Well, it has been some time since I wrote a new blog about anything, not only marketing. Like everyone else, I was also trapped in the house for 2 years, riding out the pandemic wave and working from home, awaiting better days.

I had mixed feelings when we first got in the lockdown; I even remember the date I last saw everyone in the office, 16 March 2020. On one hand, I was sad that I would not be able to see my colleagues for the next months; I was scared that I could catch the virus and pass it onto my husband and his family, as my family was on the other side of Europe. I was a bit upset about the whole situation but at the same time I was happy I could work from home and I didn’t have to commute long hours daily to and from the office.

I am a person that adapts well to change and, to be honest, I crave change. Change towards better practices, doing things faster when it can increase my productivity, change towards spending more time doing what I love outside working and spending more time with my loved ones. And I saw this “working from home” situation as an opportunity to take a step back and appreciate myself and the work that I do.

Now, the million dollar question is: does working remotely work when you are in a marketing discipline?

In order to answer this, I believe we should have a look at marketing as a discipline. Non-marketers believe that marketing is all about the “fluff”, the logos and the colours, as I mentioned in a previous blog. Whether it’s a bit of account based marketing, public relations, digital marketing, search engine optimisation and even UX and web design, marketers work across many different channels and skill areas. Marketing might not be “rocket science”, like non-marketers claim sometimes, but it is definitely become a mix of art and science where you have to be skilled enough in both qualitative and quantitative approaches to be able to draw different stakeholders in and prove your worth outside of “making pretty presentations”. As we navigate the post-pandemic landscape, it’s essential to evaluate the effectiveness of remote work for marketers and understand the benefits and challenges it presents.

So, what are the benefits of working remotely as a marketer?

I tried to compile a small list from the top of my head, based on how remote work benefits me and the feedback I hear from my other marketing colleagues daily.

• Flexibility and Work-Life Balance: Remote work allows marketers to create a more flexible schedule, leading to improved work-life balance and increased productivity. As I mentioned before, marketing is not a 9-5 job anymore and we all find that, if we are in an office environment we kinda want to distract ourselves by chatting to our colleagues about anything BUT work, we get into the office gossip whether we like it or not, and we tend to take longer lunches and coffee breaks because why not? We will have to commute for hours after, might as well waste our time in the office just as we are pushed to waste our private time outside the office. Also working remotely enables us all to seamlessly integrate personal responsibilities and work obligations, leading to greater life satisfaction, that improves happiness, that improves mood, that improves working relationships, that improve productivity. You get it now, don’t you?
• Enhanced Focus, Productivity, and Autonomy: Mentioning productivity above, remote work provides marketers with a quieter and more controlled environment, allowing for increased focus and productivity. It also enables increased autonomy, allowing you to take ownership of your tasks and work independently, fostering that sense of trust and responsibility. I personally find that I take shorter lunches and work longer hours because I know exactly what I need to do and there are no distractions as mentioned above. Unless petting the cat for 5 mins when she is on your keyboard counts as a distraction..! My Jira logs show that my work accounts for around 43 hours per week, even though I am contracted for 37.5 hours weekly instead. I don’t get paid overtime but the work that I do is a lot and meaningful and I enjoy it. When I was working in legal tech, everyone said that I am a people’s helper. And by focusing on my work and being productive I feel like I am producing work that helps people I work with in their role. I would expect for the favour to be returned, but you know what they say: “fair is not equal”. Colleagues can (and will) disappoint you every step of the way, not everyone is acting like an adult.
• Elimination of Commute: This is by far my personal favourite benefit of remote working. By eliminating commuting time, remote work grants me extra hours for deep work or personal activities, and I don’t get road rage anymore that affects my mood for the whole day!

Sure, there are some really good benefits there for working remotely that apply to all, not just to marketing. However, there are some challenges you can face when you work remotely:

• Collaboration and Creativity: Remote work may pose challenges for marketers who rely on collaborative brainstorming sessions or face-to-face interactions for inspiration and ideation.
• Limited Access to Resources: Marketers working remotely may face limitations in accessing specialized equipment, software, or marketing materials that are typically available in office settings.
• Potential Career Advancement Concerns: Remote marketers may face perception challenges when it comes to career advancement opportunities or visibility within the organization.

In my opinion, all of the above can be eliminated or minimised, it is just up to the individual to turn those into benefits. Based on my experience, when I want to have collaborative brainstorming sessions I just jump on Microsoft Teams with my other colleagues and we use software like Miro, Lucidart, and Trello to put crazy numbers of post-its everywhere. We also arrange to meet up once every 3 months in different places across the country to align the strategies and tactics for the next quarter and have fun. We also have weekly meetings to chat through the work we have and it feels like we are always together, even though we are far away. For resources, technology has moved forward – we just put a business case forward if we need any specific type of software and IT makes things happen. The only thing we do not have access to easily is printed collateral, but then again unless we go to an event we use the digital versions of everything.

When it comes to potential career advancement concerns when working remotely, I personally believe that only “dinosaur” companies think that a remote worker should be overlooked for a promotion or networking. Yes, visibility within the organisation is always minimal as people tend to stick to their comfortable groups of co-workers, and with businesses having offices remotely in many cities I can argue that visibility is a restraint whether you are in the office or at home. I personally like chatting to lots of people, as most people who work with me or know me are aware, so I have no issues taking advantage of Slack’s Donut service, where I meet people from all over the business for a 30-min coffee break every week. I find it refreshing and I get to speak to lots of people, even consultants that are never in the office in the first place!

The main disadvantage I find from working from home is that sometimes bosses have no boundaries and the work-life balance lines can be blurred. My manager is American and he is 5 hours behind, which means that sometimes he calls me at 5pm my time for a chat that takes 2 hours and I finish work at 7pm instead. I do not want to hang up because he is my manager but also I enjoy our catch ups, so I guess that I have to instil better boundaries in my working schedule for everyone. The last thing you want to do as a marketer is to not have time for yourself to unwind and charge those batteries for your next day!

But businesses suffer from remote working, don’t they?

If you are a believer that having remote workers will make your business suffer, then you are one of those “dinosaurs” I mentioned before. Let’s hope you don’t get extinct, too!

There are some benefits of having people working remotely for you, I write down the top 3 that spring to mind:

• Cost Savings: Companies can reduce office space expenses, utility costs, and other overhead expenses associated with maintaining a physical workspace. All of that money can go into their bottom line and support the overall yearly revenue, especially when sales are projected to miss their sales target.
• Increased Talent Pool: Hiring remote workers allows businesses to access top talent regardless of geographical constraints, resulting in a more diverse and skilled workforce. The team that I am in is of highly skilled marketers from all over the world – Brazil, Italy, Serbia, Hungary, Greece, Philippines, and UK. We are the most multicultural team in the company and we are the top performing one, too. Everyone is an expert in what they do and we all complement each other’s skills and we learn many things from each other, applying them daily to what we do and becoming even more powerful as a team.
• Higher Employee Satisfaction and Retention: Remote work options are highly valued by employees, contributing to increased job satisfaction, higher retention rates, and lower recruitment costs. And where do these cost savings go? Yes, you figured out out – bottom line!

So, what is the conclusion for working remotely? Yay or nay?

Based on the above, “it is a YES from me” like they say on TV reality competition shows. Remote working as a marketer offers numerous advantages, such as flexibility, increased autonomy, and time saving. It can present challenges like isolation and potential communication issues but these are solvable easily. One of the solutions can be hybrid working, which I am not against – unless it is more than 2 days a week, then it is a no-no. Businesses can also benefit from remote workers through cost savings, access to diverse talent, and higher employee satisfaction.

For marketers, remote work can enhance productivity and work-life integration, but collaboration and resource limitations must be addressed from the start with the company, either in the form of business cases or requirements before signing contracts. On a personal level, remote work can positively impact marketers’ wellbeing and family life, provided they establish healthy boundaries. As we move forward, organizations and marketers must embrace the best aspects of remote work while mitigating its potential drawbacks to create a thriving post-pandemic marketing environment.

Thank you for taking time reading my article. If you have any comments, please feel free to share below. If you want to email me directly, drop me a line.