Account Executive in Cheltenham

This organisation is an award-winning PR and communications agency whose aim is to help businesses tell their story to multiple audiences in order to achieve the best outcome for their clients. They manage corporate reputations; support businesses through growth, re-structure and change; and help organisations communicate effectively with each other and their stakeholders. Organisations can be telling the same story to multiple stakeholders, but will have different ways and tones of communicating for each audience. This is where they would come in. They are one of the largest and most established corporate communications businesses in the UK, with offices in York, Birmingham, Cheltenham and London. Their two main areas of focus are B2B/corporate comms and public affairs.

B2B/Corporate: they are trusted advisors to their clients, providing them with strategies and advice to help with their internal and external communications - ultimately creating a favourable view of their business, project or strategy amongst stakeholders.

Public Affairs: they manage the interactions their clients have with politics and the political sphere. This can be anything from local councils to central governments. They have this side of the business because most of the work they do is around the built environment and infrastructure and with that there are loads of stakeholders involved in these projects. On this side everything they do has a political focus whether its campaigning on specific issues to consulting with parliaments.

The Account Executive Role

They are hiring an Account Executive to join their growing team in Cheltenham, working on a variety of accounts and projects. Over time, your key skills will grow - and knowledge of their clients along with it - as well as your understanding of the complex make-up of clients’ stakeholders and the nuanced and subtle messaging and comms that need to be created and delivered to each. You will learn to understand and navigate the media and communication channels relevant to each of their client accounts and to understand, in detail, the context, current affairs, approach, tone and tools required to ensure the best results and most impressive commercial outcomes. AEs will get to know the key contacts and influencers and ensure they stay in touch with editorial, local sentiment or political and policy changes. You will also keep track of relevant freelancers, community groups, bloggers and columnists who are important to their clients’ work.

You should feel at ease talking to the media and stakeholders, discussing a client’s business or projects in a way that supports a client’s objectives. You will learn to understand the differences between how to achieve news, feature, promotional and other types of coverage, and to maximise all opportunities, including an appreciation of how to communicate in a crisis. Likewise, on a planning project, you will develop the ability to understand the way in which policy and planning comes about and the different layers of decision-making (local/regional/national). In addition to the media and political and planning communications, AEs will develop the relevant skills required, for example, to organise events, manage digital media such as websites and social media accounts, brief designers, copy-write, create print projects and commission photography and other graphics, under the guidance and tutelage of their manager and of more experienced team members. The Account Executive is the first rung on the career ladder, that takes you to Account Manager, Account Director and beyond.

Key Responsibilities

• Support the Account Manager effectively; anticipate what needs doing next, and use initiative to contribute ideas to drive accounts forward.
• Have a good overall understanding of communication objectives, strategies and tactics, and how these are evolving to stay ahead of the curve and relevant to client needs.
• Effectively manage all account administration and take responsibility for drafting contact reports, and status reports, seeking approval prior to dispatch within 24 hours of a meeting.
• Read, monitor and report on the media on a daily basis and have a good grasp of the media environment and business landscape they work in.
• Have ownership of monthly activity planners ensuring they are fully populated and up to date, suggesting new ideas and opportunities to the Account Manager.
• Take responsibility for tracking stakeholder sentiment, monitoring this through the media, direct stakeholder contact, Google alerts, social media networks, and by cultivating contacts and research, among other channels.
• Research and draft communications materials, including press releases, newsletters, feature material, stakeholder audits, amongst other things, under supervision.
• Deal with client requests by telephone and manage community hotlines for projects, responding to calls and requests; ensuring they are always manned and monitored.
• Use media databases effectively; compile media lists and be responsible for forward features and maximising client opportunities.
• Sell in and negotiate features and interviews; press briefings and meet journalists (accompanied) and carry out the evaluation of coverage.
• Have disciplined use of housekeeping and management systems (timesheets/expenses); manage time and workloads effectively and adhere to deadlines.
• Develop good knowledge of the design process, print and production.
• Liaise with clients providing advice consistent with his/her level and attend client meetings offering constructive comment.
• Where their job requires it, to understand local government and national government structure and decision making plus policy context for their sectors and to keep abreast of those developments throughout.
• Liaise with a Design Agency on the media aspects of the business.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• Excellent communication and writing skills.
• Be self motivated and tenacious.
• Have a solid understanding of their sectors.
• Understand the basic principles of PR and its role within business.
• Have an appetite to go the extra mile.
• Have a sharp eye for detail and accuracy, and an interest in the way in which the world around you works.
• Be committed to the business and your role in its success.
• Have good time management and organisation skills.