Posts Tagged ‘social media’

So, I broke the first rule of online marketing: keep your content fresh and up-to-date. I haven’t practiced what I preach to my clients and I have left my blog, Twitter and company Facebook accounts in the land of nod for several months. Shame on me! If only I could say the same for my personal Facebook account, which has had years to become ingrained in my social life and is as much a part of my routine as texts and phone calls. I do also enjoy being a voyeur on Twitter but I just don’t post much….yet.

Why? Well the simple answer is that I’ve been too busy to give it any thought or time. Again, I realise that sounds utterly ridiculous given that I am a marketing professional running my own small consultancy business. The fact is that I’ve been tied up with a great interim role and all my working time – and then some – has been focused on delivering for that role. My working time is squeezed by the whole reason that I went freelance in the first place…my two young children, family life and my quest for a work/life balance.

Like so many in marketing and financial services, I was made redundant during the credit crunch in November 2008. Unfortunately, my children were 16mths and 3wks old at the time, so I found myself in a situation of stumbling through ‘maternity leave’ with no job to go back to and few prospects.

I put the feelers out for freelance work to no avail, considered retraining and then realised that I was going slightly insane and needed to just get a decent marketing job. It had to be full-time – that is the only option for a senior marketeer without enough established local contacts for project work (I’d relocated prior to the redundant job) – and I was staggered to quickly find myself at the final stage for two great roles.

Two months later, I was in the preferred job, which was right up my street and I loved it. But six months on I realised that c.50hrs a week and frequent trips away were putting a stupid amount of strain on my family life, so I applied for a flexible working pattern. It didn’t work out so I resigned and KH Marketing Consultancy was born in October 2010.

Since then, I’ve been lucky enough to have a steady stream of work from Corporates and Small Businesses that I’ve developed links with through past working relationships. As with any freelancer, there’s always the possibility that the work will run out, but those I’ve discussed this with say that there’s always something around the corner…and so far there has been.

But I do know that whatever my workload for my clients, I will do my best to keep my own content updated from now on. Promise. And if you haven’t heard from me for a while, then please tweet me @kellyhaslehurst or send me an email to keep my on my toes!