As an entrepreneur or small business owner you’re probably used to doing everything yourself. But when your business really starts to take off it’s imperative that you keep building on that momentum. One way you could do this is to find a Marketing VA. But what exactly is a Virtual Marketing Assistant?
If you want your small business to make a mark, marketing is important. Really important.
If you don’t properly market your business it’s unlikely to be able to make a lasting impact. For it is marketing that spreads the word. That lets you connect with people and tell them what you have to offer. It’s what builds your brand. Your reputation. Boosts your sales.
But when you’re busy running that business, finding time to give marketing the attention it deserves can feel almost impossible.
That’s where a Virtual Marketing Assistant can come in. They can take your strategy and help it soar.
What Is A Virtual Marketing Assistant? – Definition
A Marketing VA is a professional who works remotely from you and your business, to support you with marketing tasks. You are unlikely to meet them face to face as everything is done online.
The main benefit to working with a VA, as opposed to an agency or an employee, is that it offers you a very flexible way to access the support you need, for a small number of hours per month.
The support they could offer you includes everything from social media management to blog writing. Let’s take a look through some of the ways they could help.
1. Making The Most Of Your Marketing Strategy
So you’ve spent a lot of time developing a killer marketing strategy and you’re really quite proud of it. But you’re also super busy. Don’t let that strategy gather dust on the shelf. Let a Virtual Marketing Assistant implement your ideas and bring your vision to life. They will be able to take your carefully crafted marketing plan and help you get your message out there. To the right people. At the right time. In the right way.
Some of the ways they can help you transform your ideas into tangible campaigns include:
- Researching who your ideal customers are and developing buyer personas that will help you target them in the most effective way
- Finding ways to reach new customers in a manner that they’ll respond well to
- Brainstorming new ideas for relevant, engaging content and design
- Analysing past campaigns to help you boost your ROI in the future
- Editing and revising your ongoing marketing campaigns to improve engagement
One of our Virtual Marketing Assistants has been helping her client execute their marketing strategy. This is what they had to say about the support they receive:
“She has helped us with developing and implementing a marketing strategy for two big events. And crucially, refreshing and upgrading our branding and strategy. With her varied and wide knowledge and experience in marketing, training and development, branding and business strategy, we are now in a far better position. The future looks much brighter for us now.”
2. Developing Your Social Media Presence
Social media is vital if you want to grow your business and increase awareness of your brand. To do it well though is massively time consuming. Facebook. Instagram. LinkedIn. Twitter. And the rest.
A Virtual Marketing Assistant can help you get the right strategy in place, post regularly for you and keep track of your performance. They’ll help you grow your social media audience by executing a well thought out strategy. This can include:
- Publishing, curating and sharing content that will resonate with your audience and keep them engaged
- Monitoring and replying to messages and queries from customers across all of your platforms
- Running effective paid social media campaigns across your channels
One of our lovely clients had this to say about the social media support he receives from his Virtual Marketing Assistant:
“We have focused mainly on social media advertising which is already proving very successful for ourselves and our customers. I’ve always been creative, but with the likes of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter constantly changing the way their algorithms and advertising methods work, I knew I needed to bring in a professional if I had any chance of any successful marketing campaigns!”
3. Managing Your Email Marketing
Email marketing gets a bit of a bad rap these days as newer, fancier ways to reach your customers emerge. But it is still one of the most effective marketing tools out there and shouldn’t be overlooked.
A Virtual Marketing Assistant can help boost your open and click-through rates, providing you with new leads, more traffic and better sales. How can they do this? By:
- Maintaining and building an email distribution list
- Creating and sending a regular newsletter to that list
- Developing customer promotions that will grab the attention of your audience
- Managing promotional campaigns that will help to maximise your ROI
- Managing incoming responses and requests from existing and potential customers
One of our Virtual Marketing Assistants provides email marketing support to her client. They had this to say about her contribution:
“We weren’t really doing much with our email list. But we now have a really great newsletter that gets sent to our customers every month. She has helped us build on our list, and thanks to the quality of what she puts together every month we have improved our click through rates and have seen a boost in sales too. We’re absolutely delighted.”
4. Creating Compelling Content
Content is king. We all know it. If you want to acquire new customers and engage with your existing ones then the quality of the content you create and share is crucial.
A Virtual Marketing Assistant can help you conquer your content goals by:
- Tweaking and refreshing content for your website
- Posting to all of your social media channels for you
- Crafting high quality blog posts that will capture the attention of your audience
- Issuing regular newsletters
- Sourcing impactful images that will complement your copy
- Proofreading copy for brochures, microsites or landing pages etc
Read about the impact one of our Virtual Marketing Assistants has had on his client through generating great content for them:
“He works on creating content for us which has been so helpful as he’s picked up our playful yet informative style and has quickly adapted to this approach by delivering exactly what our customers like to learn (and be entertained by)! It’s freed up so much of my time not having to worry about organising campaigns or creating lots of quality content without assistance – we discuss our ideas, come up with a plan, take action, and the results speak for themselves.”
5. Conducting Useful Market Research
Knowledge gives you an edge. It helps you stay ahead of your competition. But it’s also a time consuming and ongoing task that you probably don’t really have time for.
A Virtual Marketing Assistant can help you grow your small business by conducting relevant and timely research on your behalf. This type of work includes:
- Keeping up to date with what your competitors are up to and the latest industry news
- Discovering who, what and where you can find new customers
- Exploring potential new opportunities
- Evaluating new marketing tools to understand what really works for your business
“My Virtual Marketing Assistant conducts a lot of research projects for me, helping me understand the market trends and what is going with my competitors and industry as a whole. This information is invaluable to me in making business critical decisions but in all reality I wouldn’t have time to do it myself. So having her onboard has been amazing.”
6. Maintaining Your Website
Once you get a steady stream of web traffic, you need to keep visitors on your site. You need to make sure they are engaged and you need to continually strive to attract new interest. But do you really have the time?
A Virtual Marketing Assistant can make sure your website gets the attention it needs by:
- Updating copy to keep your website fresh
- Encouraging readers to stay on your site by curating eye-catching graphics
- Updating links to ensure your site remains current and provides a good user experience
- Maintaining a regular feed of new blog posts to keep readers engaged
- Adding new products to your e-commerce platform
“I run an online store and keeping on top of the website updates was challenging. My wonderful assistant makes sure that new products are added, copy is updated, and that my blog posts are published on time. I just didn’t have time to do it. Now I know it’s safe hands I can get on with tasks that are a much better use of my time.”
Need More Info?
If you’ve never hired a Virtual Marketing Assistant before it can be a little daunting. For more information on exactly how it works and what the upsides are for you, read this handy guide.
We’ve also got lots more useful tips and tricks for you on our blog. Perhaps you’d like to know how to write a killer marketing strategy? Or are you curious as to how you would go about collaborating and communicating with your Virtual Marketing Assistant?
If you could you use a little support with your marketing efforts as you grow your small business, then why not book a free consultation and find out just how we can help you?
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