One of the greatest developments in recent years has been the dramatic shift in how people work. The pandemic made work-from-home the norm for most companies; changing their perception towards a need for a traditional work-from-office culture, to becoming performance/outcome driven. 

In today’s world, virtual marketing has become the popular choice for many reasons. The biggest advantage to companies is their ability to hire global talent, fast; a tech company in Berlin can now seamlessly hire top talent from Pakistan. Distilled, for example, has helped HelloFresh set-up their entire Paid Social and Google Ads team with top-vetted off-shored resources that are fully integrated in the HelloFresh marketing team, much like other in-house team members. 

In addition to getting access to a broader pool of marketing talent, you get it at a fraction of the cost of what you might pay if you were hiring locally. With Distilled’s offshored talent, HelloFresh is saving +70% on hiring costs and spending 50% less time on hiring.

In-house employees come with high salaries, benefits, office space requirements, and ongoing training. Virtual teams cost much less, not just in terms of lesser remuneration packages but also they don’t require office space, equipment or any sort of onboarding programs. For a company that wants to scale fast, hiring a virtual team always delivers better results at a lower cost.

Now that you’re convinced that hiring an off-shored marketing team is your best bet to scale. We can guide you on how to build a team that delivers the best results. Here’s what you should do:   

1. Skills and experience

When hiring an offshored marketing team or resource, have clear objectives in mind, along with milestones and expectations from them. Based on that, evaluate whether they have the specialization in the required domain - tool knowledge, channel knowledge etc. Check if they have had prior experience that’s relevant to the role you’ve carved out for them.

2. Clear communication

Strong written and verbal communication may be important for all hirings but it should be non-negotiable for virtual hirings as that can help fill the absence of physical presence. Offshored resources should be familiar with tools like Slack, Zoom, Asana, etc and have the ability to proactively give and receive feedback.

3. Time zone compatibility

There can be variations in full work day time schedules but for this to work, there will have to be overlapping working hours. There should be clear alignment on availability and expected response time; as well as proactiveness in regular check-ins and performance reviews from the virtual employee. 

4. Cost and contract transparency

Saving cost is a major factor when hiring remotely. So from the get-go make sure you get complete visibility on the monthly retainer and that there are no hidden surprises. The contract should also outline all the relevant details including working hours, scope, and deliverables. It should also mention the exit terms. Working with offshored employees gives companies a lot more flexibility on how quickly they can start or stop working with someone - being aligned on the exit or replacement terms should be signed off on by both parties.

Finding the right virtual marketing team that delivers can be overwhelming; that’s where Distilled comes in. It helps businesses grow with the right people, strategies, and brand goals. Distilled connects companies with the top 1% marketers who are pre-vetted and ready to plug-in, in ~ 2 weeks at a fixed monthly fee of USD 3,000. 

Distilled’s hand-picked talent for every brand checks-off various boxes before the bench is shared with the relevant stakeholders to select their top candidate. The Distilled Experts chosen for you will always: (1) align with your company values and tone (2) sync with the time-zone you operate in (3) have relevant exposure and experience. Distilled isn’t just committed to providing great talent, it creates virtual teams that smoothly integrate within your system, making communication seamless and your business scale.