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Meet Laura Johnson

Position
Account Services Director
Biography

Laura Johnson has been at the University since 2004 working with clients across the University on a wide range of marketing communications initiatives. She oversees a team of strategists/project managers specializing in brand management, digital communications -- web and social media-- and marketing campaigns. Her work includes aligning client objectives with strategic priorities; fostering collaboration and teamwork through the agency model; and ensuring we are applying marketing, branding, and project management best practices in all we do. She believes it is important to start from a clear objective with an audience focus and build a smart plan grounded in data.

Laura Johnson portrait

 

Q & A with Laura

As University Relations takes on Marcom work from more units, we wanted to learn more about the common good services so we talked with Laura about what we can expect from her team.

Q: What do you envision for your common goods services team?

A: We will provide common goods services to campuses, colleges and units that they have told us they need. Those services are in the areas of digital communications, creative services, account services and measurement and analytics. We pride ourselves in providing work that is creative, strategically focused and data informed. Plus, we like to have fun!

Q: What kind of projects and opportunities will Marcom staff experience on your team?

A: We work on a wide variety of projects from website redesigns to component development and microsite building and other marketing work such as content strategy, brand application and identity systems, and campaign development. We follow an agency model which means we bring expertise together across functional areas to work as a team in developing the strongest recommendation and implementing the project with best practices in mind. This way of working provides opportunities for staff to bring their expertise to each project, to bounce ideas off of others with similar expertise and to learn from other team members in their other service areas.

Q: What’s your leadership style?

A: I’m a supportive manager who believes in the talent and expertise my team brings to our work. We have a solid project management process with clear roles and responsibilities so I trust my staff to do their work within that process. I’m available for questions or to bounce ideas off of, but I don’t micromanage.

Q: How did your career lead you where you are today?

A: I’m a UMN-Twin Cities graduate who worked in Marketing communications in the nonprofit world before coming to University Relations in 2004. I’ve had the privilege of working on a variety of marketing initiatives in my nearly 20 years here, most notably the development of Driven to Discover.

One key thing I learned was the value of bringing talent and expertise together to take on a marketing challenge. In the nonprofit role, I had to wear many hats. When I came to University Relations, I was so grateful to be surrounded by so much expertise in writing, design, web development, multimedia production, public relations, internal communications, etc. Those experiences helped to shape the collaborative approach we continue to foster through the agency model today, which has yielded strong results.

Q: What challenges you are trying to solve as Marcom expands common good services systemwide?

A: While there are questions we can answer now from Phase 1 campus, college, and unit Marcom Leads about how we’ll work together as partners in common good services, there are other questions that can’t be answered until we move through some parts of the process. That uncertainty is challenging for our partners and also for us as we wish we could have concrete answers about, for example, in-scope websites. Our process is rooted in collaboration, so we are committed to gaining clarity together as we learn more about the strategic priorities of each campus, college, unit.

Q: How did traveling to other campuses to talk about the initiative help your perspective and staff perspectives?

A: It is always great to meet people in person and to experience their campus. Each campus has a unique personality and strategic priorities and it’s important that we understand those to do our best work on their behalf. 

Q: How do you envision the culture will work to help keep staff connected to both their campus or college and on their new common good services team?

A: Staff joining University Relations bring a wealth of knowledge about their campus, college or unit that will be valuable for the work that will be performed as common good services. Staff will be able to continue working on projects for their units as their insights and expertise will provide key background for the overall team’s work. We are focused on furthering the University's mission and take great pride in the role we have to do this work. UR’s team approach is highly collaborative. This approach fosters strong relationships among team members who rely on and are supportive of each other, respect each other's expertise and coordinate to bring the best ideas forward.

Q: What do you like to do when you’re not building new Marcom teams?

A: I enjoy spending time with my two grown children, bike rides with my husband, and I recently picked up acrylic painting that I enjoy doing with my dad.