Marketing Friday for Virtual Assistants:

Here we are at the end of our Marketing Friday series. I hope you’ve gained some really useful tips in the last 19 weeks and have watched your business flourish. Here are our final 6 tips to help you market your Virtual Assistant business:

1. This one seems like a no-brainer but you would be surprised: ANSWER THE PHONE! Have a reliable answer phone or answering service and check messages and return calls as soon as possible. It’s silly to make all that effort getting people to call you and then not following up. Ditto emails – if you are out of the office put an autoresponder on telling people when you’ll be returning and responding to their email.

2. Plan! Make time in your schedule for marketing your business. Sit down and plan when different activities will need to be done in order to bring in business at quiet times over summer holidays or at Christmas. Not only will this help you manage your time properly, it will also help you budget. Aim for about 50% of your time being spent on marketing in the first 6 months.

3. Podcast – use www.audioacrobat.com to create and distribute your podcast. You could use it as an aural newsletter or even as a free product. It’s just one more way of getting in contact with your clients.

4. Spellcheck. I’m so going to shoot myself in the foot and create about 10 bloopers in this text but spelling and grammar are especially important in the VA industry and you should always get someone to read over and check your marketing materials with fresh eyes BEFORE they go to print. (I have hundreds of misspelt business cards festering under the sofa to prove that I have now learnt my lesson). Consider also that your spelling and punctuation will also be under scrutiny on forums and online, so remember check twice, post once.

5. Listen to what your customers are saying. Their feedback will help you create new products and services that they will use and keep them delighted with your service. Consider feedback forms or online “suggestion box” email address.

6. Finally, marketing is the backbone of your small business. It’s an essential ingredient to your success but you should have fun doing it. Make sure what you are doing suits you – good luck!!!