As it’s my last day, I’ve been thinking back on all my experiences at SAMS. And as in any job I’m sure, there’s been ups, downs and moments I wouldn’t change for the world.
I received a call from SAMS towards the end of lockdown saying I had got the job, which gave me the opportunity to dive headfirst into an administration/marketing job role immediately.
The funny thing about marketing or being in a marketing job is that you have to capture your audience’s interest, and in this case it’s people with an interest in the construction industry. From site supervisors, site managers to people just wanting to start up in the construction industry, you have to think about how to target that demographic in the most effective way.
I took it upon myself to try and engage with the audience by improving our social media presence by posting regularly. Updating our Google presence with real reviews, and displaying our courses, and creating compelling blog content where people can understand the true importance of health and safety in everyday work life. It goes without saying, I’ll never not look out for asbestos, or forget to put safety guards on machinery after the countless horror articles I’ve read, and stories I’ve heard from our health and safety advisors.
I found the funny thing about social media is that you need something interesting for people to share and engage in, and to be honest, I struggled with this for the first year. There’s only so much engagement you will get on posting about discounts, articles, and new courses! I suppose you could say the one thing worse than not posting, is posting about the same things all the time. But life is a learning curve! Because with this data, I was able to see what was needed, and since then we have posted about what we are up to daily: from pictures & videos on site visits, to training pictures of our students or trainers, to even getting grabbing a coffee from Costa, I realised interacting with our customers on a more personal level is what gets customers and students to trust our small company over a larger one.
One of the challenges we faced was establishing an online presence in an industry dominated by larger companies. And since I’m part of a team that’s primarily focused on consultancy and training, the responsibility of marketing fell largely on my shoulders. I’m lucky that with the help of a partner marketing company, I was able to have some professional guidance. One of the pointers that was mentioned was to improve our CRM.
Then our website’s live chat box was born. For the last year and a half, we have been interacting with our customers on a quicker and more personal level. No question big or small was left unanswered, and had to be answered within the 3 minute timescale rule we set. With this ,we’ve been able to help thousands of people instantly with their health and safety questions. This has also helped with our blog content, because we were able to see what the most asked questions were, and develop on them more. It’s been a pleasure helping you all over the years.
Memories I won’t forget
One that strikes me the most is the realisation that not many people get to say they worked 3 weeks remotely from St Lucia … without any of their colleagues knowing … whoops! I asked my manager if I could see family out in St Lucia, but asked him to consider allowing me to work remotely. And that due to most of us working remotely 70% of the time, it shouldn’t make a difference to any quality of work. To my surprise, he said yes – with the condition that I prove my theory that working remotely doesn’t affect the quality of delivery.
Getting up at 3:30am and eating mangos every morning was an experience I will not forget. Also, spoiler – no one found out which proved our theory that you can in fact work anywhere in the world without it affecting your workload – I guess you could call this theory a win-win! On a more professional note, our trainers still work from home 2 years later, and our students have shown they prefer training remotely rather than going into the classroom. Students have trained with us remotely from all sorts of countries, including Poland, Tanzania, Canada and even Hong Kong, still getting the best education just as they would in a classroom.
Events: Meeting legends
As a marketer, one of my jobs was travelling around going to different events and networking with other creatives or company owners. Being a loyal Mailchimp and Hubspot customer, I was able to travel to Shoreditch many times, and experience what it was like meeting different creatives and speakers from around the country. I’ve had the opportunity to listen to legends such as Louis Theroux, Steven Barlett and Hannah Fry in person, gaining invaluable insights on the development of AI, and learning about their growth as CEOs. These have to be some of my favourite highlights at SAMS. Getting to hear such inspirational stories from young, determined professionals was the biggest motivational kick a marketer can get.
In conclusion, I’d like to thank SAMS for the opportunity to work at such a great company. You’ve taught me the power of social media, how to write effective blogs and articles, allowed me to take part in a daring experience to prove the efficacy of working anywhere in the world, and let me learn about the forever-evolving world of digital media. These encounters have only fuelled my passion for marketing, and will continue after my travels. I’ll truly cherish everyone in the company, and want to say thank you for such a supportive journey.
Farewell for now,
Harriett