Marketing is one of the most important areas in a business. It functions to find a market of potential end users or patrons for your products and services. It helps you find an audience, build a network and generate a steady stream of inbound traffic to your website. But not many businesses are willing to set up an in-house team because returns may not justify the investment. If you are hesitant to risk capital on a process that is difficult to quantify, your best option is to outsource marketing to a remote team.
Why Outsource?
Outsourcing is the process of transferring a set of services or responsibilities to a contracted third party. For the last 15 years, the global outsourcing industry has been steadily growing. More businesses are adapting the process in order to reap its multitude of benefits which include:
- Reduce Business Costs – Outsourcing streamlines costs by capitalizing on comparative cost advantages and economies of scale. The foremost cost advantage of outsourcing is reduced labor cost.
It is more affordable to contract third party services because you do not pay benefits and incur additional business expenses such as power, rent and utilities. These expenses are all the responsibility of the third party service provider.
- Improve Productivity – By transferring services to a third party, you can focus more time on the core business of your enterprise.
For example, if you outsource administrative work to a Virtual Assistant, you no longer have to filter your e-mail, manage phone calls or your weekly calendar. The VA can do all of these tasks and more for you.
For large scale outsourcing projects, the business can utilize the cost savings to fund revenue generating programs or invest to improve infrastructure.
- Improve Quality of Work – Outsourcing also gives you the opportunity to find global talent. You are contracting people with experience and the expertise to get the job done right.
These are people with the competence and skill level to assure you of quality of work. They have invested time and money to become more proficient in their specialized field.
Many have worked from the brick – and – mortar world. They know what it’s like to work in an office environment and meet deadlines.
- Introduce Flexibility Strategies – Outsourcing not only gives you financial flexibility in terms of improving your level of cost savings but it gives you flexibility from the operational standpoint.
You can be creative in scheduling shifts and maximize opportunities for your business. A good example would be contracting a remote team from the Philippines to oversee after- office customer service.
- Reduce Business Risk – It is also less risky to contract third party services because if the arrangement does not produce results, you can easily terminate the contract. There is no need for adjudication, employee hearings and no obligation to pay separation benefits.
You can contract third party services according to scale. And if the anticipated increase in work volume does not materialize or cannot be sustained, simply scale back.
Outsourcing Marketing to a Remote Team
With all of its advantages, you should be less averse to outsourcing marketing to a remote team.
But what is a remote team?
A remote team is a collective of individuals with varying skills organized to manage outsourced services.
In the case of marketing, a remote team should include the following talent:
- Digital Marketer
- Web Designer / Developer
- SEO Professional
- Content Writer
- Social Media Marketer
- Graphic Designer
As with all teams, you need a leader or a Project Manager. For marketing, the designated Project Manager is usually the Digital Manager. This is because the Digital Manager has a firm understanding on all the areas of responsibility and is tasked to design and execute the campaign strategy.
You can recruit the talent from a variety of sources:
- Online Job Platforms – You can find talented freelancers with these skills in online job platforms such as Upwork, Guru, People per Hour and Freelancer.
- Agencies – There are agencies that provide these skills through their roster of outsourced work such as virtual assistants and telecommuters.
- Social Media – You can connect with talented individuals by using a social network like LinkedIn. You can join focus groups and ask for recommendations from community members.
- Referrals – You can ask or inquire from those in your network who have outsourced marketing to a remote team.
Always remember to qualify the members of your remote team. It’s not just the level of skill that you should look out for. A more important quality is the individual’s ability to work with others and with you. Conduct due diligence by doing the following:
- Always ask for referrals and case studies
- Do a quick Google search
- Check their online profiles and social media accounts
- Reach out to regulating agencies, if any
5 Tips on Managing Your Remote Marketing Team
Now that you’ve assembled your remote marketing team, the focus should shift toward managing it. Even with the Project Manager, as the client, you have to remain involved with the daily activities of the team.
But at the same time, you should allow them to work on their own. Micro- managing may hinder the cohesiveness and development of the team. Worst, it could create a culture of mistrust.
Here are 5 tips on managing your remote marketing team:
- Discuss the Details of the Campaign with the Team – While the Digital Marketer is the acknowledged Project Manager of the remote marketing team, you should preside over the first official meeting to discuss the campaign brief.
The purpose is two- fold:
- To establish your presence as the Client
- To articulate the goals, objectives and expectations of the campaign from the Point- of- View of the Client
The Project Manager can takeover and discuss the intricate details of the courses of action, methodologies, roles and responsibilities, calendar of activities and development time-table with the rest of the team.
Encourage each team member to take an active role in all meetings and freely express their opinions while maintaining respect for everyone else.
- Create a System for the Team to Follow – A system is a network of frameworks and processes which becomes the guidelines for the team to follow.
It is important to create workflows that help organize operations. These are among the important workflows in marketing:
- Time-Keeping – Procedures for logging in and out of work; absences and incidents of tardiness.
- Submission of Work – Includes deadlines, uploading and retrieval of files, drafts and approved versions.
- Report Generation – Templates for use in all required reports.
- Set Weekly Meetings – Weekly meetings are effective for establishing stronger relationships, building trust and reducing the risk of making costly mistakes.
Weekly meetings are short but productive sessions that cover the following topics:
- Weekly calendar of activities
- Targets and other benchmarks
- Unresolved issues and concerns
- Discussion of latest developments
- Other pertinent matters
It would be more effective if you could book-end the meetings every start and end of the work week. These meetings should not take more than one hour at the most.
Let the Project Manager preside but as the client, you should actively participate.
- Provide all the Required Tools – After you have designed the workflows and other components of the system, provide the team all the tools it needs to carry out their responsibilities without issue. These include:
- Project Management Software
- Communication Tools
- File Sharing Software
- Individual and Team webmail
- Team Social Media accounts
- Other collaborative software as required
- Conduct Monthly and Quarterly Performance Reviews – The purpose of the Performance Reviews is to assess the direction and progress of the campaign.
Using available analytics, the team will have an idea of its weaknesses and strengths, flaws in the current campaign and progress within the development schedule.
Performance Reviews are a great way for the remote marketing team to collaborate and work together to find potential solutions to current problems.
It is not difficult to manage a remote marketing team. You just need to improve channels of communication and make sure everyone is moving at the pace required to meet targets.
As the Client, you should make it a point to keep your schedule open to every member of the remote marketing team. Even if you tell the team you will find the time to be available for them, take it one step further.
Spend at least 1 hour each week with a team member. Get to know them better and develop a keen understanding of how to maximize their performance. Marketing is a process which requires inspiration to trigger creativity.
As the client, try to keep their minds open and free of distractions so they can focus on the tasks at hand.