work you have accomplished, your portfolio may showcase one example of each type of work. For example, an award-winning tagline, a high quality newsletter and an outstanding vision statement may each be highlighted.
- Change the organization of your clips for prospective clients. If you have completed a large amount of work, customize your portfolio to the needs of specific clients. For example, an advertising agency in need of a tagline writer may not be interested in dozens of web articles. Create focused attention by including only relevant clips.
- Present your copywriting portfolio.
- Choose a copywriting portfolio binder. For clients who prefer that you bring a copywriting portfolio with you to an interview, select a high quality 3-ring binder, preferably with a zipper to keep your clips enclosed. Use section dividers to separate the different categories of clips. If you have a large number of clips, include a table of contents.
- Create a web portfolio. Clients who are searching for web copywriters will request a link to a web portfolio. Design a website that clearly represents your brand. Create a website section for your copywriting portfolio. Divide your clips into logical categories and create menu buttons for each category. For example, one button may say "Advertising Campaigns" and another may highlight "Mission Statements." The web portfolio must be easy to navigate and allow prospective clients to easily return to the main menu.
- Request feedback from seasoned professionals. Experienced copywriters, previous employers and colleagues are all possible sources of portfolio feedback. Invite them to comment on your copywriting portfolio. Ask about the organization of the clips, the design of the web portfolio and the appropriateness of the chosen clips.
- Revise your portfolio. As you gain new clips and awards for your work, replace older clips with more current, higher quality work.
