With many employers embracing remote work, they’re finding themselves needing to manage and build teams that are partially or fully remote. Marketing departments are no exception. Remote work has allowed companies to utilize their team’s skills and drive marketing efforts more efficiently and with added flexibility.
Remote teams also bring challenges, especially with collaboration and communication. We’ll discuss the benefits of a remote marketing team and tips for managing a remote team and its challenges.
Benefits of a Remote Marketing Team
There are many advantages to having a remote marketing team.
- Access to global talent: Being remote means you have access to a greater pool of talent, anywhere in the world. This allows you to hire professionals with the skills your team needs without being constricted to candidates in one location. This also means your team has the potential to be more diverse, which brings greater ideas, innovation, and perspectives.
- Cost savings: When your team is remote, you can avoid expenses related to office spaces such as utilities and equipment.
- Scalability: With remote marketing teams you have a greater ability to scale up or down for projects since you are no longer constrained to an office space.
- Improved retention and job satisfaction: The option to work remotely is in high demand for today’s workforce. Offering this flexibility will not only attract more talent but will improve the retention of your current staff. Job flexibility leads to higher job satisfaction as well.
- Extended hours: When you have employees working in different locations and time zones, you’re able to provide more coverage for campaigns and customer service.
Tips for Managing a Remote Marketing Team
Despite all the benefits of remote teams, there’s also challenges that need to be addressed in order for the team to be successful. Here are some tips for managing a remote marketing team that will help your team be efficient and productive.
Invest in Training and Development
Part of having a remote team involves using multiple technologies and software. In order for your remote team to be successful, you’ll want to make sure they go through training on the systems and platforms they’ll be utilizing. This type of training would generally take place during onboarding, but if new software is being implemented, your remote team will need training as well.
In addition to systems training, your remote team members should also have access to the same training and development as other employees to improve upon their skills. Remote employees are up for the same promotions as onsite employees, typically, and also have career goals they’re looking to attain. For example, if you have an employee with a goal of moving into a management role in the marketing department, offering them training to bolster their digital marketing skills would help them get into a position where they could move up on the team.
Leverage Collaboration Tools
With the majority—or all—of your marketing team being remote, collaboration tools are essential. Your remote team doesn’t have the ability to work together in a physical conference room, so you’ll need to foster collaboration in other ways. Most of the time you’ll have multiple team members working together on one specific project, and they’ll each need to know what their role in the project is and what they need to accomplish. Collaboration tools like a project management platform, or communication tools like chat platforms, will allow your remote team to track progress, assign tasks, and collaborate with others in the department or company when working on the project.
Foster Effective Communication
As briefly mentioned, there are different communication tools your remote teams can utilize. Without everyone working in the same office, there isn’t the ability to walk into a colleague’s office or ask questions in person. Using effective communication tools like Slack, Teams, or other chat software, will allow your team to communicate instantly with each other as they would in an office. Utilizing video platforms like Zoom or Google allows you to hold meetings with multiple team members virtually, where everyone can still see each other and communicate in an environment similar to that of a conference room.
Measure Your Team’s Performance
Having a remote marketing team doesn’t mean you aren’t able to track the team and individual’s progress. You’ll still need to set goals for the team and track progress through a project management software to stay on track. KPIs should also be set for individual team members so they know what goals they need to work towards and check-in with them, so they understand their progress.
Build a Cohesive Culture
With remote teams, it’s harder to promote company culture. However, building a cohesive culture with your remote marketing team is essential to the team’s success. To foster company culture within your remote teams, you can implement team building activities. Organizing virtual team building events will demonstrate camaraderie and a sense of belonging among team members. Encouraging open communication will ensure your team feels comfortable voicing their opinions, any concerns, and providing feedback.
Elevate Your Remote Marketing Team
Utilizing remote teams is beneficial for retention, recruiting, and competitive advantage. If you’re considering implementing a more flexible work environment with your marketing team, Solvo Global can help. Our remote staffing solutions include marketing support, so you can start to build your remote marketing team with us. From digital marketing to SEO, with our remote staffing services you’ll work with the right professionals to fuel your growth and reach your goals. Contact us to get started.
References
Luhhu- 7 Tips to Manage a Remote Marketing Team
Tech Magnate- Why, When and How to Build a Remote Marketing Team
TNS- 10 Strategies for Creating a Successful Remote Marketing Team
