10 Tips for Developing an Effective PR Portfolio

PR Portfolios: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

A portfolio is a career picture book. If you’re a job seeker, use it to let a prospective employer “see” what you’ve done.

Why do I need a portfolio?

• In a tough job market, a portfolio is another way to set yourself apart and to demonstrate your professionalism.
• A portfolio helps you to assess your growth and progress in your career.
• Your portfolio can help you to prepare for interviews by reminding you of all your experience and accomplishments.
• A portfolio helps you to make documenting your accomplishments and results a habit.
• Your portfolio can help you focus the discussion in an interview on the accomplishments you wish to highlight.

What should my portfolio include?

• Writing samples and how they were used–pitches, newsletters, web pages, press materials, published articles.
• If you include a press release, it should be immediately followed by the clips it generated–cause and effect has the most impact.
• Social media campaigns.
• Reports, charts or graphs to visually demonstrate your activities’ impact.
• Letters of appreciation from employers or clients along with industry or company awards and certificates you’ve received.

During our nearly 20 years in business, we’ve seen quite a few portfolios–some good, some bad–and the thing that still surprises us the most is when we meet an experienced communicator who’s never saved samples of his work and taken the time to develop a portfolio. You could argue it’s a case of the cobbler’s children having no shoes, but we view it as a missed opportunity to impress a prospective employer or client.