The world is getting smaller. Faraway places and faraway people seem closer than ever before. In essence, though, the world hasn’t changed that much, but the way we work and communicate has. The world is better connected than ever before and this has reshaped the way we work and how often you see businesses attempting to build remote teams.
One example of how this has happened is reflected by the popularity of remote work. If you work in a PPC agency, this may sound familiar. But should you build remote teams for your PPC agency — and if yes, how to do it? Let’s have a look at the advantages and disadvantages of this option, as well as how you can start your journey.
5 Reasons You Should Consider a Remote Team for Your PPC Agency
As the internet has brought us closer together, many companies and employees have embraced remote work. Now that the current pandemic has proven that working remotely is possible and can even be highly efficient, we can expect this trend to grow, as it offers many benefits for both companies and employees.
Building a remote team is an excellent choice especially for businesses that conduct their activity online, like digital marketing agencies or PPC agencies. Here are 6 reasons why you should consider hiring remote teams for your PPC agency:
1. Work with the best: hiring remote workers gives you a big pool of candidates to choose from. You can reach top talent, even if they live miles and miles away – this simply isn’t possible in a “traditional” work environment.
2. Reduce costs: Needless to say, the costs of managing a remote team are considerably lower than running an entire “physical” workspace, with all the costs of renting space, purchasing equipment, paying utilities, etc.
3. Efficiency: While some managers might still be skeptical about employee productivity in a remote context, success stories (such as our own) have shown that productivity isn’t necessarily affected by working from home. On the contrary, a results-driven environment, where people are accountable for their results and not for the time spent at their desks, can increase motivation and productivity.
4. Work-life balance: Working remotely can be very rewarding for employees who no longer have to spend time commuting or who can now pick their kids from kindergarten during their lunch break. If employees are given the chance to manage their free time as they choose, they will be able to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Happy team, happy company.
5. Diversity: When building a remote team for your PPC agency, the flexibility of this work model will allow you to bring together team members with different professional and cultural backgrounds. This is particularly useful if your agency wants to work with different languages, in different countries/ markets or simply to work with people from different cultural backgrounds.
Why Shouldn’t You Hire a Remote Team for Your PPC Agency?
Not convinced a remote team is the best choice for your agency? Well, while the advantages are many, there are some disadvantages too. Working with remote teams does come with a few challenges. You shouldn’t build a remote team for your PPC agency if you are not ready to invest some time, resources, and patience in helping the team efficiently manage its tasks.
When building a remote team, you will need to:
- Invest in new tools and technology: you are going to need the right technology to help your team communicate and work efficiently.
- Spend a lot of time organizing the team: good organization, time and task management are crucial for the success of remote teams in a PPC agency.
- Invest in communication: good team management and efficient communication are vital for remote work.
You Want to Build a Remote Team for Your PPC Agency. Now What?
As a PPC agency, your work is entirely digital. Then why shouldn’t your team be that way too? Your team does not need anything more than their skills, a decent laptop, and a solid internet connection to get their work done.
Where do you start? Hiring a remote team for a PPC agency is not that different from the “traditional” hiring process. The best place for your hiring ads is, of course, where your potential candidates are.
You can find them on social media (through LinkedIn, Facebook ads, and group posts), but also on job portals dedicated to remote work and digital nomads (e.g. Remote.co, Freelance.com, Flexjobs.com). The hiring process will be the same as for a “normal” job, but instead of using the phone and in-face meetings, you will be using email and a conferencing platform like Zoom or Google Meet.
Once you build your team, you will have to support them to do their work efficiently and transparently. In addition to their Google Ads accounts (and other agency tools), here are some tools that will help your team:
- An instant messaging tool, like Slack or Skype, for the entire team to use for short instant communication.
- A video conferencing tool, like Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, or Zoom.
- A task-management tool, so that work processes are clear and transparent; Trello and Asana are among the most popular choices.
- A tool for sharing documents and complex information, such as Google Drive or Atlassian.
5 Tips on How to Keep Your Remote PPC Team Engaged
Building and engaging a good team is a challenge, no matter if you decide to do it remotely or not. We have recently talked about growing a remote team in our webinar with Aaron Metzger, founder of the marketing agency Genius.
You can listen to Aaron’s story, and how he went from a one-person agency (working in his bathrobe) to a full-stack marketing agency, here.
One of the key ingredients in keeping a remote team efficient is making sure employees are engaged and motivated. This is a bit more challenging when you are running a remote team for your PPC agency. But it is not impossible. It is however crucial to build a company culture. Remote teams need that culture just as much as any other team. Communication, transparency, and keeping teammates aligned are key in building a strong company culture. Here are some actions you can take to achieve that:
1. Organize regular meetings between team members.
How much should I bid for this keyword? Is this really the right audience for this customer? These may be questions that your team members ask themselves. But don’t let them keep these questions for themselves. Organize regular team updates, where your team can share progress and updates, but also ask each other for help. Encourage brainstorming and exchanging ideas. In a regular office, these talks may happen at a desk or by the water cooler, but when managing a team remotely, you will have to create this virtual context.
2. Organize virtual social events.
As much as employees will feel the need to discuss their tasks, they will also need to feel part of a team and appreciated. Encourage team interaction by organizing team events like game nights or cooking sessions.
What hobbies do the people in your team have? If several of your team members enjoy reading, you can encourage them to start a virtual book club. If they listen to music, you can create a channel where they can share their latest musical finds. Find out more about your teammates and support their hobbies.
3. Encourage face-to-face meetings when possible.
Sometimes meeting face-to-face isn’t possible, especially when the distances between team members are big and traveling is an issue. However, if possible, try to encourage “real-life” interaction as well. You may organize yearly team buildings or simply encourage team members who live in the same area to get together for a cup of coffee.
4. Check-in regularly.
Even if your campaigns are running smoothly and your team is not complaining, don’t forget to check in regularly. Ask for feedback, success stories, and complaints. Your team will appreciate the help and the feedback.
5. Share team results, successes, and failures.
Has Sharon’s campaign gotten more conversions this month? Is a client particularly happy with Pete’s work? Transparency is important and your team members’ success stories can help strengthen the team. Of course, you should also share the bad experiences – though not necessarily as a way of scolding a teammate, but with the purpose of helping the team to learn and grow together.
Unlike a “brick and mortar” store, a PPC agency is a digital business that relies on technology to carry out its work. Hiring a remote team for your PPC agency is not at all unusual in this context. On the contrary, it perfectly fits this industry. Are you ready to start your remote journey?
