The COVID-19 pandemic brought on a lot of change in the business world, and digital marketing agencies across the globe have felt the impact of this pandemic. Although many digital marketing agencies have elements of remote working, there may still be key employees who work from a shared location. If you’re in the online marketing industry, or you manage a digital marketing agency, here are seven tips for managing your digital marketing team remotely.
7 tips for managing your digital marketing team remotely
1. Bring structure into the work environment by setting out the company values and expectations
Even remote office environments need some structure to ensure that processes keep running and that the work gets done. Providing clear guidelines to the team will help to bring everyone together to function as a cohesive unit.
2. Create protocols
There should be clear guidelines on company culture, which may include managing and completing tasks, team communication and working with clients. These protocols need to help employees to implement the vision and the mission of the team practically and should help to strengthen the company culture.
3. Implement core working hours (adapted to suit employees in all time zones).
During these core working hours, teams can meet up (virtually), provide client feedback and handle tasks that require collaboration. By setting core working hours, you will avoid frustrations of people being offline when meetings need to take place and will allow your team members to plan their schedules around work.
4. Set Daily, weekly, or monthly targets
Measure these targets in work hours tracked, tasks completed, or outcomes reached. By providing specific objectives, team managers can keep track of what still needs to happen and can take corrective steps to keep projects on track.
The team targets should ideally include development targets for each team member to ensure that the team keeps growing and that each member has the opportunity to realise their full potential within the organisation.
5. Create clear reporting channels
All employees must understand manager expectations, who they report to, and who they need to communicate with when they experience issues. Just as in a regular office, it is crucial to set up a clear reporting channel to ensure that employees know who will be providing them with briefs, who to ask for help, and where to send their invoices or salary queries. Clear reporting channels empower team members to solve issues without needing constant intervention from managers.
6. Use technology and tools
Without collaboration and communication, remote teams can’t function, and it is essential to choose the correct tools to help your remote teams with their work. Tools that remote teams may need include communication tools (like Zoom, Skype and email), collaboration tools (like Google Sheets and Docs) and productivity tools (such as Slack and Trello).
To ensure success when managing remote teams, all team members need to use the same tools correctly as set out in the team protocols and guidelines.
7. Communicate frequently and intentionally
Employees should stay in touch and report on their progress throughout the working day, but communication needs to go further than mere check-ins. Managers need to be strategic in communicating with team members to foster a group environment, providing all team members with the opportunity to ask for help or offer their insights.
Select your team’s communication carefully to suit the aim of the interaction. For regular communication, text-based communications that are not disruptive work well to keep al team members informed without interfering with their work. Video calls are suitable for catch up sessions between members in the team and formal communication channels (such as email) work best for client interactions.
Digital marketing agencies are complex, and with many franchise opportunities to become involved in online marketing, it is increasingly important to be able to manage your teams remotely. For more information on digital marketing agencies or buying a franchise, contact Unibit Solutions.