This article originally appeared in Display Ads Deep Dive

I was reading Morgan’s article the other day about how to find a PPC and I realized that he glossed over a detail that is actually really important and worth examining: How important is the location of our employee-to-be? 

Had I written this anytime before February 2020, my thoughts on it probably would have been radically different. The global pandemic scenario has taught us that, in most cases, there is really no difference in whether we are working with someone face to face or face to face-behind-screen. However, since we are still catching up to this “new normality”, there are plenty of things to take into consideration if you are thinking about hiring someone on the other side of the world. Let’s look at some of the main considerations!

Language

As obvious as this might sound, you need to be able to communicate with your PPC. Maybe there is this amazing Russian Pay Per Click rockstar who’d ace the task, but, if every time you try to tell him what you need it takes you 5 hours and a stress peak, it’s probably not going to work. Given this situation, when posting your job ad, make sure you are clear on which language you need them to speak and how fluently.

Culture

Not every country in the world has the same cultural background, level, or identity. It’s fundamental to make sure the person you are hiring has the knowledge and tools to ace your task. Maybe you want to run a campaign for a very specific type of person that lives in your country and, if that’s the case, not even the best PPC in the world would be able to do as good a job as someone who actually knows what you are talking about. 

Time zone differences

Another fundamental thing to think about that we usually let slip is time differences. You have to decide if it’d be okay for you to work with someone whose time zone is maybe 18 hours ahead of yours, given that maybe they’ll answer one message a day or that it probably will be nearly impossible to have a meeting in a time that’s comfortable for both of you. 

Productivity

Nowadays, technology made it so easy for us to meet without having to actually meet.  In order to have a virtual coffee with your foreign PPC, you don’t have to waste time taking the bus, agree on a spot or bar that works for both, or even showering. Considering conversations or discussions that used to take hours have now been reduced to a 40-minute time limit, it’s a good thing to take into consideration how much more productive this way of working can be.

Cost

More often than not, people hire PPCs (or any employees) from another country because it tends to be cheaper since their living costs allow you to pay less for the same service. This is a great pro about foreign hiring because all you need is a PayPal account and that’s it, you are good to pay your foreign pay per click expert half of what you’d pay your national average one. Maybe you’ll want to do some international economy research beforehand. 

Personal Preferences

How much you care about actual in-person meetings is our final factor to consider. Even when nowadays it’s so easy to have meetings no matter how far people are (as easy as sending them a Zoom link invitation), there are people who are just not into it and that’s perfectly valid. If you think there is no way you and your PPC can get the job done only on a virtual meeting basis, you’ll need to hire someone who lives 10 blocks from you at the most. 

As you can see, there are many factors and possibilities to think through before hiring someone who lives somewhere else across the planet. My recommendation would be to sit down, grab a cup of tea, and set your priorities straight because even if foreign-hiring works for a lot of people, it’s perfectly valid to prefer old-school two-subways-at-the-most-hiring. The sooner you get your thoughts in order, the sooner you’ll find the perfect pay-per-click specialist.

To conclude, I believe hiring someone from a foreign country has as many pros and cons as anything else in the world. However, the current context showed us that there is no need to actually share a room with someone in order to be near them. Within the last months, we got used to using different technological appliances so we could feel less weird and lonely, so why not take advantage of those benefits to increase our productivity, try new working experiences and bring the world a little closer together?