Lizzie Baeva.
This series of articles looks at the world of the account manager.
This time its Magic's senior engagement manager Lizzie Baeva.
How did you end up in account management? Was it by design or a cosmic accident?
Cosmic accident — 100%. I actually started out in science, fascinated by human behaviour and the “why” behind everything. But lab life? Not for me. Too quiet, not enough chaos. So I pivoted to a psychology degree postgrad, only to realise clinical work felt too isolating as well.
After that, I panicked, scoured the internet and took a chance on an entry-level role at Magic. From there, I naturally gravitated toward account management, where I’ve been able to lean into what I love: building strong relationships, staying organised, and working across lots of moving parts.
Balancing clients’ objectives and creative vision can be challenging. How do you deal with that?
It's equally important to present a more idealistic approach to creative while also thinking about what is achievable resource-wise, and then find a happy medium.
Good creative with misaligned objectives will never work, and likely cause hair-pulling in the long run, but average creative and well-aligned objectives can still be a great starting point to optimise and learn from!
Putting yourself in the shoes of the target audience is a great place to start to form the marketing plan. For example, aligning your plan with platform best practices in a social media campaign usually leads to the strongest results in my experience. Then, of course, test test test because anecdotally-strong creative doesn’t always resonate.
What strategies do you employ to clearly convey ideas to clients and address client feedback?
Understanding how each client prefers to receive information makes a big difference — whether that’s a data-led approach, visuals, or something more conversational.
I also try to bring clients along the journey rather than presenting the “ta-da” at the end. It builds trust, alignment, and a better end result.
When it comes to feedback, it can be tough. Especially when the team has poured a lot into the work. I give myself two minutes of silent screaming, then switch gears. At the end of the day, it’s their money and their brand — our job is to guide, not gatekeep.
How do you build strong relationships with clients?
Clear, open, consistent communication — always.
I try to be consistent, clear, and open in how I work so clients feel like they’re in safe hands. Building that trust takes time, but once it’s there, everything else becomes easier — you can be more collaborative, more honest, and ultimately get to better outcomes.
Also, I’m a firm believer that rapport isn’t built in status meetings. Sometimes it’s a shared rant about peak season chaos or a high-priority post-holiday debrief. Little things go a long way and help remind both sides that we’re people first, and we’re in this together.
Do you have any go-to tips for navigating challenging conversations with clients?
Take accountability, come with solutions, and pick up the phone.
If there’s a problem, I always huddle with the team first — figure out the “what happened” and “how we fix it” before looping in the client. That way, it’s a conversation, not a crisis. From there, it’s about having an honest conversation with the client and making sure the outcome is documented. A quick recap email not only keeps things clear, it shows the client you’re taking it seriously and helps avoid confusion down the track.
And honestly, sometimes what feels like a thing to you is a non-event for them. Boundaries matter too. If something’s out of scope or unreasonable, it’s OK to say it. Calmly. Professionally. And ideally, not at 8pm on a Friday.
Are there any emerging trends or challenges in the industry that account management teams should be prepared for?
Obviously. And not in the “robots will steal our jobs” kind of way, more in the “why are we still spending 45 minutes formatting this deck?” kind of way. From softening client emails to summarising research to generating creative springboards, AI is becoming the ultimate tool for account managers. It frees up time so we can focus on the big stuff.
AI is also being integrated into a lot of the platforms we use daily (Meta, I’m looking at you), so we need to keep learning and adapting if we want to stay on top of performance.
Ultimately, it's such a powerful tool and I'm excited to see how capabilities grow in the next 12 months (and beyond)!
What advice would you give your younger self when you first started out in account service?
Don’t tie your self-worth to client happiness (still working on this one).
It’s easy to fall into the trap of equating output with identity, especially when you’re surrounded by high achievers, but it can become difficult to separate your outie from your innie.
But with time (and some incredible mentors), I’ve learnt to zoom out. The work matters. But so does your peace. And if you can hold space for both, that’s the real win.
Looking back, I often let work wins (or losses) set the tone for my personal mood. I definitely felt like work = happiness sometimes, especially as I didn't have a formal education in marketing, so I relied on that validation to give me a sense of achievement.
That said, I’m lucky to be surrounded by an incredibly supportive team. With a bit more experience under my belt, it’s become easier to step back, get perspective, and find happiness beyond just the day-to-day wins at work.
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