Business > Business People > A Conversation With/5 Questions

Posted on Thu, Nov. 05, 2009

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After being a young mother and going to what she calls "the school of hard knocks," Christine Bitner worked in various marketing positions.

She eventually worked for KC Creative and, years later, came to own the advertising agency.

What's the difference between working for an advertising agency and owning it?

"Now that I own the company, I can run with my ideas instead of having to get them OK'd with a boss first.... The creativity is just unlimited right now."

Are there some days you just don't feel creative?

"It just never happens. I just love it. It's an affirmation that you just... get up in the morning and think out of the box and do unconventional things, and people expect it of you. That's what makes it so much fun. I can be myself and have a good time doing what I do."

Do you have an area of specialty?

"We'll help just about anybody, really. It doesn't matter if it's a small business or a large business. We handle the whole gamut.

"Sometimes smaller companies feel like they need help more.... It's harder for them to come by the dollar, and they want to be sure they are spending it in the right spot and doing the right thing with it."

Isn't advertising the first thing businesses often cut during hard times?

"And it's the absolute worst decision you can make. There have been studies done that show when you stop advertising, people start forgetting about you."

If you stop and then want to restart, Bitner said, "you have to really increase what you were doing before to make up for what you already lost. You just really need to keep constant with what you're doing because in the long run it's really going to pay off."

Is it true your business card reads "head honcho"?

"We wanted to put stuff on our cards that could be an ice-breaker. You know, something that would start a conversation with someone.

"People will call and specifically say, 'I want to speak with the head honcho,' and you pick up the phone and they're laughing.

"We're a marketing company, and we have to market ourselves, and that's one way we do it."