How to Successfully Manage and Grow a Remote Marketing Team

Originally published: February 09, 2021 12:44:18 PM, updated: December 19, 2022 10:44:48 AM

Managing any marketing team can be quite stressful, let alone managing a remote team of marketers. Remote work became increasingly popular and necessary in the past year due to the global virus outbreak.

Many companies are finally realizing just how valuable and beneficial remote work can be. But let's get back to the matter at hand. Working from home is just awesome. People are less stressed, and they're ultimately more productive.

However, when you're away from an office for too long, you may start to feel disengaged, especially if your team isn't being managed well by the in-office managers. That said, managers tend to have their hands full with in-house teams so they tend to forget about employees who aren't physically present in the office.

This can become quite a serious problem as disengaged remote workers tend to leave the company, which results in high turnover rates. That's why it's of vital importance not to lose sight of your remote workers. With that in mind, here are a few tips on how to successfully manage and grow a remote marketing team.

Create an awesome onboarding process

If you want to ensure that your employees are happy and that they stay at your company for years to come, then onboarding is your best friend. Every new hire needs time to adjust to the new company culture, work environment, and conditions.

It's only natural that you'd help them along. An onboarding process is meant to do just that and more. Of course, remote marketers require a bit more attention than in-house workers, so it's vital to keep that in mind.

Even with all the tools and modern tech that can help remote workers feel as if they are in the office, it's not the same as actually being there in the room with the others. That's why you must create an onboarding plan that will cater to all of the remote employee needs. Here are a few things you should consider:

• Prolong your onboarding process to more than a month – The majority of companies have an onboarding process that lasts only a month. However, 22% of employee turnovers happen within the first 45 days.
• Make them feel welcome – Don't hesitate to be available to your remote teams. Keep an open-door policy and let them know they can turn to you with whatever they may need.
• Make an effort – The more effort you make into ensuring job satisfaction for remote hires, the more they'll appreciate you for it. 69% of new employees are likely to stay with your company for over three years if they are happy with the onboarding process.

Track time and measure results

As mentioned before, remote work makes people productive, but it can also make them disengaged. Managers cannot spot signs of distress if they aren't paying attention. That's why it's essential that you track time and attendance of your remote employees to determine whether or not everything is going well.

Marketing projects have deadlines and timelines, so you want to make sure everyone is keeping up accordingly. Moreover, checking attendance can show you if someone is frequently absent so that you can quickly determine what's wrong. In addition, this can help you ensure that no one is overworked.

Even though your marketing teams are working from home, demanding projects can take their toll, and your employees will eventually need a break. Finally, tracking attendance and time is essential when your team starts to grow, and you have more people to manage than you can manually handle.

Include your remote teams as much as possible

In most cases, remote teams get secondhand information because they're not at the office. This may lead to confusion and mistakes that can easily be avoided. That's why it's essential to include remote marketing teams as much as possible. In other words, don't overdo it.

There's no doubt that you've heard the phrase "This Zoom meeting could've been an email" over and over again. People don't like to be bothered with meetings unless it's something very important. That said, here are a few things you should do:

• Plan important meetings ahead so that everyone can participate
• Communicate via video calls with remote marketers when they need something, or you need to inform them about progress
• Make sure the right tools are available to remote marketers at all times
• Don't overload them with chat and email messages

Trust your remote workers

Not paying attention to your team is bad but paying too much attention is probably worse. The people you've hired who are working remotely need to be trusted. Trust them to do their job and be at their disposal if they need anything.

However, if you closely watch their every move, that's called micromanaging, and its effects can be felt even remotely. No one likes micromanaging, and people tend to get up and leave if you push the matter too far.

Therefore, trust your remote marketer to do their job. Keep an eye out to ensure everything is fine but don't breathe down their necks. When you trust your employees, they tend to trust you back, and that's how you create a mutually beneficial relationship that can last a very long time.

Managing a remote marketing team can seem like a real nightmare from time to time. However, do things the right way, and everything will fall in its place accordingly. Your team will eventually grow, but you have plenty of time to adjust properly and create new strategies that will allow you to manage everyone effectively.