We are a fully remote team and as you can imagine, there’s a lot to be discussed daily both internally and externally. In this blog, we will explore how we work fully remotely and the main tools we use!

How we communicate internally as a team:

In order to keep everything on track, we stay in constant communication. Clear communication is a key element to keep things running smoothly. In order to stay connected, we use Slack as our main method of communication. On Slack, we have different channels for every single topic of conversation. This allows us to keep things organized as opposed to using channels for a variety of topics. Additionally, we have Slack channels for each of our clients to keep things organized on both ends.

We also use Google Meet/Hangouts to communicate internally. Our meetings are all done via Google Meet with the camera on (very important). It’s a great way to connect and it’s a vital part of our workweek. Google Calendar allows us to schedule meetings which helps to keep our daily schedules structured and forecastable.

How we plan internally:

The most important thing to plan efficiently is having a project management tool. We use Asana extensively to coordinate and centralize the current/upcoming projects for our clients. Asana allows us to plan ahead, especially on the email and SMS side, where there is a high volume of deliverables being made on a weekly/monthly basis for each client. There are a lot of edits being processed that need to be planned in advance in order to launch campaigns in a timely manner. Asana is a crucial part of the planning process at Aplo Group to ensure we perform for our clients.

How we collaborate:

As mentioned before, Slack is our main method of communication. A lot of our collaboration happens on our Slack channels. An additional tool we use is Litmus. We use Litmus to test deliverability and keep track of edits on creatives. We have a Litmus link for each email that we send over to our clients. Clients can add comments on specific edits they would like to make and our team will make the required changes. Litmus is an efficient tool that tracks edits and allows us to collaborate in an organized manner. An overlooked benefit of a system like this is having a written record of the rounds of edits (and edits within them) that are processed.

A proper meeting structure is essential for productivity and collaboration as well. Using Google Meet each department has recurring meetings as a whole as well as one on one for the respective clients that are being worked on together. Monthly department meetings are a great opportunity to be collaborative as a team and run through top-performing creatives/campaigns and discuss ways to collectively improve based on doing some analysis of what’s performed well.

Monthly Email/SMS Team Meeting - September 2021

To conclude, working remotely requires a lot of communication and organization. These tools allow us to collaborate efficiently as a team and provide the best service possible to our clients!

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