MBA 052: All About Advertising with KATHRYN MAIN

Elevator Pitch: Who is Kathryn Main
Kathryn is an entrepreneur who currently runs two businesses – a financial literacy programme for children and an advertising agency. She calls Main Multimedia a “smart working, deadline smashing full service agency” that has been operating since 2010. Their services are tailored to meet the needs of the modern-day marketer. Graphic design, DTP, marketing and multimedia are some of the services they offer. When working with SMMEs, they do everything from name development, brand development, marketing and digital strategies. Along with that they also collaborate with big agencies on projects. At the moment Jaguar Land Rover is their biggest corporate client.

Starting Out
Due to family circumstances Kathryn was forced to leave school in Grade 9. She started working to help support her family. She felt her lack in education limited her options as an adult. At the age of 18 she studied beauty therapy and started her first business in this industry at 22. She was hoodwinked by her more experienced business partners and left the business after three years with nothing to show for it. After that eye-opening experience she stumbled onto sales and marketing by selling advertising and found that she was very good at sales. Within 18 months she was promoted to National Sales Manager for Sawubona, the SAA in-flight publication. Kathryn has worked in radio, television, print and online media. She specialised in mobile marketing for a period of two years. Since starting Main MultiMedia in 2010 they’ve experienced a 100% growth rate year on year. With Money Savvy Kids she is trying to create a financially educated youth through financial and entrepreneurial training.

The Role of Marketing
Marketing is the message you put to the world to get people to know that your business exists. It’s the process by which you promote your product or service to potential customers. To put together a successful marketing plan you need to start at the beginning. Your marketing objectives have to work together with your business objectives. A good marketing strategy can potentially increase sales, help establish your brand in the marketplace, can serve as reputation management and it gives you the opportunity to create competition for a product that’s monopolising the market. Marketing can be quite cost-effective once you have identified your target audience correctly.

Branding + Marketing = Sales
Branding is the starting point and what people will recall when they think about your product or service. A big part of the marketing comes down to your branding – what does your brand look like, what is your icon, what is your name? You want to convey a clear message with your brand. Once you understand what your brand purpose is, you direct everything that you do from a marketing perspective to speak that purpose. Branding is the why of your business and marketing is the how. Branding is long term, while marketing is short term, campaign-driven. Branding is the big picture, while marketing is specifically focused on campaigns and promotions. Branding is strategic, marketing is tactical. Branding begins inside your company (internal) and marketing begins with your customer (external).

Key Questions When Starting a Brand
What is your brand purpose? Why does your company exist? What is the problem that your company solves? What is your brand positioning statement? What is your unique selling point? What is your brand promise? Is your messaging tone fun or serious? Do you have a tagline? These answers drive the profit of the business.

Finding the Right Words
Kathryn speaks of their amazing creative directors, copywriters, digital specialists and a team of multimedia specialists. When presented with a task, they will sit down as a group to find a solution together.