In an industry that is always changing, Sarah Morris-Rotermund has had to learn how to step out of her comfort zone to be successful in the marketing world. She is director of marketing at Lamson Dugan & Murray LLP.
“Marketing isn’t always black and white. So, for someone like me, yes, I love to be creative, but I do see a world of very black and white sometimes,” she said. “It’s just a challenge to figure out where that balance is and how to get outside your box and actually think of different ways to go about a solution or get a result and there isn’t one right way all the time.”
Her ability to adapt to changes and find creative solutions has helped her during her time as an inhouse marketer in a variety of industries. While Morris-Rotermund spent many years at Cox Media, she is now tackling the world of marketing for a law firm.
Morris-Rotermund attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she originally studied pharmacy.
“I actually started out as a pre-pharmacy major,” she said. “And I learned very quickly that that was not going to be a thing. Just math and numbers and science were not my strong suit, words were, and so I actually went the journalism route, majoring in journalism.”
During her junior year of college, Morris-Rotermund was taking her final capstone class when she realized that she was not interested in news reporting and instead wanted to do something more creative. This led her to also major in advertising her senior year.
After graduating, she began her career in internal marketing at Cox Media. She worked with corporate teams across America to develop a marketing strategy.
“So being an inhouse marketer is really where I found my strengths, and my focus and my passion,” she said. “And then building on top of that is, is there a niche that I really want to become an expert in? And that has led me to the legal marketing world.”
She landed the position of marketing director at Lamson Dugan & Murray LLP.
“My biggest focus is to figure out how I can make an impact for Lamson Dugan & Murray that does align with their business goals that helps us differentiate ourselves in the marketplace,” she said. “Because there’s so much talent here and such great people that I want to make sure that our story is told.”
Making a Difference
Morris-Rotermund became involved in the American Marketing Association (AMA), both on a local and a national level.
“In college, I was always involved with something,” she said. “So I was in a sorority, I held various positions within the sorority, and I just liked being part of something. So, when I graduated, I realized that I didn’t belong to a group anymore. And I also needed a job. So, I honestly just did some research, and I found the American Marketing Association.”
For the past two years, Morris-Rotermund has worked as the leadership advisory chair for the national AMA.
On a local level, she served as various board positions including president, helping to guide volunteers of the Omaha chapter.
“Omaha is in such a great place,” she said. “We’re unique in that you probably know someone who knows someone that I know. But when you put that on a bigger scale, you start to help with challenges that can affect not just your community, but communities across the world. You can just feel that impact.”
Morris-Rotermund has been able to help the marketing community through AMA, and has recently been inspired to help on a more personal scale too, after a woman sought advice from her about how to be taken seriously in the workplace as a young female.
“My advice to her or anyone who has struggled with that perception is just be confident you got where you are today, because you worked hard, and you believed in yourself. And you are also in the position you’re in because somebody saw something in you that they think is great.” she said.
While Morris-Rotermund hopes to continue to achieve all her internal marketing goals for her workplace, she also hopes to continue to be a good role model for young women entering the workforce.
“If I can be an example, whether it’s through my actual work and the results you see through my work, or it’s my involvement in the community, hopefully, I can give back some sort of knowledge or presence that somebody else can take a bit of and use that in their lives to elevate themselves,” she said.
