MARKETING
25 Copywriting Portfolio Examples That Will Secure Your Next Gig
If you’re reading this blog, you’ve likely decided to start or revamp your copywriting portfolio. With so many portfolios out there, it’s hard to figure out how to make yours stand out from the crowd.
What colors should you use? What kind of writing samples will show off your skills? Fortunately, I’ve put together a collection of copywriting portfolio examples that are sure to inspire you and guide you in the right direction.
Each copywriting portfolio example I’ve included is unique in terms of color, layout, and personality — highlighting the various ways you can approach putting a portfolio together and how it’s okay to get creative with yours.
How to Create a Copywriting Portfolio
When creating your copywriting portfolio, avoid cramming in too many of your writing samples. You’ll want to show off your diverse portfolio —that’s understandable — but too many samples can overwhelm potential clients and employers.
Instead, opt for five or six writing samples that capture the different styles of writing you’ve done, such as technical, marketing, and business writing. Be sure to also include a balance of humorous and serious pieces, B2B and B2C writings, as well as short and long-form content.
If you have little-to-no writing samples, build your portfolio by starting a website or blog to showcase your writing skills, or contribute to other websites. You can also write for nonprofits or work internships.
Another method to build your portfolio is to write mock-copywriting samples based on local businesses. Just be sure to let employers or clients know they are mock-samples and that you weren’t actually hired by those companies. The point isn’t to deceive, but to show what you can do.
Copywriting Portfolio Examples
Now that you have a few of your best copywriting examples ready to upload, it’s time to design your portfolio. You want a portfolio that stands out from the crowd, showcases your personality, highlights your skills, and is easy to navigate by potential employers.
To give you some inspiration, here are 25 examples of excellent copywriting portfolios broken down into the following categories:
- Homepage – The first page people see of your online portfolio and where you’ll likely house your work samples
- About Me – Where you’ll give readers an idea of who you are and what you do
- Services – What you can provide your clients
Each of these examples presents a different approach to copywriting portfolios that is sure to attract new opportunities.
Homepage
There are many different approaches to creating a homepage for your portfolio — however, it’s best practice to ensure your homepage features your name, your contact information, and complementary colors. Most copywriters choose to feature their work directly on their homepage, but some find a way to link to their samples.
Here are several examples of outstanding homepage templates:
1. Carline Anglade-Cole
The homepage for Anglade-Cole’s copywriting portfolio immediately establishes her as an expert in her field by bringing attention to the awards she’s garnered throughout her career. The photo on her front page shows her at a speaking engagement with a confident smile, and the photo’s caption clearly states her full name above “3X Award-Winning Direct-Response Copywriter, Author, and Consultant.”
The badges for her awards are also displayed throughout, with the American Writers and Artists Institute badge placed in the middle next to the link to subscribe to her email list. Beneath her email list are badges from other accomplishments, including winning the bronze Nonfiction Book Award. If you’re an award-winning copywriter, Anglade-Cole’s page is a great example of how you can place your awards front and center to establish credibility.
2. Gari Cruze
If you want your homepage to focus less on awards and more on who you’ve worked with, Cruze’s homepage is an outstanding example. This homepage heavily features high-quality photos from the different campaigns he’s worked on. Simply hover over each photo to see the name of the company or campaign, then click on the photo to see the copy he wrote and where it was published.
If you’re looking for a more straight-forward yet eye-catching approach to displaying your work, Cruze’s example can lead you in the right direction.
3. Evan Benner
Benner takes a similar approach by using a mixture of high-quality photos and GIFs to display his work on his portfolio’s homepage. However, Benner takes it a step further by including the year his work was published next to each photo. His homepage also includes a headshot and a small blurb about who he is and where he is based.
Potential clients and employers can easily navigate his portfolio by scrolling down where they can see more links to his About page (“Meet Evan”), copy, and the projects he worked on.
4. Jose Carlos Benítez
Copywriting portfolios don’t have to be all work and no play, so don’t be afraid to inject a little humor if you can. Benítez’s personality and sense of humor are sprinkled throughout his portfolio’s homepage.
Upon visiting his website, you’re greeted with a black screen with white text that starts with “Hello there, human! Or robot!” and ends with “Scroll down to see the blood, sweat and tears.” And for laughs, there’s a random button that says “This is just a button.” Spoiler Alert: The button doesn’t do anything but I definitely laughed after I clicked on it and waited 30 seconds for something (nothing) to happen.
Once you scroll down, you’ll see a display of GIFs of the different campaigns Benítez has worked on over the years. Similar to Cruze and Brenner’s portfolios, hovering over the GIFs will show the name of the company the campaign was for — and clicking on them will take you to his work.
Featuring a bit of your personality throughout the portfolio will give potential clients and employers an idea of the kind of person they’re working with — and their humor and vision might line up with yours.
5. Benji Shaw
If you want to include imagery in your portfolio, but prefer a more minimalist approach, then Shaw’s portfolio will spark a few ideas. This portfolio features a black background with his name displayed in a large, easy-to-read font in the upper left corner. Two large images representing his work are featured in the foreground, and more of his work is shown by simply scrolling down. Like in previous examples, clicking the images will take you to another page that gives greater detail on the projects he’s worked on.
6. Aly J. Yale
Another excellent example for minimalists, Yale’s portfolio doesn’t rely on a ton of imagery. Instead her homepage is straightforward, simple, and only features her name in large black text against a white background —along with tabs in the upper right hand corner that lead to her bio, homepage, and contact page.
If you scroll down Yale’s homepage, you see the logos of the outlets that have published her work.
Though I’d definitely suggest including a tab with links to your written work, this homepage shows that sometimes less is more and that you don’t have to rely on bold images to have a strong portfolio.
7. Davina van Buren
The homepage for van Buren’s portfolio is a great example for copywriters who are looking for a neat, organized way of promoting all of their talents, work, and social media in one place.
The content of the homepage is organized in a way that leads your eyes down the page. Its coordinated neutral colors are engaging without being too jarring. Also, notice how the tabs for the about page, portfolio, testimonials, contact information, and social media widgets are all neatly organized in a single row at the top.
This format is great if you’re a copywriter who prefers a clean-cut, business professional portfolio.
8. Stephan Marsh
This portfolio is a great example if you’re the kind of copywriter who wants to get straight to the point. With a tagline in big bold letters reading “Read less of what I say. See more of what I’ve done,” Marsh makes it clear that he does not want to waste anyone’s time. The top of his homepage even includes a self-contained PDF portfolio that can be downloaded immediately.
This portfolio shows that even a person of few words can still find a way to make a bold first impression.
9. Jennifer Cheek
I love this homepage example because it shows how a copywriter can add their own personal touch to a portfolio template. What makes this portfolio stand out is its fun pink hues and the adorable yellow canary logo on the left side of the page. Once again, don’t be afraid to show your personality on your portfolio’s homepage, and that includes your quirky side.
10. Anna Rogan
Rogan’s homepage, like van Buran’s, also leads your eye downward. As you scroll down you’ll see more of her work samples, but what makes her page really interesting is that each sample comes with a corresponding color change. This makes for a fun, aesthetically pleasing scroll through her work.
11. Kayla Dean
Dean’s portfolio is called The Literary Co. and starts by letting visitors know she has a wealth of experience, having created copy for more than 100 clients. Her portfolio also has a blog-style setup where potential clients can scroll down and see all of her latest work, case studies, and the brands she has worked with.
12. Dayarne Smith
Smith’s website opens with a large image of a woman at a keyboard and features all of her relevant tabs at the top of the homepage. Once you scroll down, you’ll see her portfolio with links to her work uniquely displayed in fun monitor illustrations.
13. Sara Frandina
Frandina leaned into the writing theme by having her portfolio’s homepage resemble notebook paper. She doubled down on the theme by crossing out a word in the tagline and “writing” in a new word.
In addition to having standard information tabs at the top of the page, Frandina also included tabs linking to her past works separated by categories — customer research, email sequences, launch copy, long-form sales page, and website copy. These tabs can be found by scrolling down the homepage.
About Me
This is where you showcase your personality and clearly define the expertise you bring as a copywriter. Notice that each example features a photo of the copywriter.
14. Kim Hobson
Figuring out what to say about yourself can be difficult. Where do you even start? Hobson found a way around that by breaking her About page into sections. In her introduction, she includes a photo of herself followed by a brief overview of what she does, where she is based, and how long she has been copywriting.
Below her overview, she lists five quick facts about herself — some of which pertain to copywriting and others that cover her personal life. Then she has a section that breaks down her professional background.
If you’re not sure what to put in your About page, you can follow Hobson’s formula by including a brief overview followed by a few fun facts and a breakdown of your career thus far.
15. Flourish Writing
Sarah, whose portfolio is called Flourish Writing, introduces herself using a funny anecdote about her first “published book” being written on craft paper and stored on her elementary school’s shelf for years. This anecdote lets the reader know Sarah has had a passion for writing since she was a child and that passion can also produce excellent work.
Complete with a photo of Sarah with her adorable pup, this About page gives the reader a clear idea of who Sarah is when she isn’t writing.
16. Shanice Perriatt
Perriatt’s About page is concise and well organized. Her opener clearly states her name and what she does: “I’m Shanice Perriatt – a digital marketer and content creator who blends the best of design and writing into compelling and engaging brand content.”
Like Sarah, Perriatt also gives us insight into her life and hobbies – going to the gym, scrolling through Twitter, and going to the movies. Finally, the bio ends with Perriatt telling the reader the position she holds now.
The muted pastel background complements the green around headshot, making for a clean, informative page.
17. Kayla Hollatz
Hollatz takes a different approach to her About page. First, it starts with a photo of Hollatz next to a brief statement detailing her objective.
After scrolling down, visitors see an “About You” page instead of an “About Me” page. This is where Hollatz presents an issue many clients face.
Finally, visitors can scroll further down to find an About Me page in which Hollatz presents herself as the answer to all of the potential client’s problems.
18. Andie Coupland
Coupland’s About page shows that it is perfectly fine to veer away from personal details and to keep things strictly business. While we don’t get insight into Coupland’s life outside of writing, we do get a clear description of her experience and what she brings to the table as a copywriter. Note that she also includes a link to her LinkedIn for more information.
19. Jacob McMillen
McMillen’s About page establishes credibility by focusing on his accomplishments. He also puts his own spin on the writer’s headshot by instead only showing half his face. It’s a bold move but the gray coloring complements the muted blue and white banner, so it doesn’t seem too out of place.
20. James Schlesinger
Like Hollatz, Schlesinger uses his About page to present a problem potential clients could be facing, then he presents himself as the solution by explaining exactly what he can do for them. Then he ends his bio with a call to action, urging readers to contact him for his services.
21. John Axtell
Are you looking for a punchy opener to grab the reader’s attention? Why not try “I love high kicks!” Maybe avoid that exact phrase, since that’s how Axtell decided to open his About page, but shouting a random fact about yourself is definitely a good start. Axtell took the opener a step further by including a photo of him doing a high kick.
If you decide to open with a fun fact, like Axtell, coupling that opener with a photo showing that fact can definitely show your personality and grab the attention of potential clients.
Services
Some copywriters opt to dedicate a separate page of their online portfolio to breaking down the specific services they provide. If you choose to do the same, here are a couple of examples you can reference:
22. Danielle Wallace
Wallace chose to separate her services into different clickable boxes that include icons and a mixture of script and typewriting fonts.
23. Sandy Dang
Dang displays her services in a more horizontal format with texts on one side and a large corresponding photo on the other. Each section of her service page includes a button that gives the option to book.
24. Jennifer Locke
Lock kept the format straightforward by simply stating what she can do for the client and including a button that allows potential clients to schedule a consultation. This could be a great method for copywriters who specialize in only one for two services.
25. Stuart Tarn
Of course, sometimes your portfolio is enough to show clients and employers what you’re capable of. Tarn organized his portfolio in a simple way that shows he can provide web, email, social, and print copy. Clicking on each image will take the reader to his previous work.
All of these copywriting portfolio examples are unique, but are all well organized, easy to navigate, and show a dash of personality while using complementary or neutral colors. Remember these points when putting together your own portfolio. Now, go out there and get that next big gig!
MARKETING
How To Combine PR and Content Marketing Superpowers To Achieve Business Goals
A transformative shift is happening, and it’s not AI.
The aisle between public relations and content marketing is rapidly narrowing. If you’re smart about the convergence, you can forever enhance your brand’s storytelling.
The goals and roles of content marketing and PR overlap more and more. The job descriptions look awfully similar. Shrinking budgets and a shrewd eye for efficiency mean you and your PR pals could face the chopping block if you don’t streamline operations and deliver on the company’s goals (because marketing communications is always first to be axed, right?).
Yikes. Let’s take a big, deep breath. This is not a threat. It’s an opportunity.
Reach across the aisle to PR and streamline content creation, improve distribution strategies, and get back to the heart of what you both are meant to do: Build strong relationships and tell impactful stories.
So, before you panic-post that open-to-work banner on LinkedIn, consider these tips from content marketing, PR, and journalism pros who’ve figured out how to thrive in an increasingly narrowing content ecosystem.
1. See journalists as your audience
Savvy pros know the ability to tell an impactful story — and support it with publish-ready collateral — grounds successful media relationships. And as a content marketer, your skills in storytelling and connecting with audiences, including journalists, naturally support your PR pals’ media outreach.
Strategic storytelling creates content focused on what the audience needs and wants. Sharing content on your blog or social media builds relationships with journalists who source those channels for story ideas, event updates, and subject matter experts.
“Embedding PR strategies in your content marketing pieces informs your audience and can easily be picked up by media,” says Alex Sanchez, chief experience officer at BeWell, New Mexico’s Health Insurance Marketplace. “We have seen reporters do this many times, pulling stories from our blogs and putting them in the nightly news — most of the time without even reaching out to us.”
Acacia James, weekend producer/morning associate producer at WTOP radio in Washington, D.C., says blogs and social media posts are helpful to her work. “If I see a story idea, and I see that they’re willing to share information, it’s easier to contact them — and we can also backlink their content. It’s huge for us to be able to use every avenue.”
Kirby Winn, manager of PR at ImpactLife, says reporters and assignment editors are key consumers of their content. “And I don’t mean a news release that just hit their inbox. They’re going to our blog and consuming our stories, just like any other audience member,” he says. “Our organization has put more focus into content marketing in the past few years — it supports a media pitch so well and highlights the stories we have to tell.”
Storytelling attracts earned media that might not pick up the generic news topic. “It’s one thing to pitch a general story about how we help consumers sign up for low-cost health insurance,” Alex says. “Now, imagine a single mom who just got a plan after years of thinking it was too expensive. She had a terrible car accident, and the $60,000 ER bill that would have ruined her financially was covered. Now that’s a story journalists will want to cover, and that will be relatable to their audience and ours.”
2. Learn the media outlet’s audience
Seventy-three percent of reporters say one-fourth or less of the stories pitched are relevant to their audiences, according to Cision’s 2023 State of the Media Report (registration required).
PR pros are known for building relationships with journalists, while content marketers thrive in building communities around content. Merge these best practices to build desirable content that works for your target audience and the media’s audiences simultaneously.
WTOP’s Acacia James says sources who show they’re ready to share helpful, relevant content often win pitches for coverage. “In radio, we do a lot of research on who is listening to us, and we’re focused on a prototype called ‘Mike and Jen’ — normal, everyday people in Generation X … So when we get press releases and pitches, we ask, ‘How interested will Mike and Jen be in this story?’”
3. Deliver the full content package (and make journalists’ jobs easier)
Cranking out content to their media outlet’s standards has never been tougher for journalists. Newsrooms are significantly understaffed, and anything you can do to make their lives easier will be appreciated and potentially rewarded with coverage. Content marketers are built to think about all the elements to tell the story through multiple mediums and channels.
“Today’s content marketing pretty much provides a package to the media outlet,” says So Young Pak, director of media relations at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. “PR is doing a lot of storytelling work in advance of media publication. We (and content marketing) work together to provide the elements to go with each story — photos, subject matter experts, patients, videos, and data points, if needed.”
At WTOP, the successful content package includes audio. “As a radio station, we are focused on high-quality sound,” Acacia James says. “Savvy sources know to record and send us voice memos, and then we pull cuts from the audio … You will naturally want to do someone a favor if they did you one — like providing helpful soundbites, audio, and newsworthy stories.”
While production value matters to some media, you shouldn’t stress about it. “In the past decade, how we work with reporters has changed. Back in the day, if they couldn’t be there in person, they weren’t going to interview your expert,” says Jason Carlton, an accredited PR professional and manager of marketing and communications at Intermountain Health. “During COVID, we had to switch to virtual interviewing. Now, many journalists are OK with running a Teams or Zoom interview they’ve done with an expert on the news.”
BeWell’s Alex Sanchez agrees. “I’ve heard old school PR folks cringe at the idea of putting up a Zoom video instead of getting traditional video interviews. It doesn’t really matter to consumers. Focus on the story, on the timeliness, and the relevance. Consumers want authenticity, not super stylized, stiff content.”
4. Unite great minds to maximize efficiency
Everyone needs to set aside the debate about which team — PR or content marketing — gets credit for the resulting media coverage.
At MedStar Washington Hospital Center, So Young and colleagues adopt a collaborative mindset on multichannel stories. “We can get the interview and gather information for all the different pieces — blog, audio, video, press release, internal newsletter, or magazine. That way, we’re not trying to figure things out individually, and the subject matter experts only have to have that conversation once,” she says.
Regular, cross-team meetings are essential to understand the best channels for reaching key audiences, including the media. A story that began life as a press release might reap SEO and earned media gold if it’s strategized as a blog, video, and media pitch.
“At Intermountain Health, we have individual teams for media relations, marketing, social media, and hospital communications. That setup works well because it allows us to bring in the people who are the given experts in those areas,” says Intermountain’s Jason Carlton. “Together, we decide if a story is best for the blog, a media pitch, or a mix of channels — that way, we avoid duplicating work and the risk of diluting the story’s impact.”
5. Measure what matters
Cutting through the noise to earn media mentions requires keen attention to metrics. Since content marketing and PR metrics overlap, synthesizing the data in your team meetings can save time while streamlining your storytelling efforts.
“For content marketers, using analytical tools such as GA4 can help measure the effectiveness of their content campaigns and landing pages to determine meaningful KPIs such as organic traffic, keyword rankings, lead generation, and conversion rates,” says John Martino, director of digital marketing for Visiting Angels. “PR teams can use media coverage and social interactions to assess user engagement and brand awareness. A unified and omnichannel approach can help both teams demonstrate their value in enhancing brand visibility, engagement, and overall business success.”
To track your shared goals, launch a shared dashboard that helps tell the combined “story of your stories” to internal and executive teams. Among the metrics to monitor:
- Page views: Obviously, this queen of metrics continues to be important across PR and content marketing. Take your analysis to the next level by evaluating which niche audiences are contributing to these views to further hone your storytelling targets, including media outlets.
- Earned media mentions: Through a media tracker service or good old Google Alerts, you can tally the echo of your content marketing and PR. Look at your site’s referral traffic report to identify media outlets that send traffic to your blog or other web pages.
- Organic search queries: Dive into your analytics platform to surface organic search queries that lead to visitors. Build from those questions to develop stories that further resonate with your audience and your targeted media.
- On-page actions: When visitors show up on your content, what are they doing? What do they click? Where do they go next? Building next-step pathways is your bread and butter in content marketing — and PR can use them as a natural pipeline for media to pick up more stories, angles, and quotes.
But perhaps the biggest metric to track is team satisfaction. Who on the collaborative team had the most fun writing blogs, producing videos, or calling the news stations? Lean into the natural skills and passions of your team members to distribute work properly, maximize the team output, and improve relationships with the media, your audience, and internal teams.
“It’s really trying to understand the problem to solve — the needle to move — and determining a plan that will help them achieve their goal,” Jason says. “If you don’t have those measurable objectives, you’re not going to know whether you made a difference.”
Don’t fear the merger
Whether you deliberately work together or not, content marketing and public relations are tied together. ImpactLife’s Kirby Winn explains, “As soon as we begin to talk about (ourselves) to a reporter who doesn’t know us, they are certainly going to check out our stories.”
But consciously uniting PR and content marketing will ease the challenges you both face. Working together allows you to save time, eliminate duplicate work, and gain free time to tell more stories and drive them into impactful media placements.
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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
MARKETING
Trends in Content Localization – Moz
Multinational fast food chains are one of the best-known examples of recognizing that product menus may sometimes have to change significantly to serve distinct audiences. The above video is just a short run-through of the same business selling smokehouse burgers, kofta, paneer, and rice bowls in an effort to appeal to people in a variety of places. I can’t personally judge the validity of these representations, but what I can see is that, in such cases, you don’t merely localize your content but the products on which your content is founded.
Sometimes, even the branding of businesses is different around the world; what we call Burger King in America is Hungry Jack’s in Australia, Lays potato chips here are Sabritas in Mexico, and DiGiorno frozen pizza is familiar in the US, but Canada knows it as Delissio.
Tales of product tailoring failures often become famous, likely because some of them may seem humorous from a distance, but cultural sensitivity should always be taken seriously. If a brand you are marketing is on its way to becoming a large global seller, the best insurance against reputation damage and revenue loss as a result of cultural insensitivity is to employ regional and cultural experts whose first-hand and lived experiences can steward the organization in acting with awareness and respect.
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