Balancing Creativity and Focus in a Hybrid Work Environment: Lessons from hear.com's Marketing Director

Welcome to another episode of The Remote CMO, the show dedicated to helping marketing leaders build, manage, and lead their remote and hybrid teams. In today's episode, we're speaking with Tobias Haude, Marketing Director of hear.com, the world's fastest-growing hearing care company.

Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:

• Tobias's journey from studying business and initially viewing marketing as his worst subject to developing a passion for the field and its connection to strategy, communication, data, and entrepreneurship.
• The evolution of hear.com from a 20-person startup in Berlin to a global company with 1,200 employees and partnerships with over 5,000 local audiologist shops, each with 3-4 employees.
• The company's long-standing hybrid work model, with Zoom rooms built as early as 2016, allowing for a seamless transition during COVID-19 while recognizing the importance of in-person collaboration for creativity and problem-solving.
• The fluctuating nature of Tobias's direct reports, with a current focus on 30-35 people in Europe and a rejection of traditional org charts in favor of a more fluid structure.
• The challenges of driving creativity in a hybrid environment, emphasizing the need for an inclusive culture, effective communication, and robust technology setup to engage both in-person and remote participants.
• The importance of establishing trust and personal connections during the onboarding process before relying heavily on remote collaboration, and the need for discipline and effort from both in-person and remote team members during meetings.
• The company's approach to sourcing talent through active searches on LinkedIn, local networking events, and employee referrals, with a focus on identifying target companies with strong marketing teams.
• The selective use of agencies for specialized skills and diverse perspectives, particularly in areas like long-term communication and brand strategy for the 50+ target audience.
• The impact of AI on marketing roles, with Tobias noting that designers and copywriters who rely too heavily on AI tools may see their skills deteriorate, while AI has proven transformative in areas like customer service and conversational marketing.
• The key advice for new marketing leaders in a hybrid environment: consider the company culture, problem complexity, and personal fit before deciding if a remote or in-person setup is best suited for delivering results and driving team success.