Dorota, Head of Marketing for ANZ at Tech Data, shares her playbook for B2B marketing. She discusses the challenge of measuring success, the importance of career self-awareness, and why a marketing leader’s most critical role is to be a “connector.”
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Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- The Marketer’s Core Role is the “Connector.” A marketing leader’s most critical function is to build the essential bridge between the organisation, its customers, and the overall business strategy.
- Success Must Be Measurable, But B2B Attribution is the Biggest Challenge. Set clear KPIs for every initiative, but acknowledge the ongoing difficulty of pinpointing ROI in a long, multi-touchpoint sales cycle.
- Career Success Starts with Self-Awareness. Understand your own strengths and decide if you are a generalist or a specialist before choosing an industry or role, as this self-clarity is the foundation for success.
Could you please introduce yourself and your role at Tech Data?
Thank you for having me. I’m Dorota, the Head of Marketing for ANZ at Tech Data. We are a global IT distributor, working with around 40 vendors such as Microsoft and AWS to distribute their technologies to our IT partners here in Australia and New Zealand.
I lead the marketing function across brand, digital marketing, channel marketing, and our newly created call centre. For me, the role is about connecting the business with our vendors and our partners, creating a forum for good conversations and connections within our ecosystem.
How do you define success in marketing?
That’s a very good question. I would start by saying that any success needs to be measurable. Sometimes in marketing, it’s easy to drift away from that and focus on lots of different activities, but at the end of the day, you may not know what worked and what hasn’t. It’s about setting clear KPIs at the beginning of a campaign, aligning with the team, and ensuring we reach them.
The second part is being able to deliver value at every touchpoint of the customer journey.
Is it a challenge to measure success in B2B marketing?
It is still a challenge in B2B. In B2C or e-commerce, the journey is often easier to measure. But in B2B, the sales cycles are very long, and there are so many touchpoints that it’s difficult to pinpoint where a conversation actually started or what exactly caused a conversion. Although the tools have dramatically improved, there is still room for improvement in B2B attribution.
What would you say is the biggest challenge for marketers today?
Exactly that: the measurement of ROI. Going back to the multiple touchpoints, understanding where the pipeline came from is really challenging. I would pinpoint this as the main challenge for marketing in B2B.
How are you trying to overcome this, and where are you seeing the most engagement?
In our CRM, we have dashboards where we can track engagement and see patterns, so although it’s not ideal, we can look at some data. We see the highest engagement at our in-person events. This is where people get to meet face-to-face, talk to our vendors and our team, and learn more about the technology they want to explore. For marketing, it’s about creating that platform for conversation that really helps our partners and vendors get value.
With all the new tools available, what engagement tactics are really working for you?
The thing that really works is to go back to the basics. Although we have all these tools, it’s about being connected with the sales team and the people who deal with our customers every day. You have to have conversations with them to understand who the content or campaign is truly valuable for.
You can have the best content in the world, but if you don’t send it to the right audience, the campaign will not be successful and could even impact your brand in a negative way. It’s really important to start with your goal first, then your audience, and then your messages.
What career advice would you give someone starting out in the marketing industry?
There are a few things. First, it starts from within. Think about what you like to do and what your strengths are. Do you want to focus on brand, digital, events, or, like myself, be a generalist? It really depends on your personality. Don’t be afraid to listen to yourself; if you don’t get that clarity yourself, no one is going to give it to you.
Second, do your homework on the industry and the type of company you want to work for. IT, finance, and healthcare are all very different, and the same goes for a startup versus a large corporation. Some people operate well with a lot of structure, and some operate well without it. Keep an open mind, try different things, and see what works best for you.
Finally, stay ahead of the curve. As a new person in marketing, you may have less experience, but you will have a competitive advantage with new technologies like AI, which are becoming more and more critical.
What piece of leadership advice do you not think applies to the modern marketing leader?
The old advice to “stay in your lane.” In the past, marketing would do just marketing, and sales would do just sales. But now, the lines are becoming more blurry. As a marketing director, you need to work across different departments, understand their goals, and be able to connect data and people. Working in silos is no longer effective and is not going to get you too far.
What does the future of marketing look like?
The future of marketing is integrated, experience-focused, and AI-driven. But I think another important shift is that marketing will be seen less as a cost centre and more as a growth function—a title I believe it deserves. With the recent advancements in technology, we have more data than ever to understand which activities are worthwhile, allowing us to focus our time and budgets where it actually makes sense.
How would you describe the role of a CMO or head of marketing in one word?
It would be Connector. This function thrives on collaboration and insights to drive impact and business growth. This role doesn’t work in silos; a CMO or marketing director builds a bridge between the organisation, the customer, and the strategy.
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