Emma Cherry

A day in the life of a Sports PR professional

The leisure industry is fast-paced, exciting and growing. Although all days are somewhat different, we asked Emma Cherry, a Sports PR Professional, to outline a typical 24 hours in sports PR…

“Before entering the industry I, like many others, thought that sports PR professionals spent their days schmoozing journalists and attending glamorous parties – I was wrong. It’s far more interesting, challenging and satisfying than that. I joined Action PR after a successful three-month internship where I learned so much about PR and the fitness industry. As a Junior Account Executive at a specialist health and fitness PR agency, I get to indulge my love of fitness and utilise my interpersonal, organisational and writing skills on a daily basis. Now, I work as a Regional Events Manager at SLM – Everyone Active. So, join me on a typical (though there is no such thing) day in the life of a fitness PR professional.”

“06:00”

My alarm wakes me at 06:00. I reach for my iPhone to check Twitter and see what the biggest talking topic and breaking news is. I head to the gym for a 45-minute circuit or spinning class, get ready for the day and make my way to the office for 08:30-09:00. En route to the office I browse the morning newspapers to see if any our clients have been mentioned or if there is any interesting competitor or fitness industry news.

“09:00”

I respond to any urgent messages and review my task list for the day. Every day is so different in sports PR. I could be attending a meeting or event, interviewing an athlete, writing press releases, or all of the above, so it is important to be organised and prioritise tasks.

“10:00”

I clip, save and file any coverage that has come through, add it to our reports and forward onto our clients. I’ll then share the coverage on our social media platforms, as well as relevant news stories from the morning’s papers.

“11:00”

A client I work for is hosting a charity Zumbathon, so a chunk of my morning is spent drafting a press release. I’ll send the copy to the team to review before sending it to the client. The whole team is extremely supportive and we all help each other by proof reading copy whenever we can.

“12:30”

Time to leave the office as I'm meeting a fitness journalist for a lunchtime ‘hiitgirl’ session at Sweaty Betty. Hiitgirl is a new 30-minute workout exclusively for women that is designed to provide the best workout in the shortest time possible. The journalist loves it and I promise to send her images of the class in action to accompany the feature.

“14:00”

The team and I have a brainstorm scheduled about an event we are organising with for fitness bloggers so I sit, think and note any ideas that I think might work.

“14:30”

Time to get my thinking-cap on! The team brainstorm ideas about guest speakers, venues, logistics and key targets. I take notes, listen and make suggestions about how we can make the event a success. We come up with some great ideas and I’m excited to see how these pan out.

“15:30”

I have a call scheduled with Strictly Come Dancing’s Natalie Lowe about a new dance fitness class she has developed with Ian Waite and Mark Foster. I pitched the class to a women’s fitness title last week and they were keen to interview Natalie, so I ask the questions on their behalf, write them up and send them back to her to approve.

“16:30”

I’ve been asked by a client to research obesity rates among children in different regions of the UK. I spend some time looking through online journals and eventually stumble upon some useful statistics from the National Child Measurement Programme. I compile these into a concise report and send them over to our client.

“17:30”

I’m now entering the home stretch of a busy day. I log how many hours I have spent on each client during the day which is important to ensure we service a client against their budget. I’ll then reply to a few more emails and create a new task list for tomorrow.

“18:00”

I normally leave the office a little after six o’clock or once I’ve completed all my urgent tasks. Time to relax…