Office Hours: I’m a Growth Marketing Manager at Buffer. I’m Sophie Gil. AMA!Featured

Posted in:All Things Remote Marketing Office Hours Management and Leadership

Hi Elphas!

I’m Sophie Gil, a Growth Marketing Manager at Buffer. My love for creativity and analytics makes me an innovative marketer who relies on data, experimentation, and insights to guide growth marketing strategy across Paid Advertising, Web, SEO, Email, and more. My day-to-day is all about using the optimal mix of channels, messaging, and personalization to bring new customers to Buffer.

Before Buffer, I worked as an Integrated Marketing Manager for an e-commerce start-up called Brandless. I was the connective tissue between the Growth, Creative, Merchant, and Product teams, leading strategy, planning, execution, and reporting of multi-channel campaigns that drove new customer growth and customer retention.

I’ve been a digital nomad for 4+ years and usually don’t stay in one spot for more than a few months. As of right now, I am tuning in from Sri Lanka—the 17th country I have visited in the past four years. I feel very blessed to work for a fully distributed and remote company, Buffer, and I’ve learned a lot from them on how to work successfully with teammates across time zones and borders. I’m a big promoter of digital nomading and although I’m aware that it’s not an accessible way of life for many (or that some would not choose this lifestyle), I do believe there is beauty in living and working in this way–and I’d be happy to share the beauty of it, as well as the hardships.

During my downtime, you’ll most likely find me surfing, enjoying nature and the outdoors, writing poetry, traveling the world, or working on some personal side projects (I’m currently refurbishing a rental villa in Sri Lanka and creating a brand identity around it).

Ask me anything about growth marketing, experimentation, the secrets to making "remote work" actually work, living/investing/working across borders and time zones, or anything else!

ElphaStaff·Jul 22

Thanks so much for joining us @sophieg!Elphas – please ask @sophieg your questions before Friday, July 26th. @sophieg may not have time to answer every questions, so emoji upvote your favorites 🔥👍🏾➕

Shenna20·Jul 26

Hi Sophie! Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions. I'm a creative in the film industry and currenly working remotely. However, this is going to change given that my company has made a strategic decision to change to in-person modality. I've decided not to continue with them but I do want to continue working remotely. I've noticed most remote roles are in tech so I really want to know if you have any suggestions for roles people coming from creative industries seeking to continue working in creative roles but in tech should look out for. Thank you so much!

sophieg·Jul 27

Hi Shenna, nice to meet you! That's a great question. I'm not sure I have the right answer for this one, but I can share with you the most common creative jobs I've seen in the companies I've worked for. At Brandless, an e-commerce company, the creative team was headed by the Creative Director, who oversaw all sorts of creatives like graphic designers, physical product designers, video editors, and project managers who oversaw all of the creative processes. At Buffer, which is a tech company, the design team is a mix of UX designers and graphic designers. What specific role did you have in the film industry? I'm sure there is a job that would be directly translatable. Try checking out this website for remote jobs: https://remotewoman.com/

nontechie·Jul 27

Hi @sophieg, thanks for sharing about yourself - it sound like a very interesting way of living! I am curios to know about different situations/ conflicts you run into when trying to balance time zones with your collaborators. have you also ever run into issues regarding change in employment policies requiring you to work from specific locations, after you were hired as a remote, location independent employee. I would imagine you would have some sort of 'onboarding' process by now - a checklist of things to do before and after you land in a new country - would love to know more about that.

Jeanine171·Jul 25

How would you market a physical product or an app that haven’t been existing on the market at all or very little? In other words, unique product that was never done before or have maybe 1 competitor.I found that I don’t know where to start: 1. how to know that product is needed by customers (there are no data because no competitors) 2. How to convince people that it’s needed and buy it

sophieg·Jul 26

Hi Jeanine! Thanks for your question. Happy to help as much as I can. I'd love to learn a little bit more about your product and industry. I would likely tailor my answer more to that, as choosing which marketing channels to use tends to be very different across industries and price points. But with the information that you've given me, I would do a mix of the following:1. Ask your potential customers directly. I think this is the key to understanding product market fit. You can reach out to people who seem to have the "problem" that your app is solving for and ask them the questions that would help you understand whether they would actually use the tool. They likely would also give you great advice on how your app could be improved. Or you might even find out that your target customer is a completely different one. 2. Research and spy. Read through Reddit or Quora threads, browse Amazon reviews of books that cover a similar topic, or maybe there is some sort of Discord community related to the industry you find yourself in. Try to think of where the people who would use your app are discussing candidly about the problems they are facing or the solutions they have found. Look for common pain points, frequently mentioned problems, and their dream solutions. Also make a note of how they describe their problems and what they really desire as those words and sentences can prove useful for your marketing communication efforts in the future. For example, if the tool were providing cheap virtual e-SIM cards (as a very random example), I would look for reddit and quora threads where people are discussing their experiences with international travel, mobile data, and connectivity issues. Or I would search for online communities of digital nomads since they often need e-sim cards. 3. As for marketing, it sometimes can be beneficial to not have many competitors in the industry, however this also signifies that your potential customer is likely not used to a product like yours, so you might have to put a lot of emphasis on education of the product. As an example, now everyone knows what a car sharing app is used for, but when Uber first came out, people didn't know what it was and were likely more hesitant about the idea of ordering a car online using a shared vehicle. This means you'll need to create content that educates your audience on how your product works, the benefits it offers, and why they should trust and try it. This could include detailed short explainer videos, user testimonials, blog posts, and FAQs that address common questions. 4. In general, I would always recommend starting with SEO. It's generally the cheaper marketing channel and it's a long-term game. The sooner you start, the more it will benefit you in the future. You won't see immediate results, but if you optimize your content for search engines, eventually traffic will grow. Over time, SEO content will help drive consistent traffic to your app. The content could be in the form of blog posts, how-to guides, listicles, YouTube videos, or podcasts. Also, if you're creating an app, then ASO (app search optimization) is also very important for both App Store and Google Play. Hope this helps! :)

Jeanine171·Jul 27

Wow, that helps a lot! Yeah, I knew that I should ask/talk to people but I didn’t know where to find them and especially why would they want to answer the question a stranger is asking about. In the past people would communicate in “forums” to a related topic but nowadays it’s outdated and almost nobody sits there.Stealth mode from #2 should help. And “educating people”.

Wangari·Jul 26

Sophie, welcome to the group. Thank you for sharing your story. You have my end goal career/lifestyle. I am a Jr business analyst transitioning to digital marketing as I needed a role I can practise my creativity in. What tool do you think I should be a master in and what was your path to this position? What are some roles out there for my experience? And would you be open to mentor me.? Thank you.

hienmtran·Jul 25

How do you stay on top of marketing trends? Any favorite podcasts, newsletters, etc?

madien·Jul 25

Hi Sophie! Thank you for coming. It's very inspiring to see that one can be a digital nomad, while juggling the demands and responsibilities of a full time job.I have two very different questions:1. In your work, how do you use AI and ML technologies? Can you list a few scenarios where you have been able to take your Marketing to newer levels using these?As a corollary, how large is your team that makes it happen? How do you measure your success with these technologies?2. What tips would you offer for successfully convincing your clients or employers to allow a remote working arrangement? Also, what are your secrets to succeeding at work?

sophieg·Jul 27

Hey, so nice to meet you! Such great questions 😄 1. As a small marketing team (a team of 10 people), we're constantly looking for ways to scale our output. One way we've done this is by embracing AI. To do this, we set up a paid account with ChatGPT for the entire team to use. One of the first major projects I worked on that embraced the power of AI was the creation of a glossary of social media-related terms for Buffer. The glossary we created was a collection of terms, definitions, FAQs, and examples designed for anyone seeking an understanding – basic or advanced – of the social media landscape. For this project, we experimented with AI-assisted content production to scale our SEO efforts for the glossary. We used AI to write the first draft of the content and then have a teammate (either myself or someone from the content team) review and edit the content copy to its final state, with an emphasis on user value and quality descriptions. The result was that we scaled the glossary from 0 to 15,000 organic pageloads in six months with a fraction of the human effort needed for traditional content creation. It was a really fun project to work on and it helped us see the potential of what can be achieved on search with AI-generated content. You can check it out here: https://buffer.com/social-media-termsAlso, our content writer, Tami, shares exactly how and where the Buffer content team uses AI in their work: https://buffer.com/resources/how-we-use-ai-in-content/2. For the last six years, Buffer has published State of Remote Work reports. We use this report to do a deep dive into the experience of remote workers around the world, their work structure, their struggles, and their career growth and pay. And every single year, we've found that remote work continues to be perceived as very positive. I'd recommend sharing these reports with them or specific stats. Here's the 2023 report: https://buffer.com/state-of-remote-work/2023I hope all fo this helps! Let me know if I can help with anything else.

sophieg·Jul 27

As for your last question, I shared some tips in this answer: https://elpha.com/posts/4yhhten6/office-hours-i-m-a-growth-marketing-manager-at-buffer-i-m-sophie-gil-ama#ipef2v3w 😄

AmericaGies·Jul 27

I’m in a similar remote marketing environment. How do you get work done and stay focused when traveling to such exotic places? Also what resource do you find most helpful in your industry such as podcasts, YouTube channels, etc

rosanagrebenscsikova·Jul 25

Hello Sophie, thank you for taking the time to share your experiences. Could you elaborate on how you managed to get association and mentors to start your "nomadic" lifestyle? 🙂

lisamendez·Jul 25

How do you manage your time working remotely?

Tajuana122·Jul 25

Fellow digital nomad here! What are some of your secrets to making remote work work?

sophieg·Jul 26

Hi fellow nomad 👋 These are a few of the things that I believe have led Buffer (the company I work for) to work so successfully as a remote, fully-distributed company. It's one thing to be remote within the same time zone, but something else entirely to work remotely across time zones. In fact, on the marketing team alone, we work across more than 8 different time zones, spanning from Australia to the United States. Anyway, here's the mix of things that make working remotely (and across time zones) actually work:1. Encourage transparency amongst the entire team and company. The power of transparency is wild.. not only does it build trust, but it also helps hold each other accountable. This is the bread and butter that ends up feeding into all of the other points. Some ways this plays out are, for example, that we try to default to public Slack channels for all written communication so that it is in a transparent space and so that everyone is informed of what's going on. And Buffer believes so much in transparency that they even share our finances and salaries, among many other metrics: https://buffer.com/open2. Document everything. Document all processes, decisions, and key discussions, so that everyone feels included, even if they are not in the same time zone. We use Notion as a wiki for all things related to Buffer: how we work, how to use any of our tools, what's the strategy for the next year, what are our goals for the quarter, how is the engineering team structured, and the list goes on. So whenever someone has a question or needs information on something, they can just head to our Notion database to look for it. Also, since teams work across time zones, not everyone has a chance to join a meeting, so we try our best to be inclusive by taking notes and recording the meeting so that the individual can be informed of decisions that have been made and the next steps.3. Set strong communication guidelines. Define and communicate best practices for when and how to use different communication channels and tools. It's important to note the difference between asynchronous and synhcronous communication. "Synchronous" refers to when two or more people are having a discussion in real time. For example, Zoom is a synchronous tool. "Asynchronous" refers to when a discussion is happening whenever it is convenient for the participants. For example, Campsite is an async tool. Using asnychronous tools helps us manage timezones. Sometimes it’s not obvious which tool to use. At Buffer, if a teammate is unsure of where to share an update or discuss a topic, we share this as a quick measure to use:- If it’s 4 sentences or fewer, and/or it’s urgent, use Slack.- If it’s 5 sentences of more and/or it’s not timely, use Campsite.- If it’s complex and it’s urgent, use Zoom.4. Hire and work with people who have similar life and work values. It doesn't mean we need to be similar as people, in fact, at Buffer, we are all incredibly different (with different hobbies, interests, and upbringings), but I do believe it's important we all have similar values. 5. Build a strong company culture by organizing virtual team-building activities and in-person meet-ups when possible. We try to meet in person twice per year: once with the whole company and another time with just your team.6. Allow for flexibility. Traditional 9-5 working hours may not be optimal or feasible for all team members in a multi-time zone setup. Trust your team and give them the flexibility they need to get the job done in the style that works best for them. Hope this helps 😁

Wangari·Jul 24

Hi Sophie, sent you a PM. Thank you

sophieg·Jul 26

Hi Wangari, I got it! I'll reply to you over the weekend if that works for you! :)

Wangari·Jul 26

Hi Sophie, of course. Looking forward to it. Thank you.

Arlinda178·Jul 22

Do you have any tips for aspiring globetrotters on what to look for when vetting companies with globally distributed teams? It would be so interesting to learn about your experiences in choosing companies that are open to hiring marketers without location restrictions. I ask as someone who wants to move abroad soon, but has been removed from several interview processes at "fully remote" companies after disclosing the future move.