My Work in PRogress this week is the hugely talented Rebecca Moss, who is the Digital PR Director at JBH.

I’ve followed Rebecca for some time now, and not only is she one of my favourite people to follow on Twitter for her PR wisdom, and super cute pics of her dog, but she also once reassured me over Twitter DMs when I having a bit of a wobble, having just started a new job just as the UK went into lockdown. I’ve remembered her kindness, and very wise words ever since, and combined with her shit-hot knowledge of all things link-building strategy, it’s no wonder that she’s leading the JBH PR team to glory.

In this issue, we chatted about Rebecca’s love for Lizzo, her favourite ever campaigns, and what makes her a bloody good PR.

What is your ultimate shower song? (The song you can give a 10/10 Grammy-worthy performance on in your shower on a Saturday morning).

It has got to be Truth Hurts by Lizzo. The woman oozes bucket loads of confidence, positivity and sass; and that’s how I want to start my weekend! 

What are your top three favourite campaigns that you’ve ever worked on?

This is like picking your favourite child! But I think I can pick three that are my favourites, but all for different reasons: 

1. The 2020 Safecation Report for Money.co.uk – this was one of my favourite campaigns for a few different reasons. It was one of the first campaigns my colleague Sophie Clinton had led on content, strategy and promotion, so it was a really proud moment to see it do so well and land in one of our ‘white whale’ publications too.  

2. Missy Empire’s Female Entrepreneurs campaign – whilst this one went sideways at the beginning (note to self: don’t call anyone a girl boss) it performed a real hero’s journey and became one of the best campaigns we’ve ever produced at JBH. It really made me realise that even when a campaign nosedives into negativity, you can still pick it back up and make it work. 

3. Uswitch’s Virtual School Trips This was the first campaign we’d launched for Uswitch, right at the start of lockdown – so it really needed to do the business. It was a lesson in using campaign content to mirror what was going on in the wider world – something I am still really hot on at the moment.  

Did you always know you wanted to be a PR? Why do you think you’re good at the job?

I always knew I wanted to work in digital marketing, but I never really had PR in my crosshairs specifically. My first job in SEO was at a big personal finance company, specialising in debt management. 

There, I was exposed to the PR team and we quickly realised that a lot of the work they were doing with market research surveys and data visualisation could be repurposed and leveraged for links! After a bit of the usual PR vs SEO tension, we made it work (but it wasn’t called digital PR then – we just called it link building really.)   

“Organisation, process and planning is nine-tenths of the reason why I am good at my job. What I lack in creativity I make up for with gantt charts.”

I am exaggerating, but project management skills are so important – the plates need to keep spinning no matter what happens. 

What advice do you give to people on your team when they make mistakes?

I expect people on my team to make mistakes, but I also expect them to find a practical solution. Rather than offer them advice, I would probably work with them to come up with a solution. 

But I don’t let them beat themselves up about it.

“Not every campaign is going to land, not every piece of coverage is going to be perfect.”

It’s just the way it is and the more my team is exposed to the negative aspects, the more able they will be to avoid and solve mistakes in the future. 

What advice have you been given that has stuck with you throughout your career so far?

Always have a plan B. Have something in your back pocket just in case your original idea doesn’t go to plan.

Things can (and often do) go wrong, but always have something you can turn to in case the worst does happen. 

Finally, what does being a work in progress mean to you?

I hope that I will always be a ‘work in progress’ in both a professional and personal capacity. 

For me, it’s also about humility and being able to admit when things are wrong or asking for help if I am struggling. Those are two things that will always be on my ‘WIP’ list. 

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You can keep up with the fantastic Rebecca on her Twitter here and Linkedin here.

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