A Day in The Life of an Account Manager
What is an Account Manager?
If you’re looking for the answer to this question, you’re in the right place. At its core, the role of the Account Manager, or AM, in a marketing agency is to be the liaison between the agency itself and its various clients. Of course, it’s much more than that so let’s dive into the nitty gritty details.
A typical day as an Account Manager.
Any given day for an AM could likely be described as fast paced, hectic or even chaotic, but this is typical for “agency life.” Marketing agencies tend to run, and thrive, on a work hard, play hard mentality. If you haven’t experienced agency life yet, it’s certainly not for the faint of heart. We show up every day because we are passionate about what we do and who we do it with. At iluminere, we fuel the crazy days with abundant coffee, team comradery and endless office dog cuddles.
In most cases, a single Account Manager will have a portfolio of various clients who each have unique businesses. This means that every client will also have a unique set of goals, needs and problems to solve on the daily. An AM must be well versed in the nuances of their clients’ business. What is impacting their industries today? What is going to be trending in their space tomorrow? Who are their competitors and what exactly are they up to? All of these details will have an impact on marketing strategies that the agency is working on or will be looking to execute in the future.
In addition to this, an Account Manager at a digital marketing agency must also keep up with the ever-changing landscape that is digital marketing. Yes, that includes the Metaverse. Clients continue to look to agency partners as the experts of these digital channels. They seek guidance and recommendations on what levers should be pulled, and when, to meet their specific business goals. To be the perfect storm, an AM needs to be knowledgeable about both clients’ businesses and the opportunities available to drive forward growth.
Iluminere offers a full range of services for our clients including brand development, social media, SEO, data analytics, web design and more. Take this broad scope of project possibilities and multiply it by the range of clients at any given time and you can see how an Account Manager ends up wearing several hats each and every day. If you’re interested in what this truly looks like, read on.
The role of an Account Manager.
As an Account Manager at a digital marketing agency, you may be reviewing a new website design for an existing client in the morning and pitching a TikTok strategy to a potential client by the afternoon. You may be planning out a detailed marketing budget or spending time diving into recent industry news. Some tasks may be small while others take major brain power, but the role of an AM is to ensure all of the pieces are working together to paint a bigger picture.
Because of this, an Account Manager’s job is very collaborative by nature. An AM must work cross-functionally with all internal departments and team members while also being the main point of contact for clients. The AM serves as a project manager for client deliverables, ensuring that a project continues to move through the agency pipeline efficiently and is delivered to the client within the deadline and the budget. AMs are responsible for always keeping the client apprised of the progress of individual projects, as well as the performance of their holistic marketing strategy.
It’s not as simple as it may sound. A nuanced layer of Account Management is actually customer service. From strategy, through execution and final reporting, it’s an AM’s primary goal to deliver successful marketing strategies that have a positive impact on our clients’ businesses. At iluminere, we are driven by our clients’ success stories and the AM is critical to ensuring that success, so the partnership remains strong and continues to grow.
Who would make a good Account Manager?
If you’re considering a career as an Account Manager, or simply just curious, here are a few traits and skills we would recommend for this role.
Hustle. To be fair, this goes for any role in a marketing agency. It’s a daily grind and everyone has to show up ready to fight for each other and for our clients. We are internally driven to make the most of every day.
Time Management. There’s a lot on your plate. However you need to slice it up is fine by us but, it’s crucial to be skilled in managing your time. Timelines and deadlines are driving forces of productivity around here.
Prioritization. If everything is a priority, then nothing is a priority. In addition to time management, an Account Manager should be able to pull themselves back and efficiently prioritize all the moving pieces across various projects and clients. It’s a delicate balancing act we do every day.
Foresight. No one can read the future, but an Account Manager should try. A key element to delivering successful strategies for clients is predicting possible roadblocks in order to avoid them whenever possible. Of course, things can and will go wrong but your client will thank you for pointing out even the most obvious of problems before you get too far down the road.
Finding Solutions. What’s the point in bringing a problem to the table if you don’t also have a solution? An Account Manager should be able to think creatively about how to get around inevitable issues.
Communication. Secrets do not make friends. As a AM you’re the go-to person with all the answers, both internally and externally. Get ahead of the curve by keeping everyone up to date on both sides, all the time.
Teamwork. As they say, teamwork makes the dream work. An Account Manager truly touches every piece of the agency funnel and should be able to work seamlessly with all internal teams. You’re also on a team with your clients. Their goals and successes are your goals and successes.
Relationship Management. Happy client, happy life. It may not rhyme, but it’s the truth. Account Managers are driven to foster mutually meaningful relationships between the agency and its clients. When the relationship is strong, it’s a win-win situation.
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