A Day in the Life of a Digital PR Executive

I’ve potentially said a lot of words there that mean little or nothing to you. No, I don’t read magazine’s all day and attend networking lunches with free Prosecco (although I will definitely be submitting that suggestion.) As Fifteen’s Digital PR Executive I seek to gain national coverage for both clients and ourselves as a brand. This doesn’t mean paying for ad slots, anyone can make that kind of call. This means targeting an audience, identifying gaps in specific markets and putting a brand voice in front of people who are actually listening. So here’s a comprehensive (and epic might I add) journey through my day as Fifteen’s Digital PR Executive.

PR never sleeps

Now for me, my day never starts at 9 am, I’ll admit I am a workaholic and as such, I have my iPhone surgically attached to my hand. Now, before you judge that statement, let me explain myself. As a PR executive, one of the main things I have to do is create compelling and more relevant campaigns. It is impossible for me to do this if I’m not up to date on current affairs and trends. So from news updates to the latest tweets, I am always online as I don’t believe you can be at the top of your game without staying relevant.

Social for starters

After I’ve updated myself with everything from Kim Kardashian’s latest selfie to the dropping rate of the pound, I’ll get stuck into the social schedule for Fifteen. I started my career in digital in the world of social, so I assist our Social team with the creation of content for Fifteen. This is, in essence, is the perfect way to start my day, I remind myself of our brand voice, ethics and tone- something which every brand should always do. Plus, to create effective PR strategies for us, I need to be sure of exactly the image we want to portray. Now, don’t take that the wrong way. A brand image isn’t something you cook up in the hope that pretending to be someone else will win you more popularity. In reality, it is the opposite, me along with our whole team think about what we stand for, if we’re stripped back (without our Macs and iPhones) what do we want people to see. I’ve got a bit deep, granted. Yet, it’s important to keep these things in mind to always stay focused and moving in the right direction.

Dashboards, keywords, and monitoring

I’d love to think it was possible to fire out press releases and keep on top of every media relation I’ve ever had all on my own, but I’m only one woman. Hence, we use an incredible PR monitoring tool to ensure nothing is missed. The tool gives us daily dashboards which enable us to track everything we do for a client PR wise. We use the tool to track keywords relating to each client, from here I look at every top story, mention or stream of content relating to those keywords. Once I’ve picked the relevant points from the dashboard I can analyse client coverage. We check everything from backlinks to social shares, meaning that our strategies have to be completely comprehensive- I have to consider every KPI the client has stipulated and hit every target. Through our platform we maintain superb relations with Nationwide media, we keep daily contact with a variety of top influencers in their chosen field. But, I am not firing out stories for the sake of PR probability. Many agencies will, if you send your press release to enough people you’re bound to get some coverage right? Well, yes. But are you putting it in the right place? Is that where your target audience even is? These are all questions that scope my day. By using our influencer contact manager, I pinpoint those talking about our client market the most, this is also where those keywords come back into play. By targeting the right people in the media industry, we make sure our engaging content doesn’t go to waste in trying to engage the wrong audience.

Content is everything

This blog may not be the perfect example of this but I am and always have been a keen writer, hence press releases, editorial and copy all excite me (yes, really.) We plan a lot of client content, from a 140 character tweet to 10,000 words on a website. So my typing speed as you can imagine, is lightning fast. I’ll often be drafting copy on paid social adverts, editorial pieces for the company or web pages. For me, I always put emotion into my words (I’ve gone deep again), I’ve always felt that some of the best PR campaigns, slogans and brand stories are the ones which strike a cord. You might say this isn’t always possible, but the emotive copy doesn’t have to reduce someone to tears to have the desired affect. It should have your brand values at its core, it should speak for you without doing so directly and in this way, I find my emotional loophole. If everything you say is a reflection of you, of course, you’ll think deeper and care more about what it is. This is at the forefront of every PR campaign I create, the brand I’m speaking on behalf of.

Why I’m ready to do it all again tomorrow

So at this point, I’ve got 25 different tabs open, Tweetdeck running over time and dashboards aplenty to keep me busy. And I wouldn’t have it any other way, I have to admit I’m a sucker for the fast-paced nature of agency life, most will moan about being glued to their smartphone (my Grandma does) but, I thrive off it. My job is different every day and I know that’s the classic work blog statement, but I can say that’s the truth. I work in a world where every day a new story breaks, a new topic is trending and a new gap in the media market has emerged- that for me is the part I love most about what I do.