A month into widespread remote work, marketing teams have moved past the initial scramble of setting up home offices and figuring out video conferencing. Now comes the harder work of establishing sustainable practices for an indefinite period of distributed work.

Having spoken with marketing leaders across multiple industries, here are the patterns emerging around what works and what does not.

Communication Requires Intentional Design

In an office, much communication happens organically through hallway conversations, quick desk visits, and overheard discussions. Remote work eliminates these informal channels, creating gaps that must be deliberately filled.

Establish clear communication norms. Define which channels to use for different types of communication. For example:

  • Slack or Teams for quick questions and informal discussion
  • Email for formal communications and external correspondence
  • Video calls for complex discussions and collaboration
  • Project management tools for task-related updates

Default to over-communication. What felt like obvious information in an office setting is no longer obvious when people cannot see each other. Share context, explain decisions, and keep people informed about what you are working on.

Create space for informal connection. Virtual coffee chats, team social hours, and non-work conversation channels help maintain the human connections that make teams function well.

Meetings Need Restructuring

The first instinct for many teams was to replicate their office meeting schedule via video calls. This often leads to video fatigue and frustration.

Audit your meeting load. Question whether each meeting is necessary and whether it needs to be synchronous. Many meetings can be replaced with asynchronous updates.

Keep video meetings focused and short. Virtual meetings require more concentration than in-person ones. Tighter agendas and shorter durations help maintain engagement.

Be thoughtful about cameras. While seeing faces helps connection, mandatory cameras all day every day can feel invasive and exhausting. Find a balance that works for your team.

Document outcomes. With no casual follow-up opportunities, meeting notes and action items become more important. Ensure decisions and next steps are captured and shared.

Project Management Becomes Critical

Without the ability to tap someone on the shoulder to check on status, project visibility requires more structure:

Use project management tools consistently. Whether it is Asana, Monday, Trello, or another platform, the team needs a shared view of who is doing what and where things stand.

Establish check-in rhythms. Regular status updates, whether daily standups or weekly reviews, keep everyone aligned and surface blockers before they become problems.

Define clear ownership. Ambiguity about who is responsible for what creates more problems in remote settings. Ensure every task and project has a clear owner.

Support Individual Productivity

Team members are adapting to remote work under very different circumstances. Some have dedicated home offices; others are working from kitchen tables. Some live alone; others are sharing space with partners, children, or roommates.

Focus on outcomes, not hours. Trust people to manage their own time and evaluate performance based on results rather than activity.

Acknowledge different situations. A team member homeschooling children while working has different constraints than one living alone. Flexibility and understanding are essential.

Provide resources and support. If budget allows, help team members improve their home setups. Ergonomic equipment, better lighting, or noise-canceling headphones can significantly improve both comfort and productivity.

Maintain Creative Collaboration

Creative work often benefits from spontaneous collaboration, which is harder to replicate remotely. Teams are finding workarounds:

Virtual whiteboarding. Tools like Miro, Mural, or even shared documents can facilitate collaborative ideation sessions.

Asynchronous brainstorming. Not all creative collaboration needs to happen in real time. Shared documents where people contribute ideas over a day or two can sometimes generate better results than a scheduled brainstorm.

Show work in progress. Sharing drafts and works-in-progress more frequently invites feedback earlier and maintains collaborative momentum.

Onboarding and Training Challenges

Teams that need to onboard new members or train existing ones face particular challenges:

Document tribal knowledge. Information that was passed along informally now needs to be captured somewhere accessible.

Pair new team members with buddies. A designated person to answer questions and provide context helps new hires feel less isolated.

Schedule more frequent check-ins. New team members need more touchpoints to build relationships and get up to speed.

Watch for Warning Signs

Remote work can mask problems that would be visible in an office. Watch for:

  • Team members who are unusually quiet or disengaged
  • Declining quality or missed deadlines
  • Signs of burnout or overwhelm
  • Isolation, particularly for those living alone

Regular one-on-ones and genuine check-ins help surface issues before they become serious.

Looking Ahead

Many of the adaptations teams are making now will have lasting value. The practices that support effective remote work also support better collaboration when teams are co-located. Documentation, clear communication, and intentional relationship-building benefit any team.

The current situation is forcing rapid learning that will make marketing teams more resilient and adaptable regardless of what the future holds.