As experts at partnerships, Kasama Marketing supports Ontario’s Highlands’ small businesses

Six years ago a new business emerged in Hastings County – Kasama Marketing is a locally owned and operated business dedicated to supporting small business through skills development, marketing, coaching, and more. The name “kasama” is a Filipino word meaning “to be together” and is an appropriate reflection of the company’s mission and culture. 

For Kasama Marketing owners, Andrew and Katrina MacDonald, working together and supporting local is what it’s all about.

“The name Kasama reflects how we partner with our clients and move forward with them,” Andrew said. “It’s not just a cool name with a catchy K, it’s how we work with our clients and partner alongside them.”

Andrew and Katrina bring a collective 25 years of combined experience in marketing and business management. In Andrew’s case, he has 16 years of experience marketing non-profits and international organizations which is being put to good use helping Ontario’s Highlands’ businesses to excel in the marketplace.

Combine Andrew’s experience with Katrina’s time spent working in property management in Toronto, and there is a “marrying” of resources and creativity to maximize offerings for clients.

“We are experts at partnership!” Katrina said, a tongue in cheek reference to both their life and business partnership. 

While Andrew’s and Katrina’s focus for Kasama Marketing is local and regional businesses, they don’t draw the line there. Because much of their work is digital marketing, strategy and planning the couple can work with anybody, anywhere. 

For some entrepreneurs, marketing can be a sore subject and sometimes seen as a luxury they can’t afford instead of an integral tool for supporting and growing their business. This is where Kasama Marketing steps in, to provide assistance in growing a marketing presence but also providing the tools for business owners to do it themselves.

“We are here to help clients and point them in the right direction,” said Katrina. 

Andrew echoed Katrina’s thought. “We believe that you can’t be an expert at everything, so we have the tagline you do what you do best and let us help you with what we do best and allow business owners to stay focused on their business and their products…you don’t want to be a jack of all trades and yet master of none.”

Since the pandemic, Andrew and Katrina’s focus has been on supporting businesses as they struggle to garner their share of the marketplace, something of particular importance for bricks and mortar businesses. With a surplus of funding opportunities popping up over the past three years, much of their workload has been directed towards executing grants on their clients’ behalf and helping to demystify and navigate the grant world.

In Ontario’s Highlands, the Ontario’s Highlands Tourism Organization has offered multiple funding opportunities over the course of the pandemic, and both Andrew and Katrina recommend picking up the phone and reaching out to someone if you have a question about your grant application and eligibility.

 
“They are not there to say no, they want to say yes,” Andrew said.

In Andrew’s experience, sometimes businesses need to be creative when looking at a grant application and seeing how it can fit their current needs. 

“You have to look beyond a very narrow scope, and some people think they will screw it up and not get the funding,” Andrew said. “We can help you with that.”

Special thanks to Andrew and Katrina for supporting tourism in our region. If you enjoyed this article, be sure to read more like this below.