Vivian Agency specializes in building high-performing influencer and affiliate marketing programs. We are experts at leveraging partnerships to amplify your brand presence, and enhance your online visibility and engagement.
Meet the Founder
![Vivian Agency: Insights from Enelin Toneva on Growing Startups and Remote Teams 1 enelin toneva](https://cdn.vivianagency.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/enelin-toneva.jpg)
Enelin Toneva’s experience goes beyond just marketing: she is a thought leader in remote work, advocating for the benefits of a distributed workforce since long before it became a global trend.
Her strategic thinking and ability to adapt to changes in a fast-paced industry have been the key to keeping Vivian Agency at the forefront of digital marketing innovations.
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How Vivian Agency’s Team Operates
Enelin’s decision to start a remote company came from a simple challenge – finding the best talent for her team without being restricted to a specific country. By managing a remote team, she can tap into global talent and foster a work culture that values autonomy and work-life balance. This approach balances flexibility with productivity, allowing Vivian team members to work from anywhere in the world.
Tips and Best Practices for Remote Team Management
With a team that functions entirely remotely, here’s how we make it work:
- Clear communication: Establishing robust channels and project management systems for communication to ensure clarity. We use Slack for day-to-day communication and client-specific affiliate management tools like LeadDyno, UpPromote, GRIN, ReferralRock, FirstPromoter, AffiliateWP and Pipedrive.
- Trust and autonomy: Our team is made up of highly motivated and driven people, which makes it easy to foster a culture of autonomy and accountability. Vivan Agency is a female-led and -run company, where every single role is crucial to its success.
- Regular check-ins: Implementing regular check-ins and virtual meetings to maintain the team’s energy and address challenges proactively makes everyday communication easier. Apart from meetings with our clients, we meet regularly to discuss our goals, current projects, and ideas on how to grow.
- Technology leverage: Utilizing the right tech stack for collaboration and to streamline workflows is important. Handling in-house communication with a remote team is one challenge, but optimizing a system to communicate with clients is entirely different. We use weekly video calls and weekly & monthly task summaries to make sure that our clients are updated and aware of the progress the team is making.
Challenges and Strategies in Growing a Business Remotely
Our team knows how to navigate the unique challenges of growing a remote business by:
Prioritizing team alignment: All team members are aligned with the company’s vision and goals.
Cultivating client relationships: Building strong, transparent relationships with clients to understand their goals.
Innovative problem-solving: Encouraging a culture of innovation to tackle challenges and adapt to market changes.
Continuous learning: Embracing continuous learning and development to stay ahead of industry trends. Our team even has regular learning sessions where we bring in industry experts as speakers to learn about a new topic.
How Vivian Agency Works with Clients
Our team of 11 is typically divided into smaller teams when handling clients, usually led by a project manager. Depending on the size of the client company, there will be one or two marketing assistants dedicated specifically to their project.
Project managers are responsible for negotiations, sponsorships, big deals, client communication, and overall project management. In contrast, marketing assistants focus on lead generation, finding new affiliates and influencers, outreach activities, and handling repetitive tasks. This division allows each team to handle two to four projects simultaneously, depending on the project size.
Client Onboarding
Here’s what you can expect when you start working with Vivian Agency:
Client engagement
We start with creating a tailored offer and a suggested working plan, outlining the first three months of collaboration. This includes setup processes, expected results, and timelines. Clients can choose the pace of the project and which of our packages fits them best. For comprehensive projects involving in-house affiliate programs, ShareASale accounts, and referral programs, we prefer to dedicate 40 hours a week to the client.
Agreement and start
Once an agreement is reached, we have a kickoff call to discuss the necessary access and information, and agree on a weekly meeting schedule. We put a strong emphasis on clear communication and transparency in goals, timelines, and deadlines. Progress is tracked weekly, allowing clients to easily understand and follow our process.
Building and maintaining
Regular and open communication is key when managing clients. We update the companies we work with weekly, and join meetings where the team reviews past achievements, current tasks, and future plans. This helps us make sure that we are helping our clients achieve their goals at the pace they are happy with.
More than anything, we are flexible. Our services are tailored to meet various client needs, ranging from short-term setup projects to long-term management and growth of existing programs. The level of engagement and the nature of the projects are discussed with companies during the first few meetings, which we use to create personalized offers and plans. However your company prefers to work – we can make it happen with our team.
If you’d like to meet the team and discuss what we could do for your business, check out our case studies or schedule a call!