10 Things I Learned from PRLab
By: Julliet Zhou, Account Supervisor at PRLab
March 4, 2019
I started my journey with PRLab as an AE in fall 2018. I worked on the Ben & Jerry’s account team with three other amazing AEs. Our focus was the Ben & Jerry’s store on Newbury Street. We helped the store create an “Ice-Queen” campaign, planned and assisted a “Register to Vote” event along with a New Flavor Launch party. This spring, I started work as an account supervisor, again under the Ben & Jerry’s account team. I have gained many unforgettable memories and learned lessons that will benefit me in all my future careers. Here are ten things I learned from PRLab.
1. Do research
It is imperative to do in-depth research before meeting with your client. You should both go to their website and check their past social media content and media coverages to learn as much information as possible. It shows your respect to the client and also helps your account team run an efficient first meeting.
2. Plan ahead
If you are having an upcoming event, you have to plan ahead. Ask your client’s expectations, draft your event plan, prepare event-related materials, such as flyers, and reach out to reporters/social media influencers. Both reporters and bloggers have their schedules, so it is important to inform them beforehand about the event schedule.
3. Stay focused
The weekly meeting time is the best time for you to communicate with your client. Stay focused during the meeting and take notes. Put your cell phone away and value every minute during the meeting. That way, you won’t waste your client or your team’s time by clarifying things that were already mentioned during the meeting.
4. Text your client
The best way to contact your client may not be e-mail. Don’t be afraid to ask your client for his/her preferences on day-to-day communication. You may have to text, or even call, your client when necessary. From my personal experience, my client preferred text communication, and he replies a lot faster through text than email.
5. DM social media influencers
It is sometimes better to reach out to social media influencers through social media instead of email since they check social media so frequently. Send direct messages to bloggers if they do not reply to your email. Last time when we tried to reach out to social media influencers for the New Flavor Launch Party, among the 100 emails we sent we only got seven replies. But we gained more than 35 responses from the direct messages that we sent to bloggers through social media.
6. Check — and re-check
We are all different individuals, and we all have different ways of thinking and processing messages. So, remember to check and re-check with both your client and your team members to make sure that there are no misunderstandings.
7. Keep records
Remember that your client is very busy. It is essential to keep a record of everything you’ve discussed with your client. Weekly activity reports, meeting agendas, and meeting recaps are several good ways to keep records. Send those documents to your client and it will make both your work, and your client’s life easier.
8. Update everyone
It is important to contact your client directly, but also to keep everyone else updated: your teammates, supervisor, and sometimes the director. At one point my team had a gap in communication with our client, simply because one of our team members forgot to cc all the other members in the email. It resulted in an awkward situation in which the AE was the only one who knew what our client assigned us to do in the email. So remember to update everyone to make sure that everyone is staying on track.
9. Team up with PRLab
PRLab is a big family and a great agency. It contains great people and works with many amazing clients. Team up with PRLab and take advantage of the variety of clients that PRLab has! Last semester, Ben & Jerry’s participated in the ProBono event that PRLab held. Now, the Ben & Jerry’s team is going to team up with the BUPD account team and run a collab-event in the upcoming week. There’s always something to do.
10. Trust your team
In PRLab, we have two to five AEs working in the same account team. Trust your team and get to know each of them. Some of them may be good at video editing, some of them are good at event planning, and some of them may be good at social media. By allocating work fairly and properly, you will not only get your work done on time, but also gain a bunch of great friends!