Part of a winning team: a Day in the Life of Heather King, Marketing and Communications Coordinator.

• Author: Lester, Kathy

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As a member of her firm's 12-person marketing team, marketing and communications coordinator Heather King is the gatekeeper for maintaining the firm's brand standards and quality on all external and internal communications. She joined Fredrikson & Byron, a Minneapolis-based firm of more than 260 lawyers, more than six years ago as a marketing assistant. As her responsibilities steadily increased and as the department added resources to its communication team, she was promoted and transitioned to the role of marketing and communications coordinator more than one year ago. In this interview, King shares her thoughts on her firm, her role and what she enjoys most about working in a law firm.

What type of activities are you involved with in a typical day?

I'm the lead project manager on internal and external communication pieces that come from the firm, whether it's web-based content, electronic mailings and/or hard-copy publications. As the point person at the project intake stage, I enjoy assembling the team to help implement the projects. I ensure the style is right and that each piece follows our firm's brand standards.

How do you plan your day?

I start my day by looking at the upcoming deadlines. The deadlines help me figure out what my priorities are for the day, and then I start to work on how to align my resources. I have developed procedure documents and checklists to help me stay on task and ensure that projects are correctly completed.

How do you manage and prioritize the unplanned items that arise during your day?

Calmly! I listen carefully and try to gather as much information as possible, and then I start to pull together a plan. Interruptions happen a lot during a typical day for me, so I am used to being flexible. If something new or unusual comes up, I try to figure out the best solution, and then I'll 'gut check' my ideas with others on my team at the start of a project. This helps me get things done efficiently.

What core strengths do you have that serve you well in your role?

Being detail-oriented, organized and flexible. Being a good communicator is also a key strength of mine and something necessary for this role. If something changes, I make sure that everyone involved is made aware of the change so there are no surprises. Finally, being adaptable to change has been critical to my success. For example, quickly leveraging new media channels, use of new technologies and changes in our market all have...