Insights
Published: 4.25.22
In the second article of our client interview series, Br8kthru spoke with Lori Koch, Director of Digital Marketing at Comport. In her own words, Lori is responsible for “anything and everything online,” from SEO and SEM to content and strategy to website changes and architecture for Comport’s three primary divisions, Comport Technology Solutions, Comport Healthcare Solutions, and ComportSecure.
Our conversation centered around how and when marketers can collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to achieve results that meet the needs of all parties. Comport is a Value Added Reseller (VAR), so Lori collaborates closely with partners whose technologies Comport offers, as well as internal stakeholders who are driving business decisions for Comport.
We spoke with Lori on a Wednesday afternoon when Lori called in from Comport’s headquarters in Ramsey, N.J.
Comport has many key players that influence its digital marketing, including leadership, division VPs, and partners. The push and pull between subject matter experts and marketing experts leads to a balanced digital marketing strategy.
Michelle: Today we’re talking about navigating marketing strategies when that planning is influenced by external audiences who aren't necessarily customers you're selling to. Who are the key players that might have a stake in the digital marketing strategy you're creating?
Lori: We have an involved senior leadership team at Comport, and they’re always excited to contribute ideas. We also have our partners, who provide us with the information we need on their technologies and we get that information out. That’s a little bit more difficult because they have their marketing strategy, we have our digital marketing strategy, and we need to make sure that they're not conflicting with each other. We also have VPs of our divisions who have expertise in their fields and inform our digital strategies.
Michelle: So there's a VP who owns each of these different divisions who you collaborate closely with to create the strategies for the divisions. How do you view your role in this entire ecosystem? Are you the sole owner of the strategy or do you actively ask for input and feedback?
Lori: I think it's kind of a push and pull. When it comes to a digital strategy, I understand what works online and what people want to see online. Our internal stakeholders have ideas on what we should focus on. The issue is that, from a digital perspective, that is not always what aligns with what people are searching for at the moment or the keyword trends, or we may be competing with larger partners for the same keywords. So we have to balance what stakeholders are looking for with what makes sense digitally.
Effective digital marketers can incorporate stakeholder ideas while also relying on their own expertise to set strategy.
Michelle: Do you see yourself as owning that balance? What I'm hearing is that you're creating this strategy based on everyone's different opinions.
Lori: I need to take in things from our healthcare team, ComportSecure, and our C-suite decision-makers and say, “Okay, you guys have all said this, and this is what I think we should focus on this year.” In general, when we're seeing something working, or something moving the needle, we're going to want to move forward with that. You do what you can to include the stakeholders’ perspectives, but at the same time, you sometimes have to tell them that there is not going to be a complete digital strategy around certain things.
Michelle: Definitely. Some things just don’t fit in with your strategy. How do you have those conversations with stakeholders?
Lori: There are certain times when, as a marketer, you just have to push back and say no. But there are also times when you have to do what people ask you to. It's a matter of give and take and creating the relationships internally so that you can say no and everyone understands that what you're doing is for the betterment of the company, as well as for the customers.
Executing a digital strategy requires building relationships, having discussions, and knowing how to leverage stakeholder skills to create content.
Michelle: So it sounds like Comport is highly collaborative and you've got both internal and external stakeholders that are influencing that strategy. Is that new for you, or did you already have experience with this incredibly collaborative environment?
Lori: There’s always going to be a push and pull when it comes to digital. When you're talking about normal demand generation, you can focus an event on one particular technology. When you're talking about digital, you need to have a buildup of different content, different links, different paid ads. It all has to come together.
So you have to find what I call the “silver bullets,” which are the keywords that are not trending yet, but that will be trending in the future. But if you have more knowledge about the way things work online, you can build relationships and have discussions with partners to show them that the way you want to move is what's good for your organization and your partners and your internal stakeholders.
Michelle: This is a unique environment that you're in. You're not only driving that marketing strategy, but you're also incorporating other people's ideas who maybe don't have the marketing expertise but are subject experts. So let's talk about the advantages of being super collaborative.
Lori: For me, I try to take what other people have and want and combine old school marketing with new school marketing. For example, we have data sheets, which are PDFs we send to clients, but I see that you can repurpose that into a blog, which is the actual online content that you can use online. It's a lot about content repurposing. There are always things that you can do to repurpose content. I look for content that customers want, instead of just trying to dispel information on the technology.
The shift toward digital marketing has been an evolution for marketers, just like transitioning to the cloud has been an evolution for Comport’s customers.
Michelle: As we've been having this conversation, you're very clear that your role is digital and not necessarily traditional marketing. You’re not ordering Teddy bears, or traditional swag, that’s not your role.
Lori: I am lucky in that we have a coordinator who I can shift some tasks to, but sometimes we have events that I do manage. My experience before digital was a lot of events, seminars, golf events. So for me, running an event is the easier part.
When marketing started to transition to a digital environment, it became important for smart marketers to evolve with it. Just as our customers are evolving their data centers from traditional in-house data centers to the cloud, marketers need to evolve their skills from letters, postcards and events to an online strategy. I’ve learned to take all the information in and turn that into a marketing plan that everyone's happy with.
Not every stakeholder will respond the same to different communication styles. Tailoring communications to different people can lead to better results.
Michelle: You have long-term, marketable skills, that’s for sure. Wrapping up here, let's talk about tailoring your communications. Is this something that you think about as you're approaching different stakeholders?
Lori: There are definitely different ways to interact with people. Earlier in my career, I was blunt and specific about what I wanted and what I needed. But as you get older, you realize that style of communicating can cause problems for you down the road. The internal stakeholders are just as important as the external stakeholders. There’s a give and take.
I can do something like a blog post for a stakeholder that helps them, and then they do an interview that helps me. Then partners start to see that when they're searching for their own keywords, Comport is coming up, and they start to understand that your digital strategy is ahead. They'll be willing to give you more resources to be able to execute your marketing program.
Michelle: Understanding that balance is a skill. The more I learn about it and listen to you, that’s a skill you have to develop. What about with partners like Br8kthru, where you do have more freedom with how you communicate?
Lori: In my career now, I don't think about politics as much externally as I do internally. There's a difference when you're working with an organization that's working for you (like Br8kthru). I'm so busy that if I don't have to think about wording and we can just get things done together, that's so much easier for me.
No matter what stakeholders are present or engaged, providing what partners and stakeholders need can be helpful to both parties, and communicating with people without talking down to them will always be valuable.
Michelle: One last question to round us out here, do you have any advice that you would leave with someone who's in a similar situation as you?
Lori: Something I've learned over time is that sometimes you look at some tasks and aren’t excited about them, but those things can be the most valuable work to your stakeholders and partners. Take a second in their shoes to understand what they need and provide it. Then maybe in return you get something in the end that will end up helping your strategy.
I came into the business knowing more than most marketers, even at my age (Resellers are not traditionally known for having good marketing…if they have marketing at all). When you do that, you get this air of an ego—which can also come out internally and it ends up hurting your career in certain ways.
Figure out a way to communicate with people without talking down to them in a marketing arena, and it's going to be better for your career and the people that you work with. You don't want to make people you work with feel inadequate, even if they don't understand what you do. Working on that, even as you're in your twenties, is something that is more valuable than any technology. Those technologies are not going to matter as much as relationships will in the future.
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