What’s your morning routine? Do you have a WFH routine?
I start every day by reading the latest online stories in both mainstream & trade publications. Part of my role is to prepare our daily media wrap report, which gives a snapshot into the latest trending topics. I do this with a coffee in hand because reading the news would just not be as enjoyable without it!
If I take my golden Labrador out for a walk, I listen to daily business/finance podcasts to keep updated with recent issues. I then glance through my emails to see what came through from international clients overnight and plan my day with a personal to-do list (which is truly a lifesaver for any account executive!).
What does a typical day look like for you?
The beauty is there is no ‘typical’ day; it’s constantly changing! One day I’ll be reviewing an international webinar to sift out potential Australian news angles. The next day, I’m researching medical media outlets and getting a feel for the type of stories target publications will cover.
My bread-and-butter tasks include emailing clippings of media coverage to our clients, preparing meeting agendas, attending internal/external meetings and note-taking, completing the contact reports from these meetings, liaising with journalists/producers on current/upcoming opportunities, drafting briefing books for our spokespeople for any upcoming interviews, posting on our socials, and updating all internal spreadsheets.
Could you talk about the latest thing you’re working on that excites you?
I absolutely love writing, so drafting opinion editorials, media releases or pitch notes excites me the most.
I’m working on an opinion piece for a client about epigenetic testing to reveal your susceptibility to certain health conditions and your biological age, i.e., how fast you’re aging. Super fascinating!
I am learning things I never thought I would’ve in this industry. Each chance to produce communications is exciting because the topic/angle will change literally every single time. One day I could be writing about science technologies, and another day it’s all about investment portfolio construction.
What’s your number one rule
My number one rule is ‘know your target audience’. That goes for your client’s target market as well as the media publication’s audience. It ensures that you are not bringing inappropriate opportunities forward to your client (and frustrating them in the process) and generally makes your job so much easier, particularly when preparing pitches to journalists. You don’t want to run the risk of presenting journalists with an irrelevant story and then have them ignore your future opportunities.
If you’re interested in joining the Madden & Assoc. team, we have some positions open. For more information please contact info@madden.com.au