‘Meet the lorries’ is back, and today we’re hearing from Elisabeth-Astrid Beretta, who joined us as a senior account executive earlier this year. She’s already made her mark on the Paris office!
What advice would you give to someone who’s interested in working in b2b tech PR and marketing?
As very few courses, if any at all, train students specifically in tech PR, I would advise getting a generic PR degree of some sort. In all honesty, 99% of what you’ll learn will be either self-taught or on the job. But depending on the country you live in, a degree can make or break your career, so spare yourself the pain! It’s also worth trying to understand why companies need to interact with each other. A good way to do this is through on-the-ground experience – working or interning in a start-up, agency, VC, think-tank, etc. Last but not least, read a lot! Relevant topics include innovation, finance, regulation, environmental challenges and solutions etc.
What skills are essential for your b2b PR role?
Although editorial and organisational skills are fundamental, in order to advise discerningly and create opportunities, you need to be able to infer and deduce things logically, aka “connecting the dots”. You have to be willing to educate yourself on your clients’ industries – what ecosystem are they interacting with? What are the stakes? Which challenges are they facing? What can they realistically achieve? This often comes from taking a step back and observing the patterns you see – what’s this field like? Why are we announcing this now? Who could help my client, and what’s in it for them? What challenges are ahead? How can we circumvent them? How can this company attract investment? Getting visibility is just one piece of a much larger puzzle.
What’s your favourite part of working in PR?
At its core, PR trains you to think strategically at all times. Whether you’re making an announcement, conducting influence mapping or introducing one stakeholder to another, multiple levels of communication are involved. These communication levels might differ from one ecosystem to another, because each clients’ targets and agendas are unique. If you have an idea, you better have done your homework and be ready to defend it from every perspective. It’s not only about raising awareness of your clients, but about crafting their desired reputation, all while keeping in mind that there are many factors at play that are beyond your control.
What’s the best part of working at the lorries?
It’s an amazing work environment. The lorries combine an extremely flexible, common-sense management style with dedicated, result-driven professionals in both senior and junior positions. This flexibility fosters a high level of employee autonomy. There’s no need to endure an exhausting hour-long commute on the subway if you’ve woken up with a headache, just make sure you’re reachable! Some of our colleagues are parents, they often need to work remotely, and they perform just as well when they’re at home. It’s all about seizing opportunities to do your best work. Last but not least, I really value the diversity in all of our backgrounds. We learn a lot by sharing clients with teams located in other countries, where KPIs are based on different criteria.
Which industry jargon do you want to ban?
Anything that undermines credibility.
What three things can’t you live without to do your job?
The news, clarity of thought, and an internet connection.
What’s your guilty pleasure?
…truffle.
What’s something not many people know about you?
My credit card number? (…hopefully)
If you’d like to find out more about the lorries and the openings we currently have available, click here, or drop us an email at hello@rlyl.com.
