Three key skills for account execs in tech PR
It seems hard to believe that it has already been three months since I started working here at Spark. Two years working in analytics recruitment had given me a good technical grounding, but I had to bolster my skills quickly to deliver the coverage my clients are looking for. The biggest shock was the breadth of knowledge required and the speed at which it needs to be assimilated, particularly given that some coverage opportunities have a turn-around time of a few hours. Being on the ball at all times is a must. In a free moment in between keeping various plates spinning, I’ve worked out there are three things to focus on:
Knowing who cares about what – Half the battle of getting coverage is knowing who you’re pitching to and why they should be interested in your story. You can have the greatest product launch in the world but if you’re ringing a publication that doesn’t cover product news, you’re wasting precious time.
In the early days of the job, trying to keep track of what type of news each publication is interested can be daunting, but even memorising one fact a day will get you up to speed faster than you think. Beyond that, when you have a story, take a second to think about which journalists to approach and how the story fits into their particular patch. There is always more than one way to approach a story.
Understanding the new language of tech – Having worked with data scientists for the last two years, I’m confident on the difference between structured and unstructured data. I know my Teradata from my SQL. However, it can still be overwhelming in the first few weeks to try and grasp all the client-specific technologies that will be thrown at you. It’s okay not to understand everything all at once, but Google is your friend. There are countless articles online which can help you to understand these concepts. Building in two minutes at the end of the day to research will pay swift dividends.
Organisation, organisation, organisation – The most critical skill for any junior account executive is the ability to remain organised and keep track of a dozen different things for each client simultaneously. At the start it won’t be perfect and it _certainly _won’t be easy but the more responsibility you’re able to take on knowing what is happening on an account, the faster things seem to slow down a little and you can gain more control over the process.
There is so much to do and to learn in the early days of starting a career in tech PR, but mastering these three areas will ensure you have sturdy foundations on which to build.