5 Ways to Make Your Remote Marketing Team Meetings Worth The Time

Serving as a marketing leader is more than marketing—it extends right into how you conduct your team meetings. 

Consider this: 

If your team is buried under a pile of back-to-back meetings, it inevitably curtails their time for innovation and productivity. On the other hand, if your meetings lack purpose and efficacy, it results in communication breakdowns, missed deadlines, and a frustrated team on the brink of burnout. 

But hey, it’s not all doom and gloom. 

Your remote team meetings can, and should be, more than routine check-ins.

They are potential treasure troves for creating strategic alignment, sharing information, and building camaraderie. 

And guess what?

With the right finesse, your meetings can transform from an obligatory chore to an event your team genuinely looks forward to. 

Meetings can, indeed, be a source of joy.

What I’m about to share below isn’t perfect. 

But I’ve found the structure below helpful in making my remote marketing team meetings count. 

In this post, I’m going to share:

• 8 ground rules for market team meetings
• The why and what behind the ideal marketing team meeting

Let’s get started. 

8 ground rules for marketing team meetings

Here are the guiding principles I've learned about marketing team meetings.

Some of these insights are drawn from my direct experience leading a team, while others come from being on the receiving end.

There are three objectives for a marketing team meeting:

1. Review your objectives
2. Ensure everyone is on the same page
3. Celebrate collectively

To accomplish these, it's essential to have sufficient guardrails in place to keep your meeting on track. Here they are, in no particular order:

1. Establish Meeting Frequency and Duration

There's no definitive right or wrong answer to this.

The ideal frequency and duration will depend on your company's specific operating procedures, the size of your team, the scope of your projects, and more.

In my case, the last two teams I led comprised six members each (including myself), and for reasons we'll explore below, it made sense for us to hold weekly meetings for one hour.

Moreover, when scheduling your remote team meetings, consider the time zones of your team members. The teams I've led resided in the United States and spanned the West and East coasts. For us, I preferred conducting team meetings in the early afternoon, say 1pm, Eastern Standard Time. This approach ensured it wasn't too early or too late for team members on either coast.

I also favored holding these meetings on Monday because we could review the previous week's results and synchronize our priorities for the coming week.

Remember, the schedule you choose should be what works best for you and your team.

2. Make Agendas Collaborative and Accessible

Whatever tools you use to plan your marketing team meeting should be accessible to all team members. Moreover, they should also have the opportunity to contribute ideas to the meeting.

This can include making your slides, spreadsheets, or documents accessible.

I've also found it helpful to create a recurring meeting task in your project management software for your marketing team meeting. Within this task, team members can add ideas and view your preparations.

3. Be Punctual

Does your meeting start at 12:00pm EST?

If so, ensure you're on time for your meeting.

Better yet, arrive a few minutes early, open up your video meeting, and relax as you wait for others. These moments can turn into casual conversation that's beneficial, especially since there's no physical water-cooler to gather around.

4. Be Prepared

What are the topics for your meeting?

Regardless of the agenda, which we'll discuss more below, ensure you're prepared.

Know what you're going to share.

Know what questions to ask.

Ensure your team members are ready if they're presenting anything.

Lack of preparation can result in a massive waste of everyone's time and even hinder your team and its work.

5. Be Present

Are you in a meeting?

Excellent, that's exactly where your attention should be.

Don't be on a different tab or screen.

Avoid checking your phone.

Refrain from doing something else.

Be present.

Be engaged.

Mastering how to get the most out of your meetings is vital for building a marketing team and your career. This applies to everyone, even if you're just participating and don't have anything substantial to share.

6. Stay on Time

When establishing your marketing team meeting format, ensure it's designed to end on time–preferably a bit early.

Here's the thing about meetings:

Regardless of how much time you allocate, be it 15, 30, 60 minutes, or more, you'll invariably use up that time.

Be prepared.

Stay focused.

Be organized.

Keep the team on track.

And keep an eye on the clock.

7. Turn on Your Camera

There's quite a debate around this topic.

But 99% of the time, particularly for smaller teams, it's essential to have your camera on during meetings. Certainly, there will be occasions when you can have it turned off, like when you're sick or need a mental-health break from seeing yourself on camera. However, for your weekly marketing team meetings, keeping your camera on is optimal.

8. Be Mindful of Expenses

Every meeting you conduct costs your company money.

Consider this.

The previous two teams I led comprised six people each.

So, a one-hour meeting effectively costs the company six hours of labor.

While this may not directly impact your weekly team meeting, it should influence your overall meeting schedule.

My ideal weekly marketing team meeting format

Here’s the format I’ve found helpful for weekly team meetings:

• Priorities
• Metrics
• Product Marketing
• Digital High-Fives
• Lightning Talk

Below, I’m going to dig into each of these individually. 

Before doing so, here’s why I like this format. 

A single weekly marketing team meeting offers several advantages:

• Minimizes unnecessary meetings
• Helps the team concentrate on priorities
• Provides a platform for knowledge sharing
• Allows for the review of essential metrics and goals
• Promotes alignment
• Fosters delegation, ownership, and teamwork

There’s one thing to keep in mind with this format: 

It doesn’t provide sufficient time to discuss bigger projects in detail during team meetings. But don’t worry—this is intentional. 

This format is meant to preserve time for high-level discussions, priorities, and metrics. 

During the week, you can (and should) schedule separate meetings to address specific, more complex projects as needed. This ensures a nice balance between strategic alignment and detailed execution, which will maximize your team’s efficiency. 

1. Priorities

This section in a marketing team meeting centers around three elements:

• Announcements (e.g., benefits, announcements)
• Establishing the week’s priorities
• Monitoring long-term projects and campaigns

This segment should span between 7-10 minutes. 

If a crucial matter comes up and time is insufficient, address it afterward.

Now, when it comes to announcements, this can include relevant topics like birthdays, work anniversaries, company-wide information, or introducing new team members. Basically, anything the entire team needs to know. 

When highlighting your priorities, create an environment where team members can reveal hurdles hindering their tasks or seek clarification on overlooked items. As a leader, your role is guiding your team in the right direction, empowering them to succeed by ensuring they have the necessary resources and removing obstacles.

For long-term projects or campaigns, maintain a list of monthly or quarterly priorities. This allows everyone to see what’s on the horizon and prepare for upcoming tasks. 

2. Metrics

As a marketing team, you're tasked with implementing marketing tactics that produce results. 

This involves creating awareness, nurturing prospects, producing qualified leads or sales opportunities, and influencing revenue.

Regardless of your marketing strategy, you need to gauge its effectiveness continually.

As a marketing team, you stand or fall together, so reviewing your numbers is essential.

When reviewing your numbers, there are two you have to review on a regular basis:

• The team’s North Star Metric
• Your team’s lead metrics

Let me explain. 

The team’s North Star Metric

If this is a new concept to you, don’t worry—it’s easy to understand. 

The North Star Metric is your team's primary goal. 

Depending on your business model, this might revolve around lead acquisition.

For instance, in my role at PhoneBurner, the marketing team was accountable for generating Sales Qualified Opportunities. We had a monthly target, which we reviewed weekly as a team to see whether or not we were on track. 

Regardless of your North Star Metric, always keep a close eye on it. 

Your team’s lead metrics

In marketing, achieving your North Star Metric isn't incidental. 

You need to develop, implement, and optimize a marketing strategy.

Individual team members should have personal goals that contribute to the team's overall North Star Metric. These goals, known as lead metrics, are the marketing tactics that influence your team's primary goal.

Here are a few examples:

• Account-Based Marketing (ABM) reporting on Accounts Reached %
• Content Marketing reporting on new content published during the week
• Performance Marketing owning the number of leads acquired through a specific channel–e.g., Google Ads
• SEO reporting on branded and non-branded keywords ranking and traffic

These are just a few examples. 

Encourage team members to take ownership of, influence, and share their primary goals during your weekly meeting. This boosts accountability and transparency.

When reporting weekly numbers, follow these tips:

1. Make reports publicly accessible
2. Be transparent

Publicly accessible reports promote review, track historical numbers, and encourage honesty and transparency.

Transparency aims at illuminating issues, not concealing them. That way, problems or concerns can be collaboratively addressed to achieve your goals.

Discuss challenges. 

Share losses. 

Discuss what's working and what isn't.

By being transparent, you and your team can address issues. As a marketing leader, you can ensure you're supporting your team well by setting them up for success in being their biggest cheerleader and supporter.

3. Product Marketing

The product (or service) you market will make or break your company. 

As the saying goes, great marketing can only expedite the failure of a bad product. This is particularly true in the software and technology industries.

This underscores the importance of highlighting your product and go-to-market motion.

While some of this may be included in your informational segment, as your product, company, and team grow, it becomes increasingly important to spotlight your product and ongoing product marketing efforts.

For this segment in your meeting, consider the following:

• Current product updates or releases
• Upcoming significant updates or releases
• Go-to-market timelines and deliverables
• Forthcoming training

Ideally, a product marketer should lead this segment. If you don't have one on your team, as a marketing leader, you may need to take the lead.

If you're leading this segment, consider including this in your informational segment or arranging a separate meeting to discuss anything product-related.

4. Digital high-fives

As a marketing leader, there's one thing you don't do: all of the work.

This may sound obvious, but since marketing is a team sport, everyone contributes to achieving your goals. Therefore, it's essential to recognize and celebrate your team's work and achievements. This acknowledgement can significantly boost morale and foster a sense of accomplishment among your team members.

Here's what I suggest for your team meeting:

• Celebrate 2-5 accomplishments
• Limit it to 3-5 minutes
• Encourage other team members to give shoutouts too

Celebrate your team. Make it fun. Keep it light-hearted.

5. Lightning talk

First, let me explain what a Lightning Talk is. 

It's simply a presentation lasting 5 minutes or less.

During my tenure at PhoneBurner, we had one of these every week. Each member of the marketing team, which was six people, had an opportunity to share on a rotating basis.

These presentations were required to focus on one significant idea. While most were marketing-related, occasionally someone would discuss a current interest (like the difference between stuffing and dressing before Thanksgiving).

There were at least two instances where I attempted to cancel them due to the perceived overload. However, the team overruled me both times, and I'm glad they did.

Here's why I advocate Lightning Talks:

• They develop presentation skills (critical in marketing)
• They're an excellent platform to share everyone's experience, skills, and knowledge

Regarding the first point, delivering clear and concise presentations is a key skill in marketing—particularly for those aspiring to leadership roles. As a marketer—especially when leading a data-driven marketing team—you'll frequently be called upon to present data behind current marketing campaigns, pitch new ideas, or explain the rationale behind a new landing page.

The best way to improve presentation skills? 

By presenting. 

Hence, providing each team member with regular presentation opportunities helps them build confidence and sharpen their presenting skills.

The second point is equally crucial—creating an environment that encourages knowledge sharing among the team.

It's important for individual team members to document their roles and tasks. 

If any of your team members left tomorrow, would you fully understand their job roles? 

Capturing this intellectual capital from each team member is critical for your team—and your company.

Moreover, encouraging team members to share their knowledge enables a diverse range of topics to be covered in training. While these short talks may not go in-depth, trust me, your team will learn a lot and gain exposure to a wealth of ideas and inspiration.

Making this work for you

This exact format may not be a great fit for you, and that’s okay. 
Whatever you do as a marketing leader, be purposeful in your remote team meetings. 

Be encouraging. 

Cast a vision. 

And set up your team members for success.