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The New Rules of Online Portfolios

Just finished reading David Meerman Scott’s The New Rules of Marketing & PR, Second Edition. (Disclosure: I’m quoted on page 44, so he sent me a free copy.) Wow, did it blow my PR mind on so many levels! But The New Rules is not just for PR and marketing professionals. I would argue almost everyone has something to learn from this book. In this post, I want to introduce you to “buyer personas” and “the new rules of online portfolios.”

You’re probably wondering what the heck a “buyer persona” is.

…a representative of a type of buyer that you have identified as having a specific interest in your organization or product or having a market problem that your product or service solves.

Let’s take a look at how buyer personas apply to your career and online portfolio.

Your major and the internships and other experiences you’ve had throughout college can likely take you down a number of different career paths. You customize your cover letters and resumes, right? (If not, you should be!) Well, then why not your online portfolio? (And yes, you should have one.)

For example of what I mean, check out Beth Farrar’s portfolio. See the different points of entry she has? Design. Photography. Multimedia. She’s identified those as areas in which she can help other organizations.

However, I would recommend keeping the main page to just those points of entry. Instead, she can have complete “micro-sites” in each section that all include the other items on her current homepage (blog, resume, contact). That way, once buyers enter a section, they don’t have to backtrack.

Once you’ve decided who your buyers are, you need to understand their goals and how you can help them — and the best way to reach them with these messages. What key words and phrases will they be Googling to come across your site? Do they want images and multimedia? Do they prefer to download material or view it directly on your site?

Of course, this is going to take some heavy research. Perhaps the best approach is to make an “Interview Bucket List” (term coined by J.T. O’Donnell of CAREEREALISM) — or the list of top 10 or 20 organizations at which you would like to work and would be a good fit — and research their preferences. After all, these are the organizations you’re going after, right?

One example Scott gives in the book is RightNow. Take a look at the left-hand side of the homepage. See where it says “Solve Your Problem” and gives several choices as points of entry? This is exactly what you should be doing with your online portfolio. Check out this WordPress theme. Instead of About, Blog, Portfolio and Contact, you could make each a point of entry for your various buyers.

Amazingly simple, yet genius.

Who are your buyers and what are their personas? What problems do you help them solve and how? Do you plan to update (or create) your online portfolio accordingly?