Ever wonder what life is like working as a PR? Here is your chance to find out. This week Senior Account Executive Jade takes you through a typical day in PR.
Mornings…
My day typically starts off with a cup of tea in bed, contemplating today’s outfit choice and scrolling through all the latest celeb news on social media; who’s recently engaged, who’s announced they’re having a baby – who’s had a baby! All of which can relate to our clients and may be useful as celebrity partnerships for campaigns, particularly on our toy portfolio.
I try and catch 15 minutes of BBC Breakfast before leaving the house to see where they’ve sent Steph McGovern this time. BBC Breakfast, This Morning and Good Morning Britain are the Holy Grail of PR hits so it’s really important that we keep up to speed with the shows so we can pitch our own clients into them and hopefully one day we’ll have Steph McGovern at one of our own events!
I get into the office for about 8am, so I can use the quiet to get through some postage or put product in our store room that arrived the day before. I check through my emails and action anything urgent and then I read the papers to catch up on last night’s news. It always amazes me how much of what’s in the papers is PR-led and it’s a really great learning tool, not only keep up to speed with current affairs, but to see the stories national journalists chose to put in.
After the papers, I get cracking on client work. We try and work on one client each morning and one each afternoon. Of course it doesn’t always work like that and that’s part of the fun of PR when you get an urgent, time-sensitive task from a client and the team needs to club together and deliver. PR is very fast-paced, particularly consumer PR, and I defy anyone who says they came into the office and did exactly what they planned to do that day without deviations!
Afternoons…
Usually the afternoons kick off with some light-hearted debate in the office of who’s having what for lunch and where everyone is going to get their food fill – there are so many great, independent food outlets around the Northern Quarter but most of us have our usual haunts!
Often through lunch I’ll sit at the Genius Bar where I can watch BBC News, catch up on emails and get through some admin tasks away from my desk.
After lunch, I go through my task list for the client I’ll be working on this afternoon, as a PR Executive this could be anything from drafting a press release, selling in news or doing media research, event planning or meetings and calls with clients. What we do really varies and that’s what I love about working in PR, no two tasks are ever the same and you learn something new with everything you deliver. Nothing beats the feeling you have when you succeed and achieve really great results for clients or smash your KPIs on a campaign and you can so often see the impact of your work. Securing a great piece of coverage is such a boost and the team is the first to sing your praises and announce to everyone what you’ve done – and if you land a really good piece then you’ll be awarded the Coverage Crown, a beautiful pink and silver tiara!
I tend to leave the office around 6pm having ensured I’m up to speed with my emails and I’ll keep an eye on my phone in the evening on watch for any important client emails.
Best piece of advice…
Stay organised! In such a fast-paced environment with well-known national and regional brands, it’s vital you stay on top of your work and that you know where you’re up to with every campaign no matter how big or small. Everyone has their own way of doing this and sometimes you’ll need to try a few different things until you find the right way for you, but as long as you do, you’ll own your work and achieve great things!
Photo Source: Laura Wood
