Karin and Alison, co-founders Umai Marketing
Today, I invited Karin and Alison from Umai Marketing. Umai Marketing is an incredible brand that helps other brands market with their consumer goods. I’m so excited for you to hear about CPG brands, Karin and Alison’s start of their own business and so much more.
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Kelly: Hi everyone. It's Kelly Bennett and I have a really fun new episode of creative direction with Kelly Bennett. As I said, each week, I'm answering your questions about building a lifestyle brand. And I'm bringing on really cool guests who are experts in different areas of building a lifestyle brand. And this one in particular, I follow them on Instagram and I totally slipped into the DMS and ask them to come on. I'm so happy. They said yes, because I know you're going to literally have out your pen and paper, taking notes and just get a ton of information and feel super inspired to build your consumer good brand. So, Alison and Karen of UMAI Marketing, thank you so much for being here.
Alison: Thank you, Kelly. We're excited to be here.
Kelly: Yay. Okay. So this is my first time having two guests on, so thank you so much. This is really fun. Um, whoever wants to go first, but giving me that spiel of, you know, the who you are and what you do, if you want to do. Individually. That's cool too. Cause I'm sure you both have unique stories of how you got here.
Alison: Yeah. Karen, feel free to take it away. We, we are always on podcasts together, so it's always like trying to look at each other and be like, Ooh,
Karin: AWesome. Well, yeah, we started UMAI back in September of 2018. So, it'll be four years pretty soon, which
Kelly: Congratulations!
Karin: Thank you. It feels like it's been longer to be honest. I'll think of that as a positive thing. Um, but yeah, we started, so my background is more on the content creation and storytelling side.
Kelly: Uh yes!
Karin: Yeah. Alison's background is in the advertising and e-commerce space. And so while we were friends before and we were just like, you know, we could together, we're a powerhouse for these CPG brands who need marketing strategy and understanding of what can actually build these brands. So we got together and before long we were building a team and yeah, we've been rolling ever since.
Kelly: That's amazing. And I love hearing about good friends then building a business together. That's really special too. So, Alison, what was your story? I know we talked a little bit about advertising and e-commerce, but what helped you get to here?
Alison: Yeah, so I, so Karen and I actually worked together at our first job out of college. Both of us didn't quite fit in there. It was for a pageant and prom dress designer and they are they're killing it. They're doing awesome. They're doing probably better without us. So we left. Very interesting. Um, it was, it was fun, but, um, we both decided it was time for us to leave and I actually moved out to Vietnam. I was like, I want to get as far away as possible and figure out what I want to do. Um, and turns out I was just going to teach English, but it turns out in Saigon, which is Ho Chi Minh City. Um, there's a huge entrepreneurial hub. So. Just kind of fell into that groove and, um, started, you know, doing things like drop shipping and Amazon FBA, just like trying to figure things out. And, uh, one of the, one of the people, one of the guys there, uh, was hiring his first employee, a marketing director. And I applied and, you know, made up what I could do on my resume, but got the job. That's kind of, when I fell in love with marketing in general, I love helping people and I love business. I love building businesses. It's just, it's fun for me. And marketing kind of encompasses that as well as strategy and creativity. So it was just kind of my perfect field that I fell into. And, um, ended up moving back to Austin where Karen and I worked again, a block away from each other. And, uh, she's, she's been in CPG for she's an OG CPGer. And one day was like, 'You know, let's, let's meet up for lunch and, uh, I have a proposition for you' and, um, she kind of started at all.
What is a CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) Brand
Kelly: That is amazing. I resonate with your story too, cause I totally lived in Asia trying to figure out what the hell to do with my degrees and like how to put all the pieces together. And that's where I also found my passion for marketing and creative directions. I love that. Okay, cool. So, we talked about CPG for anyone who's unfamiliar with that term. Uh, Karen, do you want to tell us? What the hell does that mean? And how does someone know if they're even building a CPG brand?
Karin: Absolutely. So CPG, they tell us to not abbreviate things, but it's consumer packaged goods or consumer goods. And so I remember the first time I heard it, it was my boss and I was just like Googling. I was like, what is CPG? And I was already working there. So,, a CPG brand is really, there's no hard and fast rules, but it really is a product that needs to be replenished. So, a product that you consume or use and you keep buying it. A lot of that is food and beverage. It can be household products and could be pet food or pet products. It can be a beauty product. Uh, if there's not set parameters, but generally consumer packaged goods, anything that you're continuously using.
How Karin and Alison Saw what the Market Needed.
Kelly: Love that. That's awesome. Cool. I honestly, I, I know of the term and I know of it, but that's a great way of explaining it. So that's so cool. Thank you. I'm going to put that in our notes because I think that so many people are doing that, but not even clear that that's what they're exactly doing. Okay. Awesome. So how did you all then find this niche of saying, okay, we're going to go all in and we're going to help people who are building CPG brands. We're going to help them put all the pieces together. Like, what were you noticing that people were kind of getting stuck. Uh, what am I trying to say? Stumbled upon maybe that's the, where as I stumble upon that word, um, or getting tripped up on or stressing out about like what, what were you seeing in the market that you're like, okay, we gotta do something about this.
Alison: Um, yeah, I mean, like I said, Karin was in this space already and I, I didn't even know. I didn't know what CPG meant. I didn't even know it existed and she kind of explained it to me. And I was like, I love like package design and branding and all the beautiful things that come along. Um, consumer goods. And I had been in like the digital world for so long. So I was like, that's exciting. And she also, there's just a really amazing group of people and probably, you know, in other pockets, but in Austin alone, there's just an amazing group of CPG people here. And it's been going on for years and years and their mentality is to help and support. And there is no competition. Um, they, they hold like weekly groups and meetups and things like that. And it's all about helping each other and like uplifting each other. And so it was just kind of a no brainer to want to work with those types of people. Um, that's, that's my side of things. Karen what's what's your thought there?
Karin: Yeah, I mean, that's exactly right. I was in CPG right after our prom and pageant foray. That's where I went next. And afterwards in full transparency, I love being honest and I'm not ashamed of this part of my story. But the second CPG brand I was with, I was with them for a few years. And then I was laid off along with other marketing members in the team. And eventually they turned over the whole team. Um, but it was, then it was kind of like, oh, I got to figure out what to do. And like Alison said, yeah. So was supportive in this town. I immediately hours later heard from my ex boss, the co-founder of the first company I worked with, and he was just like, let's go get coffee. I told you like, well, how do you know this already? So, after doing that, it was, it just snowballed. And I asked Alison if she wanted to join and then we just did it.
What gave Karin and Alison the confidence to go for it.
Kelly: Wow. Well, I love that. And thank you for being honest and transparent because when people hear real life stories like that, like obviously they probably felt really shitty when it happened. Right. I've gotten laid off before and it's like, you know, like everything just starts crumbling and you're like, what the fuck? Because you thought you were on a path and you thought you figured it out. Um, however, I think those types of skills are really great for entrepreneurship. So what help? What give you that? Like, fuck it. I'm going to not try to apply for another job. I'm going to call my friend and be like, 'Hey. Let's start freelancing or let's start getting our own clients'. Like, could you give me a little bit of that? Because I feel like so many people want to hear those types of stories because it also helps them feel that confidence of like going for it.
Karin: Yeah, I think it was a definite mixture of; one, I knew what we could provide, and two, I knew there was a need and I was being told there was a need. And so it was just immediately like, okay. This is a huge blow to my Type A ego, but something's gotta happen. Um, so it was, it really just, it ....people are like, you know, wanting advice on how to get started. And I like to be honest, and a lot of what Allison and myself have built is a lot of it is based on obviously knowledge of what we're doing, but also the connections that we have made along the way, and the importance of having a very strong network that supports you is paramount. So....yeah.
Alison: Yeah. And also, I mean, it always helps when your back is against the wall. So if you try to make yourself uncomfortable, if you're really wanting to, cause I, I had always wanted to own my own business since the day I was born. I always wanted to do that. Um, and I was in a great position working with great people, but there was nowhere to go from there. So when Karen said let's go, it was like... uh. It was a harder decision than I thought it would be because I've always wanted to do this, but yeah. I mean, if you can make yourself uncomfortable and, and get your back up against a wall, you know, there's no other option than to fight and to make it happen, I guess,
Kelly: And to figure it out. I feel that so much in 2020, I left, I've always been an entrepreneur, but I was like at a point where I needed to just. Kind of be quote unquote, "have a normal job". So I've only had like one job in my industry and it was at the end of 2020 that I was like, oh, I got to go. Like, I'm an entrepreneur. I can't. And I had to make myself really uncomfortable and it was like a really cool project. And like everything was set up and it was consistent money. And I was like, oh my God, this is great. But also, I don't want this. And I totally resonate with you sometimes have to just take that leap and everyone's circumstances are different. Like, I'm single, don't have any kids. So like for me, I was like, okay, worst case scenario, my shit is getting packed up again. I'm going to live with my mom, which I ended up doing for a little bit, but you know what I'm saying? Like, I think it's different for everyone, but whatever you could do to help yourself just like, let go of what if or what could this look like?Because you have to just take a leap. Um, I feel that so much, and I, and it's scary and magical, but it's like so worth it. It's so worth it. Once you find your thing. So. My next question is then how did you find the brand? Because you were like, okay, we have this idea. We have a niche. We're really passionate about it. Fuck it. I'm going to quit my job. I'm going to go in [00:14:00] with you then how did you then make it into your own brand and decide to like, do it and start getting clients, like, give me that little bit behind the scenes. 'Cause now you're year four, which is amazing! So what did that look like?
How they made their own brand.
Karin: So again, the network is paramount and we initially, within a couple of weeks, we had three clients, you know, we
Kelly: Wow!!
Karin: We're happening really quickly. Uh, and the word of mouth, the recommendations were flowing it and it just solidified the fact that there's a need for it and we can fill it. So we're here. And, uh, what we did at the beginning was again, connecting with all of our contacts and then also becoming part of the community. So there's a couple incubators or groups around town that are focused on CPG. So we sponsored them. We continue to sponsor [00:15:00] them. We continue to attend the events and just network at the same time. I think that's kind of what our first step was and then working really, really hard to do good work for sure.
Kelly: Hell yeah. So tell me, walk me through, if someone has a CPG brand they're getting started, they're like, okay, I'm doing it. Cause they also have to be taking that leap to of like, okay, I'm doing it. I'm going all in. Can you walk me through what it's like working with you? What's like the main things that you work with, people. Yeah. Give me that. Give me the insight. What's the behind the scenes?
Behind the Scenes of Umai
Alison: Yeah. So like what we, what we do is, well, first of all, I will say, we know what we're not good at. And that was the first thing that we had to kind of define is what are we not good at? What we don't ever want to sell services? Just to, you know, appease a client. So we got like, not only did we really niche down in our space, but [00:16:00] we really niche down on what we're good at, what we're not good at. So what we're good at is email marketing, organic social, which for us is social media marketing, um, and then paid social. Uh, so Facebook, Meta ads, that sort of thing. And the reason we decided on that is not only because we had a lot of experience there, but we, we kind of realized it when paired together, when those three things work together, it does create. Ecosystem. And it creates a nice machine that allows growth that, you know, pulls in sales, indoctrinate, indoctrinates folks. So it was kind of like, these are the things that we'll do and not really anything else. We'll get really good at these things and not anything else. Um, so working with us, we do, we have a client side and we also have a course. Um, we are. We're a boutique agency. We don't want to be large. Um, we have a small, but [00:17:00] super mighty team of like just rockstars. Um, so we only can work with a certain amount of people at a certain amount of time. So we're pretty picky about the clients we bring on. Um, our clients are like, I know this sounds so cliche, but like family, like we talked to them all the time. We are a lot of times their only marketing leg. Um, You know, we're, we're in it to win it with those people. So we don't have a ton of clients. Um, but something and something that we were talking about before we got on this podcast. You know, the holes in the industry that you see in, Kelly, you were talking about that. And that's the reason why we created the course is because as a CPG business, you have, you know, generally you have to raise capital, um, to get far to hire, to spend on marketing, um, everything, you know, costs money, obviously to raise capital, you have to get to a certain point, um, to attract the right cap.
So we were discovering that a lot. Like all these brand new baby businesses needed help. They can't one person can't do it all themselves, but they also can't afford a full on agencies. So, um, that was, that was quickly understood. And that's why we put together a course to try to get the baby business. I don't know what I'm saying, baby business, but you know.
Kelly: When a startup emerging small business
Alison: if it's like you and a few people, you cannot do it all. You need a roadmap. Um, that is what our course is for so that you can then make enough cells attract the right investors and then go out and get things off your plate.
Kelly: That's awesome. So you work with people who are right on the cusp of raising that capital of as far as how to get their marketing organized, to build that momentum before that step?
Alison: With the course, I would say, um, the majority of people who take. Haven't raised or, um, are within the realms of raising a constant raise, um, for our client's side, it's generally past that rain
Kelly: Got it.
Alison: Like medium size brands. Yeah.
Kelly: So, then they have the investment to then say, okay, We are getting serious about our marketing because in the beginning with any sort of business, you're still kind of DIY in figuring it out. You have to personally, I think for good entrepreneur, like you have to taste different things. You have to experiment yourself to see, okay, what am I personally good at? And what am I personally not good at? And who do I need to work with and what do I need help with? So I love how the course and also the client side of this. Um, full on service that you hit both spaces of where someone is on the stage of their business. Because, also when you're first starting out, trying to figure this all out, because again, I know very well of when people are in that awkward in between of like, they need the help, they need the support to grow, but they also need other things to be organized in order to get the support to grow. And that's where the course is. And then after you get funding that also doesn't guarantee anything, right. I I'm sure you all have seen so many examples. I've seen so many examples over the years of people getting funding, but not knowing the proper allocation of the funding. And honestly, just shitting out because they didn't know what to do with it, or they didn't know who to trust, or they didn't know what questions to ask. And that also breaks my heart because it's like, oh my gosh, you got the money, but then just didn't know how to apply it because you haven't done this before. And so it's totally understandable. So I love also that you're helping people like now that they got the funding, this is how to best allocate what that funding can do to help grow the brand.
Karin: Yeah. And I think to add to that, the importance of. Widening your community again, so that you have trusted mentors, you know, like you have people that have built businesses themselves that can, that not tell you what to do, because again, these are just roadmaps. That doesn't mean you're not going to take stops or turns along the way. But it's just like the more people you talk to, the more people you connect with, the more opportunity to find the person that's going to put some light bulbs in your head, you know, just talk to as many people that will give you their time as possible.
Kelly: I love that. What were you going to say, Allison?
Alison: I was just going to say, and there's just so many free CPG groups, like Slack groups, Facebook groups, like Meetup groups, if anyone ever needs any of those resources, like we got a list and most of all, maybe all of them are free. Um, a lot of them are free too, and it's just, you know, everyone's constantly asking it's such a multifaceted business CPG. Um, I, you know, I can't imagine doing it without that type of support.
Kelly: I totally resonate with both of you talking so much about community, because that's how I built my business. Also. I moved to downtown Las Vegas from New York city. I was a creative director of a vegan restaurant that ended up, we opened up two locations. That's how I really became a creative director. And like learn how to put my own unique take on creative direction and through that, because the restaurant became so popular, we really honed in on community. And then we were building this community of creatives and small business owners. And then they were asking me like, Hey, how do I do this for my brand? And then I started teaching workshops and classes, and that momentum started seven years ago. And it's still the backbone of my business today, even though I, I moved back to New York city and growing my business and it's all online now that in real life community building that I did seriously, still builds my business today. So if anyone's listening. Start with your local community. And I think similar to what it sounds like what's happening in Austin, people that you could really genuinely connect with and know their names and go to coffee. Like don't overlook that. I think so many people think it has to be this big grand thing, but like a few people that, you know, in your real life community who want to support you and encourage you, that's worth everything. Everything. Oh, yes. You community building. Cool! So you've, we've talked about a little bit, but I would love to hear more about your course, um, who wants to walk me through it? Because I know so many people are curious. They're like, okay, that sounds exactly what I need. What's the details.
Umai Course
Alison: to. So, um, yeah, so again, you already know why we started it. It's our, you know, it's, it's something that we love doing when we, when we first started it, it was a alive. Um, we'd meet up with, uh, people over, I think, 12 weeks also like you do and talk with them. Um, but it started getting, you know, a bit larger. So what we did is instead of having. Um, eight modules or was it eight or 12 modules? I can't remember. We actually created 92 modules and made it Evergreen. Yeah. Wow. It's, you know, it's dense, but it is literally, we are big into SLPs in systems in our agencies. So it is literally every single strategy and system that we know. For social media marketing, uh, paid. We teach people how to run their own paid ads and then email marketing. And it's all in there. Um, [00:25:00] you can, you know, go, everyone's so busy, so you can take it as, as you go. And then we also have, uh, a Slack community to help answer questions and we hop on calls. Um, quarter and every month, uh, with our community. And it's just a great group of folks who are killing it and building their businesses and DIY-ing it right now. And it's, it's really fun and cool to see.
Kelly: That is so awesome. I love how you said, like it's a roadmap. It's a course. And I would say, even aside from CPG brands, understanding paid social media, Oh, my gosh. That's huge. That's huge. So that's awesome that you have that in there because I feel like that's still something that's a bit elusive of like how the hell does this work? You know? And so the fact that you have that laid out is major that alone is, is such a big value.
Karin: Yeah, I completely agree. And I always talk about it and fluff Allison's feathers, because if you look around at other paid social experts and as a sea of men, it is a lot of men in this space and having a powerful, super smart woman that leads our paid social efforts is so cool.
Alison: Yeah. We want to connect with more, I mean, ladies everywhere, but if there's any paid media lady, buyers who just want to hang out, like, let's say it, we want to hang.
Kelly: I love that. Love that. That is awesome. So they get the roadmap of the paid social, organic social, and email marketing. That's amazing. So how do people join? How do people sign up? Where, where do we find you?
Alison: Well, we're all about education and we want to give value first. So we do have a five day free mini course. I think it's just, umaimarketing.com/minicourse. And you'll get a drip fed some videos that will teach you some. Some strategies that we have. Um, otherwise we like to talk and hang out with anyone. So you can always email us@hello@umaimarketing.com on Instagram as well. Karen it's our Instagram.
Kelly: Oh, perfect. So that's who I was talking to.
Karin: Um, sometimes
Alison: I love it.
Karin: That’s Definitely part of our team, our core team, but yeah, it's generally we try to jump in, especially if there's certain questions that come through, our teammates will ping us and we'll jump in and check.
Kelly: Well, I'm so glad that we connected on social and had this conversation. Thank you so much for sharing so much insight and really supporting creatives who are building these really cool CPG brands. And now have a roadmap on email marketing, organic social, and paid social, which are definitely. The top three things that are absolutely needed. And for you both for going for your own dreams and taking a risk and building this brand and this business, it's just really inspiring and really encouraging. And just thank you so much for sharing your story with me.
Karin: Thanks for having us Kelly!
Alison: Yeah, Thanks Kelly.
Kelly: So welcome. You're so welcome. Thank you everyone for listening and I'll see you on the next episode. Bye.
