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A Week in My Life: Bethanie Dennis, Head of Content & Digital PR, AGY47

bethanie-dennis

AGY47 works across paid social and search, working with clients which have included HelloFresh and Clarks.

Its the sister agency to Silverbean, AGY47 was established in 2019. Bethanie moved from Silverbean to AGY47 in September 2019 and later took up the role of Head of Content and Digital PR.

As well as her senior role at AGY47, Bethanie runs The Weekly PR, a curated publication full of the best digital PR campaigns and articles released every week.

Here’s what a week in her working life looks like…

 

Monday

I’m an early bird, so for me the day starts at 6am, quick shower and get ready, and I’m in the office around 7:15. My first task for the week is to make a builders tea in the biggest mug I can find and get to my desk. 

It’s usually very quiet in the office at this time on a Monday, so I put something acoustic on, and get to it. I hit my inbox, checking any updates from clients and catching up on anything that came through over the weekend if I haven’t already. I then check my calendar for the day and the upcoming week, see what I need to prepare for and prioritise. 

Third, I open up my incredibly intricate and automated to do list on Trello to see which deadlines are coming up. I would probably be a bit lost without this board, as it tells me what I’ve delegated, who owes me what, and has recurring reminders to check up on things as well as telling me what I have to do! I use the Eisenhower Matrix, so I prioritise tasks on importance and urgency. I’m a person that finds it hard to switch off, so having this board helps me know everything’s covered and I won’t forget anything.

By this time, most of the team are in, and it’s time for them to send me their weekly priorities, whether they need support, or whether they can support others. I find this incredibly helpful as I’m a very detail oriented person. It’s something I find difficult at the level I’m at, having to have an overview more than getting into the minutiae of what’s going on.

Usually I blink and the day is gone, I leave the office around 4pm, and get changed for the gym. 

Tuesday

It’s usually a good day to launch a creative PR campaign mid-week, so we would likely have a launch or two in the morning. The team will have been busy writing, planning, and scheduling emails the previous day, for them to land in a journalist’s inbox at the perfect time. It’s an exciting day of monitoring open rates, tracking coverage and seeing where our stories go.

Every morning the team has a news briefing to discuss stories, trends, and updates. We discuss how we can relate anything going on in the world to our clients, and create a story. This is called newsjacking in our world, and could be as simple as offering a client’s view on a story. 

The rest of the day is spent usually supporting the team, signing things off, planning new business pitches or writing. 

Wednesday

Wednesday is the day I’d usually spend working from home, I will have a clear list of what I want to achieve in the day (no more than three things) and really focus. I’ll try and keep my diary free from meetings so I have a full day to focus and turn Slack and email off. What usually happens is I’ll open and check every hour on the hour.

I could be planning team expansions, looking at how the team is operating, projecting revenue and capacity, creating presentations for clients, or refining processes and ways of working throughout the function. 

When I’m at home I usually treat myself to a lunchtime walk and a nice hot meal, usually roast veg, lentils, rice and some sort of cheese or something similarly healthy that I can smother in cheese. 

I’ll have a very eclectic playlist throughout the day, ranging from classical music, coffee shop acoustic or a musical soundtrack. I finish my task list and off to the gym! 

Thursday

My Thursdays are usually filled with meetings. I try to group meetings together whenever I can into one day, to avoid dipping in and out of tasks so much. I find it very disruptive when I have a meeting every hour and can’t get my head back into a task. 

If I’ve had back-to-back meetings, I’ll skip the gym and relax for the evening, likely with a glass of red and some fish and chips.

Friday

Friday is another day in the office, the soundtrack very much reflects the weekend ahead, and often involves whatever is in the charts, mixed with some cheesy 80s or 90s hits. It very much reflects the main demographic we have working here, or at least the ones that have control of the playlist! 

As Fridays are more relaxed, I find teams can be more creative. Having ideas sessions on these days can pay off well, especially when you’ve ordered some nice takeaway for lunch, usually noodles, Nando’s, or a burger. 

The creative element is one of my favourite bits of the work and industry, especially when I have such a talented and diverse group of people. Different mindsets, experiences and interests are a recipe for great ideas. 

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