The Philippines. The name mostly conjures images of a hammock under a cove of coconut trees on a white sand beach with turquoise waters. Yet this so-called tropical paradise hides another one of its treasures that only a few have been able to unlock – its people.
The Philippines is home to an estimated 111 million Filipinos, and companies such Accenture, JP Morgan, IBM, Deutsche Bank and host of other western companies are just a single proof that Filipinos are good at what they do.
Take the case of a relatively smaller 100-million dollar company called Balsam Brands, a retailer of high-end Christmas Trees, which has been included in Inc.com’s Fastest growing companies for several years. If you take a look at their company website, a good number, if not more than 50% of their workforce are Filipinos and work remotely. And their team includes a marketing unit that does social media management, paid advertising and content creation.
So why are Filipinos excellent at working with global and western companies – specifically with marketing?
- Wave of western colonization during the 16th century brought Spaniards and subsequently Americans to the islands, and enforced their language and religion.
- Contemporary civil and government systems were established mainly by the Americans which were the last “colonial masters” of the islands until 1946.
- As a result English is widely spoken and is one of the official languages of the country; Television and cinema are influenced by American media.
- The first advertising agencies were mainly established in the early 1900s by westerners.
- The educational system is heavily patterned after that of the United States, starting with Kindergarten and capped off by years in College or University.
- Marketing and Management are popular majors among Filipino college students, with most material and curriculum derived from U.S. and western authors.
Thus hiring a Filipino marketing VA team makes sense. Organizational culture-wise, Filipinos are generally warm and get along well with other people. Their close cultural affinity with both eastern and western countries makes them a good fit with any organization. High english proficiency of Filipinos means there is low communication barrier – there is a less probability of things getting lost in translation.
Lastly, it is cost-effective to hire Filipino marketing VAs as most working Filipinos are high school to college graduates. They also appreciate working for foreign companies as they generally provide higher-minimum hourly wages.
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