Position at Weber Shandwick Role Overview An Account Manager (AM) must have proven skills across Digital, planning, creative and strategic thinking, as well as the ability to manage accounts and account teams. An AM will be able to draw upon previous specific sector experience in order to provide clients business with specific industry knowledge. Your industry knowledge will be complimented by your sector specific client servicing skills as well as specific media relations with key journalists in both horizontal and vertical media. You will have a strong understanding of the role of digital and how it fits within the communications mix. Your excellent industry specific media contacts will facility your ability to write and sell in stories to the press in order to optimise the client\xe2\x80\x99s coverage. New Business An Account Manager will work closely with the director on new business development, particularly in the following areas:

• Digital capabilities \xe2\x80\x93 how to integrate digital and content strategy into the new business process and showcase expertise to potential clients
• Proposal writing \xe2\x80\x93 developing well written, creative new business proposals
• Pitch involvement \xe2\x80\x93 acting as a key presenter in new business pitches, using a convincing and professional style utilising your specific sector knowledge to help win the business
• Market research \xe2\x80\x93 using company facilities to extract and assimilate information for new business pitches/proposals in your specialist industry area
• Specialist Industry Knowledge \xe2\x80\x93 has at least three years experience within a specialist field, which relates heavily to current client portfolios in the Practice Group. This industry knowledge is particularly salient with regard to your ability to win business within your specialist sector area.

SMART Working Practices

• Time management \xe2\x80\x93 prioritising workload to ensure you meet deadlines and objectives set by directors for each client \xe2\x80\x93 within the time allocated \xe2\x80\x93 and reporting to team members on progress
• Timesheet Management \xe2\x80\x93 Ensure that your timesheets are completed on a timely basis and inline with contractual requires
• Working to activity plans \xe2\x80\x93 attending status meetings to ensure you understand client objectives and deadlines. Planning own work and meeting all commitments against activity plans
• Ability to utilise social media analytical tools

Account Team Management and Team Building Contributing guidance and ideas for the account teams to implement and develop client work, an Account Manager will work with junior team members to challenge them and improve skills. The role specifically involves the following areas:

• Team time management \xe2\x80\x93 developing monthly client workplans with the account director and delegating/monitoring these to ensure junior team members clearly understand their priorities and are able to meet the demands. Managing time spent on clients at all times and to help other team members to manage time effectively
• Briefing/informing the team \xe2\x80\x93 taking briefs from client and communicating goals, guidelines, deadlines to team
• Hosting meetings \xe2\x80\x93 chairing client and internal meetings, always ensuring team members are fully briefed and understand their role within the meeting
• Actions should be distributed and agreed across the team and meetings should be conducted in a timely and professional manner
• Team motivation \xe2\x80\x93 inspiring team members to meet objectives by communicating tasks and actions in a clear and fair way. Always offering support and guidance to junior staff. As a key member of the account handling team you are able to enthuse both team members and clients a like
• Team guidance/ideas \xe2\x80\x93 providing input, guidance and feedback to all team members on client related work, being approachable for support to junior staff at all times
• Assisting and developing executives \xe2\x80\x93 providing support and coaching to junior members of team whenever possible, taking the time to explain and develop written, media relations skills and digital executions, including content management
• Working with team \xe2\x80\x93 being a strong team player with the ability to build morale within the team, remaining keen to share information as well as learn from other team members
• Motivation \xe2\x80\x93 demonstrating energy and enthusiasm to on-going work and projects at all times. Your commitment and loyalty to the company will be unquestionable. Your motivation to work well in a team environment will be demonstrated through your strong communication style with fellow colleagues to the point that you are able to elicit their ideas, experience and market knowledge through team meetings and feedback sessions
• Communicating with supervisors to ensure they are updated on work in progress and briefed when having difficulty achieving required results. You are also keen to listen to other members of the team and value their input on client related issues
• Genuine interest in technology, content and digital innovation in the PR industry.

Client Relations
Responsible for the day to day running of client business, it is the responsibility of the Account Manager to take the lead role in ensuring that programme deliverables are met on time and within budget.

• Reporting results to the account director, the Account Manager takes an active role in the financial management of client business, ensuring teams\xe2\x80\x99 timesheets are accurate and produced on time for client invoicing
• Project management \xe2\x80\x93 volunteering to manage new projects in a timely and organised fashion and ensuring the process is completed from start to finish
• Strategic Counsel \xe2\x80\x93 provide the client with added value solutions, developing new ideas/plans and digital solutions to a) encourage the client to develop their communications across wider less obvious audiences and b) develop a full understanding of their presence in the market place.
• Account profit management \xe2\x80\x93 taking an active role in the financial profitability of client business and identifying opportunities for additional business through projects
• Client management \xe2\x80\x93 developing productive relationships with day to day client contacts. Ensuring that you make yourself available to the client and build strong liaisons with them to the point that they would seek out your guidance

Communication Skills

• Digital/Social - Demonstrate a clear understanding of our digital/social capabilities and how to apply them to client work including (but not restricted to):

• Social hearing
• Influencer mapping
• Community management
• Social media relations
• Digital/social strategy
• Search optimization

• Ability to instruct and commission research across a client\xe2\x80\x99s digital footprint e.g. websites, social media, google results and provide a 1st pass point of view
• Ability to understand SEO and identify content which is not optimized for search
• Ability to commission an audit of social media channels and provide a first draft point of view and manage communities Client coaching - be a reliable and trusted point of contact for clients with regards to PR support and guidance
• Client coaching \xe2\x80\x93 advising and supporting client, aim to become a well respected resource by your client
• Evaluation \xe2\x80\x93 driving an evaluation and measurement programme for each client. Always making sure results are achieved and client\xe2\x80\x99s overall objectives are met. Continually evaluate team\xe2\x80\x99s work to ensure professional standards are maintained and quality of work is consistent
• PR planning \xe2\x80\x93 determining course of action for the whole account team on client programmes, setting timescales/deadlines and creating a detailed, clear programme plan as a result
• Writing \xe2\x80\x93 being able to write well structured, persuasive copy, including pitches, case studies, news releases, articles and proposals - and helping others to do the same
• Media Liaison \xe2\x80\x93 Using your key journalistic knowledge/contacts you will continue to build new media contacts and sustain existing ones in a proactive manner. Your knowledge of specific media contacts relating to your area of specialist market knowledge will help you to gain coverage for clients within that sector.
• Media pitching \xe2\x80\x93 with a proactive style to extending your media liaisons, including a thorough approach to making calls and understanding the clients, products, services, and values, you will confidently \xe2\x80\x9csell in\xe2\x80\x9d material across a broad range of media with ease. You are able to increase the rate at which you sell in stories by looking for the usually angle even when the clients media exposure is limited
• Key Contacts \xe2\x80\x93 you will have excellent third party contacts which are relevant to your sector and or role. For example, suppliers, government relations, media and financial analysts and expert opinion leaders
• Quality standards \xe2\x80\x93 producing high standard of work at all times, paying attention to detail and removing the possibility of careless errors. Being a reliable member of the team to produce work without errors. The Account Manager will also work to maintain all company quality standards continually looking for areas of improvement
• Develop excellent presentation skills, with a confident and convincing style that exudes credibility

Knowledge and Skills Understanding the basics of all marketing disciplines and where PR fits into the mix. To have a full understanding of the differences between and skills required for a variety of accounts.

• Digital channels \xe2\x80\x93 have detailed knowledge of the role of social media channels in PR and how to best utilise each channel to the clients benefit
• Understanding the marketing disciplines, where PR fits into the mix and how digital can be used to amplify campaigns. Being able and prepared to advise clients on the weighting of marcoms activity within plans. Know and have experience of:
• Digital communications
• Social media strategy
• Content Strategy
• SEO/Paid and Native Advertising
• Advertising
• Direct marketing
• Exhibitions and events
• Internal communications
• Crisis and issue management
• Sponsorship
• Client market understanding \xe2\x80\x93 maintaining a high understanding of client\xe2\x80\x99s business, new developments in the market/industry sector and using them to the client\xe2\x80\x99s advantage. Able to discuss specific industry issues with confidence and has a clear and thorough understanding of business methods and standard practices within this industry and the market place.
• Using technology \xe2\x80\x93 using software packages, the internet and research facilities to obtain relevant information
• Analysis and assimilation of current affairs \xe2\x80\x93 building general knowledge of the world as it impacts the client \xe2\x80\x93 gained through reading the nationals and keeping up to date on current affairs

Agency Contribution

• Ensuring effective time management of company and client time
• Attending and contributing constructively to internal company meetings
• Contributing towards Weber Social Media Strategy
• Being supportive of Weber Shandwick and our vision generally. Being responsible enough to take any problems to your superiors rather than discussing issues in open forum
• Demonstrating exemplary conduct at all times, setting high standards to junior members of staff
• Living the vision and values of Weber Shandwick and acting as an Ambassador at all times