A Day in the Life: Account Executive
Account Executives (AE) are an instrumental force in every client newsroom, from the moment we start working with clients we strive to become experts on their brand. What industry trends are affecting them? What are their competitors up to? As well as feeding this information to clients, we can use it to fuel potential campaign or media pitch angle ideas.
The role requires juggling several balls at once but along the way there are some great opportunities to network, learn new skills and exercise creativity. Below is a taster of some of the regular things an Account Executive gets up to.
Media Relations
Liaising with journalists is our bread and butter, as people on the media frontline it’s important to communicate with them often and study their preferences. Some of the key ways we do this includes:
Media meets – meeting journalists, whether that be for a meal or a coffee, is a great way for us to put faces to names. Journalists get hundreds, if not thousands of emails per day so a media meet helps to distinguish yourself from the crowd, introducing clients and finding out what they’re working on. Some pieces the Eat the Fox team has successfully secured off the back of media meets include; this review of Disney+ in Stuff magazine and this best projector round up in Cosmopolitan which features our client, XGIMI.
Sell-ins – we frequently have periods where we focus on pitching news or a story to media. To prepare for this we’ll always create a dedicated media list and a tailored pitch to share with journalists we think would be interested in the story. This a key part of our job and throughout the day, as well as collating feedback and following up with journalists, we track coverage and update clients on successes and learnings.
Client calls
These calls provide a crucial time to bond with clients and gain a better insight into how they work and what they expect from us. For each call the Account Executive will help to compile an agenda to go through, and during the call will likely note actions.
Events
Just a quick look on our social media will show that Eat the Fox is no stranger to events. Just this year alone we’ve worked on a launch event, ‘Rocket to the Stars’, for OPPO’s flagship phone, Find X5 Pro, Wimbledon and an immersive product testing event with projector brand XGIMI.
Events take a lot of planning and teamwork. As an AE this involves inviting media and influencers to events using connections you’ve made through media relations, collating RSVPs and regularly updating the client on progress along the way.
On the day of the event, each person in the team will have a dedicated role which will be crucial to helping the event run smoothly – this could range from entertaining media to managing catering and handing out gift bags. It’s definitely hard work but it’s all worth the rewarding experience of seeing your efforts pay off and come to life.
Reporting
The proof is in the pudding but also in the reporting! Creating reports for our clients, whether those be monthly, weekly or bi-weekly, is an important way for us to show through concrete metrics how successful our PR activity has been for them. Is it improving their share of voice in the media? How much coverage/ opportunities were achieved in this period? How close are we to reaching our agreed goals (KPIs)? These are all things we may touch on to provide evidence that there getting a great return for their investment with our services as an agency.
Overall, as cliché as it may sound, it is accurate to say that no month, week or day looks the same as an Account Executive. Our role primarily revolves around the news and that’s something that’s always changing.
As you progress in the role the ultimate goal is to be able to ride those unpredictable waves with ease, helping your client to achieve their communication goals and build various core PR skills along the way.
Have any questions or are interested in finding out more? Feel free to reach out to the ETF team on LinkedIn or email us at work@eatthefox.com (we don’t bite, promise!).