Pods and the power of collaboration

Optimising has been around for a while now, and over time, businesses like ours tend to find ways to do things that work - and stick to them. We had been in that cycle for a while, and everything was going great. Client results were amazing, clients were happy, the team was doing innovative work and enjoying what they were doing.

But at Optimising, we’re all about evolving. 

Whether it be streamlining our processes or improving our strategies, we don’t shy away from trying something new. The clients we work with have evolved, and so has our team and the industry. As our clients and their digital marketing needs have become bigger and more complex, our team has grown in size as well as expertise. We needed a way to work in this new Optimising landscape.

The term and use of “Pod” or “Pods” aren’t unique to Optimising.  In an early meeting, someone suggested we could look at it as standing for “‘people of different skills” which we all felt we could really get behind.

In our context, Pods is a team with complementary skills working together on a single campaign. The make-up of each Pods team varies depending on the specific requirements, budget, etc. of the project. Typically it will consist of multiple in-house specialists covering areas such as Project Management, Technical SEO, Content Marketing, Local SEO, and Paid Media. We build the Pod to suit the client and their unique campaign objectives.

We started rolling out Pods within our teams in mid-2020. Our team was rapidly growing, and we recognised an opportunity to both mentor and collaborate with team members of various skills and levels of experience. This also coincided with us taking on big national brand campaigns that required a more team-based approach.

With Pods comes a variety of benefits. 

The team-led approach provides the opportunity for multiple and varying perspectives on a single client campaign. This means when we find ourselves faced by a problem, our diverse teams of thinkers can effectively strategise and find a suitable solution quickly. Ultimately, our different perspectives mean we can execute more creative and successful results. 

We’ve also seen an increase in productivity. At Optimising, we aim to work smarter, not harder. With Pods, we can scale our workload more effectively. Delegating tasks in relation to expertise means we’re utilising every individual team member’s strengths. 

It’s also seen us increase client capacity. Working as a team under the Pods structure has equipped us to handle more complex problems and take on more demanding campaigns.

Since earlier this year, in collaboration with our partners, Inlight, we’ve been working with Nando’s on an exciting national plan to increase brand visibility and online orders.

Being a complex campaign with high growth objectives, we needed a team to match. Using Pods enables us to ensure the best talent within our business is working on the campaign as required. The team on this campaign comprises: 

• Senior Technical SEO Specialist: Responsible for the campaign strategy and results
• SEO Specialists: Responsible for the campaign management and implementation of strategies
• Delivery Lead: Responsible for timelines, delivery, and client communications
• Additional resources as required: We can bring in content or link building specialists, and local SEO resources to complete various aspects of the campaign.

Soon we will also be adding a Paid Media resource to this team to commence some paid brand campaigns, adding an extra element to the mix.

This structure works well for Nando’s as we are able to provide insightful strategies at a top-level, bring new ideas to the table across technical, UX, content and local search, as well as ensure we are closely monitoring the campaign, and meeting the goals and expectations of the client.

In addition to delivery, Pods enable us to streamline communication throughout the campaign. We hold regular "Work in Progress" meetings (or WIPs) both internally, as well as with key Nando’s stakeholders on a fortnightly basis to ensure 360-degree communication.

As our team grows so will our Pods. 

While our team was already familiar with remote working, the last couple of years has made remote working the norm. Pods provide an opportunity for our team to collaborate and connect which is important whether we are working remotely or are back in a physical office. It’s been incredibly important, not only to enable the sharing of knowledge and skills but has reminded us all it’s one of the joys about working in a team. 

One year in, we know that Pods will enable us to deliver better solutions to our clients, and also help improve the skills within our team by working more collaboratively.