My background

Hands-on experience

My first communications job was in the 1990s for a small PR and marketing consultancy working with B2B clients. One of the benefits of working for a small business is that you’re thrown in at the deep end. You have to learn everything, so it was a good grounding for the future.

I then went on to work in-house for an international training college and then briefly for a larger marketing agency in an account management role. I left the agency after a few months as the work wasn’t particularly challenging – I was used to being much more hands-on, creative and involved. Pushing bits of paper around a desk (yes, this was in the pre-internet era) wasn’t really for me.

Self-employed. Happy clients.

I then went self-employed as a PR freelancer with a specific focus – I wanted to help smaller businesses and give them the same marketing and communications clout as their larger competitors, without a large financial commitment. The results spoke for themselves as they achieved blanket coverage in their key media which far exceeded that of their multi-national competitors. I had a varied portfolio of clients, including several in engineering, a trade body, a college, an international removals company and even a small independent bookmaker.

I particularly enjoyed working with my engineering and manufacturing clients as they were dedicated to producing excellent products and providing a high standard of service. They had ethics and integrity, and their products made a difference. If you have similar values, we could be a good match.

Anyway, that’s enough reminiscing, the important thing was that my clients were good people and great to work with… and they even encouraged me to raise my prices, which isn’t something that happens that often, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Public sector, not-for-profits and charities

At the turn of the millennium, I felt it was time for a change. I wanted to give something more back to society, so I worked in communications for a housing association and then for a council, where I stayed for 11 years. This involved all aspects of communications – PR, crisis management, advertising, web design, publications, direct mail, filming, emergency management and much more.

The skills that I had picked up in my earlier career, and my straightforward approach, held me in good stead. Most people aren’t aware that councils do not have huge communications teams or budgets. For much of my tenure, I had a one-person team; me. I was fortunate to have excellent directors who trusted my judgement and respected my decision-making – strategic, tactical and operational. In an overstretched environment, they trusted me to triage appropriately, ensuring that limited resources were used to maximum effect. I was consequently able to raise the council’s satisfaction ratings year-on-year to their highest level ever over that period. Hopefully I can make a similar contribution for you.

I won’t go into much detail about other recent roles, but I was also able to make swift and significant improvements in all of them. My LinkedIn profile shows how, at one organisation I improved my team’s performance three-fold while simultaneously improving the quality of output and making them happier. It also highlights my most recent role in which I recruited a web design company to transform the charity’s website in nine weeks – something that would normally take six months.

So, can I help you?

If you have limited resources, you need to ensure that you deploy them appropriately for maximum impact. This is where I can help. Communications and marketing aren’t superficial add-ons; they require a full understanding of a business or organisation to ensure it is focused on the correct operational activities.

Having worked in environments predominantly without the luxury of big budgets and large teams, I have, in the words of Liam Neeson, ‘…a very particular set of skills’ and can roll up my sleeves to get things done, quickly. (Oddly enough, Mr Neeson and I share the same birthday.)

What am I like to work with?

A few comments from people I’ve worked for and, just as importantly, people I’ve worked with…

I had the pleasure of being Kam’s line manager for a number of years. He’s possibly the most effective comms person I’ve worked with. He has considerable experience to draw upon and uses that effectively whether promoting or resolving problems. He’s someone I would definitely like to work with again, and so highly recommend him.

"I worked with Kam whilst he was principal marketing officer at Stroud District Council. We worked on several complex public communications projects together - including PR, direct mail and advertising. His experience in communications and marketing is lengthy, and shows. He has a calm and assured approach to every project and he sees communications from every angle - always thinking about the end user (the public). He won't stand for waffle or jargon, he believes in clear and honest comms. As a freelancer, taking briefs from him made work simple and enjoyable - he was clear about the standards he required and what the end product needed to achieve. On a personal level Kam is very personable and great fun to work with. I have worked with him many times and would be happy to do so again."

"I worked closely with Kam to improve the Marketing offering of work coming out of my section in the Microbiology Department at Campden BRI, and also some company-wide strategies. He had a very sound, practical and resourceful approach to the projects we worked on, and was able to explain ideas to colleagues with a wide range of specialities – in my case as a scientist. This enabled Kam to get the ‘buy-in’ and engagement of the whole project group. I would have no hesitation in recommending Kam to you."

"I had the pleasure of working with Kam in the marketing team which he managed at Campden BRI where his leadership played a significant role in our team's success. He’s an exceptional leader who fosters a positive and productive work environment. His enthusiasm is contagious, and his ability to motivate and inspire his team to achieve their best is truly remarkable. One of his greatest strengths is his well-rounded skillset. He possesses a strong understanding of both technical marketing skills and creative writing, a combination that is invaluable in today's marketing landscape. This dual expertise and his leadership allowed us to significantly increase the quality and quantity of our output as a marketing team. With this in mind, I highly recommend Kam for any marketing or communication leadership position. He is a talented leader, a skilled communicator, and a true asset to any team."

Kam was a breath of fresh air. He could see what was important and what wasn't. He made sure that our efforts were focussed on activities that achieved results rather than doing things because they'd always been done that way. His people skills are excellent. He quickly built positive and constructive relationships with colleagues across the organisation which was vital with such a large and varied internal customer base. On top of that, he's great fun to work with too.

I had the pleasure of working with Kam when he was at Campden BRI. Kam was a creative and fun member of the team. He worked across functions and effectively navigated the job of working with a multidisciplinary team. Kam also brought fresh ideas and energy to our marketing activities. I worked closely with him on a campaign to promote one of our research projects. We created a lot of quality content together, very quickly, through this close collaboration.

I had the pleasure of being Kam’s line manager for a number of years. He’s possibly the most effective comms person I’ve worked with. Kam has considerable experience to draw upon and uses that effectively whether promoting or resolving problems. He’s someone I would definitely like to work with again, and so highly recommend him.

"I worked with Kam whilst he was principal marketing officer at Stroud District Council. We worked on several complex public communications projects together - including PR, direct mail and advertising. Kam's experience in communications and marketing is lengthy, and shows. He has a calm and assured approach to every project and he sees communications from every angle - always thinking about the end user (the public). He won't stand for waffle or jargon, he believes in clear and honest comms. As a freelancer, taking briefs from Kam made work simple and enjoyable - he was clear about the standards he required and what the end product needed to achieve. On a personal level Kam is very personable and great fun to work with. I have worked many times with Kam and I would be happy to do so again."

"I worked closely with Kam to improve the Marketing offering of work coming out of my section in the Microbiology Department at Campden BRI, and also some company-wide strategies. Kam has a very sound, practical and resourceful approach to the projects we worked on, and was able to explain ideas to colleagues with a wide range of specialities – in my case as a scientist. This enabled Kam to get the ‘buy-in’ and engagement of the whole project group. I would have no hesitation in recommending Kam to you."

"I had the pleasure of working with Kam in the marketing team which he managed at Campden BRI where his leadership played a significant role in our team's success. Kam’s an exceptional leader who fosters a positive and productive work environment. His enthusiasm is contagious, and his ability to motivate and inspire his team to achieve their best is truly remarkable. One of his greatest strengths is his well-rounded skillset. He possesses a strong understanding of both technical marketing skills and creative writing, a combination that is invaluable in today's marketing landscape. This dual expertise and his leadership allowed us to significantly increase the quality and quantity of our output as a marketing team. With this in mind, I highly recommend Kam for any marketing or communication leadership position. He is a talented leader, a skilled communicator, and a true asset to any team."

Blogging - in a different way

I’ve just started writing a blog too, with more to come. The aim is to make a difference to society by suggesting proper fixes to problems, rather than just talking about them. Sadly, most blogging and news sites are just about the clicks.

I’ll cover ideas to improve the public sector and environmental, social and political issues. I’ll also cover business management and provide advice.

It will be objective and straight-talking; occasionally, I’ll point out bad behaviours. My philosophy is simple – if you want to fix something, first you need to acknowledge that it’s broken and then develop objective, rather than dogmatic, solutions that work for the long term.