{"id":15953,"date":"2020-09-02T10:17:05","date_gmt":"2020-09-02T10:17:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heerentanna.com\/?p=15953"},"modified":"2022-12-19T15:09:16","modified_gmt":"2022-12-19T09:39:16","slug":"remote-marketing-teams-productivity-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heerentanna.com\/blog\/remote-marketing-teams-productivity-tips.html","title":{"rendered":"5 Tips for Remote Marketing Teams to Maximize Productivity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Remote work is an increasingly popular opportunity for today\u2019s digital employees. As cloud-based solutions emerge, giving people more freedom to work from anywhere, you don\u2019t necessarily need to be in an office to be an effective digital marketer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, while remote employees can be just as productive and efficient as their in-office team members, they do come with some extra challenges to consider for management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Business leaders<\/a> need to figure out how they\u2019re going to successfully nurture their teams in the right direction when they aren\u2019t interacting on an everyday basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some excellent tips for managers and supervisors that want to get the most out of their marketing team\u2019s performance, no matter where they are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Create a Virtual Water Cooler<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Most business leaders know that regular communication is the key to running a successful team. However, it\u2019s important to remember that your employees sometimes need to talk about more than just work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ideally, you\u2019ll want an instant messaging environment or space where your team members can host video and audio conferences, so they don\u2019t need to rely too much on email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Studies suggest that having a water cooler space in an office doesn\u2019t just boost the relationships between your team members; it also increases productivity by up to 15%!<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Give your employees the freedom to connect and chat whenever they need to. This helps fight boredom and can motivate your employees to contribute more meaningful work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your team will reward you with higher levels of satisfaction, greater productivity, and more engagement at work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Promote More Face to Face Interactions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Although having your own space to work from can be an excellent way to reduce distractions, it\u2019s easy to feel lonely when you never interact with other human beings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s essential for business leaders to maintain social interactions with remote employees not only to fend off isolation but to increase productivity as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The occasional telephone call is a nice touch, as is the ability to regularly connect with colleagues through instant messaging environments like Slack or Facebook workplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the most effective way to mimic face-to-face interactions in a digital environment is video conferencing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With written communication, there is always the possibility of a message being interpreted wrongly. We get a lot of information through visual cues and body language. Many of these cues are lost in a stiff business email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When relaying updates about a project or task, some things might slip your mind while you\u2019re writing, or you won\u2019t be able to sufficiently accentuate the importance of some tasks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A quick video call where employees can also instantly get answers and clarification for smaller issues is a great way to prevent such misunderstandings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schedule regular meetings via video conferencing with both your in-office and remote staff members. Focus on making sure that everyone has the tools they need<\/a> to show their video during these meetings so that no-one gets left out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Work on Task Distribution and Assignment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As a remote team manager, it will be your responsibility to provide a clear workday structure. If you don’t provide clear instructions, your team members might meander between tasks and get nothing done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While you can quickly change plans when your team sits next to you, this is not always an option in a remote setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maintain a regularly updated list of priorities your team needs to work on. Your employees will still be able to organize their time as suits them best while ensuring that the most important work gets done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marketing teams usually have a bunch of smaller tasks that need to get done every day, so you can also consider bundling similar tasks together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, if you’re just starting an outreach campaign, you can assign one person to prospect guest posting opportunities<\/a>, another person to come up with new blog post ideas, and a third one to send out emails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That way, no one will meddle in each other’s work. Distributing these smaller tasks between different employees ensures more productivity and focus on the task at hand than having one person shifting between different tasks and multiple tabs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your organization and prioritization skills will be crucial here since you most likely have a broader picture of ongoing projects and goals than individual team members do. Creating an effective task distribution system will make your team work like a well-oiled machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Help Employees to Develop a Routine<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of the greatest benefits of working remotely is that it gives you a chance to arrange your schedule to suit you. Many digital marketing professionals work different hours to their in-office counterparts when they go remote. That\u2019s because they can find the best time of day to complete projects when they feel their most focused and creative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, If you give your employees too much freedom, then they may end up procrastinating instead of focusing on crucial jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To ensure that your employees stay as productive as possible, help them establish a schedule, and stick to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This will largely depend on the unique circumstances of your employees. Some can only work while family members are away for school or work. Some may be working in different time zones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While your team members don\u2019t need to work 9-5, an unreliable schedule can wreak havoc on your team\u2019s productivity. Encourage your employees to set their tentative schedules and share them with other team members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knowing when someone is online and available will increase collaboration among team members and help everyone better organize their schedules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone has their own approach to productivity. Consider the needs of your employees carefully before you try pushing them in one direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Make Boundaries and Expectations Clear<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Finally, it\u2019s essential to ensure that you set expectations from day one with anyone in your team that\u2019s going to be working remotely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although remote digital marketers often have more freedom when it comes to things like choosing their own working days and hours, there are still going to be specific requirements that you need to make clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, you\u2019ll need your team members to know that you expect them to put a certain number of hours into their work every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s also important that everyone on your team knows how to get jobs done according to deadlines to prioritize the right tasks properly. Some of the other things you may need to outline:<\/p>\n\n\n\n