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Alastair Turner, managing director, of Aspectus PR talks us through his day

My day
 

5.45am: For the last 11 months I’ve had a regular pre-6.00am alarm call from my daughter. Time to get up! A rather blurry amount of time passes by before I hop on a train to make my way in the office.

7.45am: Despite my lack of sleep I feel immediately energised when I get into the office. There are usually a couple of the team already in, catching up with overnight dispatches from our New York office or supporting Asian and Australian clients. The fun of the day begins ...

9.30am: All the business units (energy technology, financial technology and business technology) get together to discuss client accounts. These are focused sessions looking at client delivery – “where’s the coverage?” We try to engender a newsroom-style buzz in the office so these are lively, invigorating sessions about the next storyline we can set up and how it will stand up. We also take care of any client issues and debate how to handle them, plus we track our progress against programme targets. While the rest of the team gets on with the early morning pitches to the nationals, I dive into a planning session with the content team to check that all client copy is on track and will be ready for various publication deadlines. 

12.45pm: Pretty soon it’s lunchtime and I try to have a one-on-one lunch with a different member of the team each week. It’s great to have an informal catch up with the guys, plus these sessions provide a great opportunity to check on what’s working and what’s not in the agency. It also gives me a chance to solve any personnel issues. We work hard to hire and retain a group of talented people, so a big part of my job is making sure they are motivated and happy.

1.30pm: With lunch over, the afternoon is filled with client calls and journalist pitching. In B2B technology PR a lot of our job is all about creating effective conditions for selling. One of the most satisfying things about our work is getting stand-out coverage that makes a difference to clients’ businesses. 

4.00pm: At this time we usually have an intra-company meeting involving everyone in our London and New York offices which helps us keep abreast of new business opportunities, international clients and social media activity. The focus of these meetings is on sharing problems and solving them.

I’ll then have a separate catch up with our head of North America. We work very closely together so it’s as much a chance to gossip as well as catch up on business.

5.00pm: From this point onwards the day tends to be a combination of completing anything that I have promised to deliver that day, chatting to clients in the Americas and selling into the North American press. 

6.45pm: I look to get out the office around this time, because it means I get back for baby bathtime and get to put the little one to sleep. Once she is down my willpower crumbles and it’s usually a G&T with my wife and a catch up over dinner and a glass of wine. Sadly, the laptop is always open so I can keep an eye out on what’s happening across the pond. 

8.30pm: Following a gentle battle between my wife and I over Britain’s Got Talent or the cricket highlights (my wife is a big cricket fan ... not), we will flop into bed far too late for that early morning wake-up cry.

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