Burkett Colleague Connect, Josh in Marketing

Last updated on July 1st, 2022 at 01:32 pm

Have you ever had a boss that you really, really liked? I’m lucky enough to be in that position right now. For this month’s edition of Burkett Colleague Connect, I interviewed my manager, Josh Baltzell, our Director of Marketing & Ecommerce. Keep reading to learn a little more about Josh and the impact he’s making on Burkett’s Marketing Department.

1.     How long have you worked for Burkett Restaurant Equipment?JBaltzell

I’ve been with Burkett since October of 2012. It’s been an amazing experience getting to know the whole team. Everyone is so young and opinionated and full of energy!

2.     Why did you get into marketing and ecommerce?

I am a very technical guy, but I started out wanting to do graphic design. That’s what got me doing web work using Classic ASP and ASP.NET early in my career. There’s no place like the web for combining my love of making things beautiful and also functional. I enjoy getting involved in everything from graphics (possibly to our graphic designer’s chagrin), to web coding, to the tracking and reporting that modern marketing requires.

The first ecommerce websites I ever worked with were internal systems for ordering custom printed marketing materials for Fortune 500 companies. That was the most complicated ordering process I have seen to date! I wrote the code myself from scratch. That is probably the best (or maybe worst) way to get in to ecommerce. After that experience I feel that I know where the complexities are in either original code, or in the various ecommerce platforms that are available out there.

3.     How would you describe Burkett’s culture in three words?

Holy foodservice knowledge!

Just kidding.

Fast. Changing. Growing.

4.     What are our biggest marketing challenges at Burkett Restaurant Equipment?

Marketing a Business-to-Business company can be a challenge. Most advertising or marketing possibilities on the web are geared toward consumers. Since we sell so much restaurant equipment, it can be hard to hone our marketing to just hit those that are actually interested in commercial equipment.

Tracking that marketing is also an area where we spend a lot of time. We are always looking for new ways to know how well our marketing is working.

5.     What are a few lessons from your previous marketing experience that you’re applying at Burkett today?

Omni-channel ordering consistency. That’s a fancy way of saying that every order we accept goes through our channels the same way.

At my previous jobs, ordering consistency could be considered “low-hanging fruit” because we only accepted web orders. However, Burkett is able to take orders via chat, email, phone, web, and in our showroom; we have to really put some thought in to how it works behind the scenes. Doing a great job with Omni-channel is one of the ways that I think we can give our customers an even better ordering experience.

6.     Do you consider yourself left brained (analytic) or right brained (creative)?

You’d probably have to ask my wife or coworkers that one. If it helps, I do the budget at home, but I also picked the paint colors and love taking photos with my Canon SLR.

7.     What is something about the Burkett environment that an outsider wouldn’t notice at first?

We love to chat! I thought the marketing room was so quiet when I first started, but then I realized that everyone socializes just like I do, over chat, texts, and emails. Never judge a book by its cover, or an office by its volume level.

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1 Response

  1. gamegrrl says:

    Nice blog article! Love that left/right brain balance, Josh. Burkett sounds like a great place to work.