Could you imagine our world without remote work? Of course, it greatly depends on the industry we are talking about. Still, the work-from-home culture is now integral to our lives. In fact, up to 73% of people don’t go to the office (at least part of the time). Women made up more than half of all the remote workers during the pandemic, and this trend goes on. Coincidence? Not quite.
Often, females tend to take care of their loved ones and manage household responsibilities. So, working from home is a great way to combine both professional and personal worlds. Even though more and more women work remotely, thanks to the flexibility it gives them, it might be challenging to combine all the roles while staying productive. How do you deal with that? This is what we’ll discover today. Now, let’s take a closer look at the real impact of remote work on women in the marketing industry.
Common Challenges Faced by a Woman Working From Home
Women who work from home are more likely to report burnout compared to their male counterparts. This should not come as a shock to anyone, considering the many hurdles that females who work remotely can encounter. These can range from juggling childcare and making dinner to planning a family vacation and getting a gift for friends. Finding that essential uninterrupted time to really get into their workspace and then knowing when to unplug from work might become a real challenge. Besides, we can’t forget about setting aside some time for socializing, self-care, and personal development.
It often gets complicated when the lines between the professional and personal lives get blurry. This can start as answering a message during non-working hours and quickly grow to doing tasks on Friday evenings or weekends when all the friends and family are enjoying their time off. This is something that happens to both men and women working from home. What can you do about it? The best solution in such cases is to get a dedicated workspace and set a fixed schedule that you can’t change unless absolutely necessary.
If this doesn’t work, maybe the amount of your task is just too overwhelming. If so, a great idea for every digital marketer would be to delegate some of the assignments. For example, if you are working on SEO or PR, you can collaborate with a company that helps find women’s blogs that accept guest posts. This way, you won’t need to do the outreach, write the copy, secure posting, and take care of all the other aspects of this link-building technique. The same approach works for many other daily activities. By delegating, you can increase productivity, manage your time better, and get a better overall result than trying to do it all alone.
What Is the Impact on the Marketing Industry When Women Work Remotely?
According to the Census report, 1 in 4 occupation groups have more women working from home, and this is no different in the marketing industry. But what impact does this have?
1. Increased Inclusivity That Impacts Marketing
Women influence about 85% of consumer spending in the United States alone. They add $20 trillion to the marketing industry. This underscores the vital role and contribution that they can bring to the table. Add their natural drive to push boundaries, and you have the best recipe to drive growth.
Also, the digital marketing industry now has a higher number of women working remotely from several countries and across different social backgrounds and abilities. This has brought many more voices, ideas, and inspiration to the scene. As a result, marketing tactics and campaigns often get more inclusive, sensitive, nuanced, and aligned with the interests of the target audience.
2. Effective Social Marketing and SEO Strategies That Drive Sale Rates
We all know that social media is a powerful tool for both engagement and revenue. In fact, a Hubspot Sales Report ranks it the third most effective channel for sales. With women driving the consumer economy and more of them online adding to the number of people on the internet at any time, more companies are shifting their strategies to drive more sales and conversions this way.
Thanks to more people being able to work from home, the marketing industry has seen a jump in the growth and popularity of social media as a marketing tool. Besides, women make up a majority of the social media influencers. They contribute immensely to sales tactics, whether as social media managers, content creators, team leads, or SEO specialists.
3. More Blogs and Marketing Content
According to Zippia, 67% of bloggers are women, and just 33% are men. This pattern has remained pretty consistent even before the pandemic struck. When women work remotely, they tend to also want to share their insights and tips to help other people in similar situations. So, it is not strange to find a lot of content created by females who are sharing their experiences, perspectives, and advice to guide others. And since they dominate the marketing and consumer scene, it’s no surprise that we have more marketing content across a wide range of niches.
4. Increased Creativity and Collaboration
The flexibility of remote work serves as a boost to creativity and offers the perfect opportunities to collaborate with different websites, especially when managing SEO projects. With the right support and a good work-life balance, more women are able to take up more courses that empower them to do better at work. They also get to take more rest or move to a new space that’s more conducive for brainstorming and more creative expressions.
Most aspects of marketing now involve tons of collaboration with other creatives, which can lead to bigger, better projects. This boosts career prospects and improves their chances of promotions. The result is an increase in conversions that emboldens more people to seek marketing services to help grow their business.
Policy: How to Support Women in the Marketing Industry
Despite the increase in the number of people who work remotely, many women find that they are at a disadvantage when it comes to networking, collaborative sessions, and promotions. So, here are some ways companies can revamp their remote work policies to be more supportive.
1. Access to software and crucial tools. Companies should provide subscriptions to software that are essential to the employee to get their work done, like SEO tools, etc.
2. Offer subsidized childcare and paid parental leave. This can be a major concern when choosing remote work for moms and dads in digital marketing. This boosts productivity and motivation.
Encourage workers to take time off. Burnout is a big issue for women in remote work, and paid time off can minimize incidences of burnout.
3. Motivate workers with gifts. Companies that invest time in finding employee appreciation gift ideas and then follow through tend to also have more motivated workers who take pride in their work and better retention.
4. Provide courses that improve workers’ skills. Lots of women working from home are worried about the “zoom ceiling” phenomenon. This describes the limited chance or ceiling for promotion in remote work settings. Most of these are because of the less time spent networking. But providing courses can help your employees build their skills, which will have a positive impact on their work.