Kirsty Parsons talks about her duties at Bournes Removals.

Kirsty Parsons is marketing and business developer for Bournes in Rye.  Here she explains about the challenges and compensations of her job on the frontline.

I joined Bournes at the end of 2006. At the time I’d been working for a business consultant and was looking for something a bit more challenging in marketing and advertising. Bournes were looking to become more proactive in their marketing efforts so I joined the team with pretty much a free scope to develop my role and make them see why I was worth keeping!

Since then we’ve come a long way. I must have justified my role as I’m still here! Today my role is really varied. We’ve developed and implemented a formal and more structured marketing strategy and reviewed, tidied up and improved our marketing communications to strengthen our brand – something we’re always working on. I am also involved in supporting our corporate business development team with anything from research on prospective accounts, putting together responses to RFI’s and RFP’s, monitoring and reporting sales activity through our CRM system and attending trade shows and exhibitions.

A big part of my job is constantly reviewing our marketing strategy in relation to what our customers want and developments within the industry to increase our competitive edge. This means a lot of listening and a lot of reading. Things are changing quickly, so we need to keep up.  One of the biggest things at the moment is our online strategy – the internet has created a monster – how customers research, select and buy from moving companies is evolving fast and increasingly involving digital channels so we’ve got to make it easy for them.

We’ve re-launched our website which I am continually working on by developing new content and tools to make it less of a brochure and more of a tool for customers. We’re also working hard on search engine optimisation and I’m diving head first into the world of social media; I’m really interested in this area and could spend all day working on it if I had the time.

I’ve been lucky that Bournes has helped me develop my skills and I recently completed a Diploma in Marketing with the Chartered Institute of Marketing which has given me lots of new ideas and knowledge.

Although Bournes has grown a lot since I joined, it still feels like a family company. Everyone has their chance for input and opinions are valued here, everyone takes ownership for doing a good job, and whilst I like to think it’s my fantastic marketing that keep customers coming back, it’s probably more the great service our staff provide … but don’t tell my boss that, I’ve still got him believing I’m worth keeping!”

Kirsty Parsons, Bournes Removals