A day in the life of a PR Account Executive
They didn’t lie when they said that no day is ever the same in PR. As an Account Executive, you need to be incredibly flexible – and willing to turn your hand to any task, whether it’s a press release, an article for the Daily Telegraph or some creative brainstorming for an upcoming campaign. There’s no ‘planning what you will do tomorrow’ as not only are two days never the same, at Neo PR, no two hours are the same.
In agency life, you will typically work on a couple of accounts simultaneously, so you never really know what you could find yourself doing- but the range of topics and industries keeps it exciting. And although there’s definitely no generic ‘day to day’, I’ll give you some insight into what a ‘typical’ day for me might look like.
@7AM Wake up and switch on the news. PR is all about being up to date with the latest. With some of my clients in different countries and time zones, I tend to check my emails before I head to the office to see if I have missed anything overnight.
@8:30AM Rock up to work, say hi to everyone and catch up on what we had for dinner last night whilst grabbing a jug of water from the kitchen (I like to stay hydrated). I then head to my desk to eat some porridge whilst checking my emails and action anything urgent. I have a quick scan of our social media channels and view today’s headlines.
@9.15AM I’ll start clipping any new client coverage that has come in overnight- from press releases and interviews to featured articles- as well as drafting accompanying social media posts. I then begin my daily scour of Response Source – our journalist request service – for any new feature opportunities that would be relevant to my clients.
@10AM I catch up with my line manager on anything urgent, and then I start to prepare whatever it is I’m working on that day. This could range from making edits to a press release before pitching it out to the media, or writing a blog post on the latest event my client has attended.
@11AM It’s almost time for one of my many weekly client update calls. I check all the reports and actions are in order before jumping on the phone to discuss business updates, PR updates and even life updates with them. They inform me that they have recently won a big client, so as I get off the call I am swift to arrange a client-customer call for later this week in order to draft a win-release.
@12PM It’s finally lunchtime- time to catch up with the team and make a few family phone calls.
@1PM Back to work. I check my emails and spot a journalist requesting comment from my client on a piece of breaking news, with a deadline of 4PM. I jump on a quick call with my client, draft the comment, get my manager to review, and then send it over to the journalist.
@2.30PM Time to jump on a thought leadership call with my client’s key spokesperson to talk through our next article topic. After the call, I pull together a transcript and get together with my client team to discuss which angle we should take and which audience we want to target; time to start planning.
@4.30PM I’m frantically trying to get all of the ‘little’ actions finished before I head off home. I make sure I’ve responded to all journalist and client emails, and double-check that all my client reports are up to date.
@5PM Time to head to the gym, and then home for dinner (which I’ll definitely discuss with the team tomorrow!)
As you can see, it’s clear that every day is extremely varied and it’s a job which allows you to learn a wide range of skills. If you’re a strong writer, communicator and want to work in a fast-paced industry, then PR could be for you.
Think you’ve got what it takes to be a PR Account Exec? If you’re looking to kickstart your career in PR, I’d love to have a chat with you and give you a few handy tips! Find me on Twitter – @Carmel_NeoPR.
