A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME...
My comms career began in 1997 where marketing clients included BMW, Waitrose and IBM. But I started my working life as a journalist in 1994. I always wanted to write and in 25 years I’ve written compelling copy for some outstanding editorial publications and businesses, including Emap, Haymarket, Reed Elsevier, the Guardian and The Wall Street Journal. I graduated in the middle of a recession that hit the publishing industry hard, so I changed jobs several times, but every time I honed a new set of skills - my story has many chapters.
In 1997 when I took my first marketing role, email and mobile phone use exploded and all of a sudden our well-written words were competing for space. In London commuters checked phones and forgot to grab an Evening Standard to ‘Read all about it’. In the shires, areas bereft of good mobile signal felt left behind.
I spent the next decade contracting: putting together teams, masterminding launch issues, delivering commercial and content marketing projects and working in Brussels and New York. By 2000 the publishing industry was in a digital tailspin. The internet changed things exponentially but it was a great time to be a production editor. I led many projects that rewrote legacy content for the digital age.
It was the start of my love affair with digital content and gave me invaluable insights that I still use today. In the UK and in the USA, I used database and SMS marketing, analytics, news on-demand, email, Search and Google when it was all shiny and new.
I’m a complete tech head – but my love of technology is invaluable to Digital PR. Quite simply, if I didn't use it, I wouldn't get my clients' stories read in the right places. Technology is not always embraced (or indeed popular!), but I keep up with trends so I can help businesses get the most from their comms budgets. The data trail that digital marketing leaves helps me to show businesses the trends of valuable content and how the words their business uses impacts sales. I strongly believe that data analysis skills are essential to any marketing that a business does.
In February 2019 I became a tutor with Cornwall College, delivering CIM qualifications to professional marketers. I’m really proud of this work because marketing is in danger of being dumbed down with the offers of social media courses to make you an expert for £29. But marketing deserves to be taken seriously and I work alongside an amazing team delivering 100% pass results. As well as my professional qualifications in business and marketing I’m an accredited British Standard proof-reader. I remain a member of the journalists’ union as I still write editorial commissions. These are all essential tools and I use them every day as they help me make complex subjects readable without resorting to industry jargon.
I’m proud of my journalism foundation and its 5 core principles guide my work every day: honesty, accuracy, objectivity, impartiality, fairness, and accountability. The Hammond Agency puts words at the heart of customer-facing communications and digital strategy and helps businesses of all sizes identify the words that work – for SEO, content, communications and more.