In May 2021 as the world was emerging from the pandemic towards normalcy, we saw a voluntary mass exodus of employees across the globe, known as ‘The Great Resignation’ or the ‘Big Quit’. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4 million Americans quit their jobs in July 2021, leaving recruiters scrambling to fill the void. While the workforce was rethinking career priorities, it was equally confident that its skillsets are going to be as relevant as they were a year ago.

Today, people in the marketing and creative domain are choosing to work remotely. With a taste of working from home and the fact that remote work was here to stay for longer than expected, marketers chose to work from anywhere but offices. And why not? With better pays, perks of working from anywhere and ability to get a distraction-free collaborative work environment were beyond what they wanted. Moreover, marketers want to utilize their skills by working with different brands and exciting projects, rather than just one.

Organizations too followed suit. They care about work, whether it’s being done from the office, home, a secluded homestay, or a completely different continent are none of their concerns. And this is known by the fact that the percentage of paid job postings on LinkedIn offering “remote work” skyrocketed 357% beyond last year’s share, according to LinkedIn.

According to Global Workplace Analytics, 72% of employers say remote work has a high impact on employee retention, and 90% of employees feel flexible work arrangements increase employee morale. They love the autonomy remote working brings for them.

Marketers going Remote

Today, companies know that the future of work is remote, therefore they are looking at better talents regardless of the demographics and geographies. Building a remote workforce is equally appealing to employers as it is for marketers as it gives them the flexibility to have a better work-life harmony and remote work satisfaction. Here are some key benefits of engaging with remote marketers:

• Remote talent is productive – With increasing prominence of remote workforce, it is evident that without productivity, no company would want to give impetus to remote talent. Office setups mean lengthy meetings, noisy atmosphere, and a whole lot of distractions like chatty co-workers, coffee machine conversations, long lunch breaks and of course daily commutes. These factors, companies and marketers believe, take away the necessary time to focus which otherwise is possible when they work from home. Online communication tools such as Zoom, Slack have proliferated and help to keep costs down. Documents can be signed online rather than in person: electronic signatures eliminate the need for a traditional wet signature.

• Access to the best talent – You can engage with remote marketers from not just the same city but other parts of your country or even other countries. Not only do they bring their expertise but also experiences from different places which might click for your business. So, you get the benefit of recruiting marketers from a much larger and wider pool of talent.
• Reducing overheads – employing remote marketers means little or no investment in office spaces. Moreover, in this BYOD era, having remote talent would mean you will save a lot of IT costs including giving laptops and other peripherals for every new hire, costly subscriptions, and other resources. 

Working successfully with remote talent

When it comes to remote working, engaging marketers is not difficult. They know their work, they know how to execute it and they also know how best to deliver value. However, it is also important to take certain steps, so they do not feel isolated and are always on track. Here are a few tips which can help a brand connect and work with remote marketers better:

• Set clear goals – Know what your marketing goals are and create a clear road map for the marketers to know where you want to go. Once you have discussed your goals with them, it is easier to define roles and utilize their potential to the fullest. Marketers on the other hand will have a sharp focus on these goals and will put an extra effort to drive them in the direction you desire.
• Communication is key – Besides communicating individual KRAs, equipping the remote workforce with the best communication and collaboration tools will go a long way in ensuring continued success. Collaboration is healthy for a marketing team as it increases transparency and helps the remote workforce organize itself according to their tasks, deliveries, and responsibilities. Tools like Asana and Front help remote talent understand their workflow and how they divide their time across key tasks. Similarly, communication tools like Slack, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams are helpful in daily stand-ups and quick catch-ups to ensure the project is on track. Taking advantage of the latest tech is imperative.
• Set-up Agile Teams – Marketing teams based on Agile methodologies can easily collaborate on high-value initiatives, successfully complete them, and assess their impact, while improving results over time. A typical Agile methodology includes either Scrum or Kanban, but both are equally effective when you know your goals. An agile marketing team is flat and lean, mean and more flexible and allows for the rapid delivery of small subsets of bigger projects.

LinkedIn data shows that in the past 6 months, there has been a 177% spike in the number of remote marketing roles being offered by employers. With the world going online, hastened by the pandemic, businesses are also reaching their customers through various online marketing channels. This is leading to a change in how marketing is being carried out in the digital domain. What used to be a cost center for companies has turned into a value center. While working with remote teams can be overwhelming at first, it is highly rewarding in the long run.

Author Bio: Eileen Chan

Eileen Chan is Commercial Director at Hire Digital, which helps enterprises and high-growth startups build and enhance their digital capabilities with a world-class network of digital marketers, developers, and designers. Clients including Expedia, Shopify and Philips have access to high performing talents on demand.