Most new Virtual Assistants have many questions about their new business venture.  It can be quite confusing to know what choices to make since there are so many. I've created a free 10-page report that answers just five commonly asked questions by new Virtual Assistants. There are of course many more questions you will have. I encourage you to follow this blog to find additional information and resources to help you succeed in your Virtual Assistant business.

The 5 questions that will be answered in this free report are:

1.            What Kind of Investment Should I Expect to Make to Be a Successful Virtual Assistant in 6  Months?

2.            How Can I Market My Business?

3.            What About Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure?

4.            What Topics Should I Write About On My Blog?

5.            How Do I Raise Client Rates?

There is also a Bonus section with some ideas on how to proactively market your business. There are no strings attached to get this report. I don't even ask for your email. Just download the PDF of 5 Questions Commonly Asked by New Virtual Assistants by clicking here.

Question:
I am working full-time and trying to get clients for my business. The hardest part is marketing and writing a blog.I've started a blog but what topics can I write about? What about marketing?

Answer:
It's got to be tough working full-time while trying to start a business. On the other hand, that gives you an income you can count on while you work on building your business.

Since you have such a busy schedule, it's important to make an appointment with yourself to make time to work on your business, write blog posts and market. Then keep your appointment as though you were meeting with a new client!

Here are some suggestions from the Action Guide, Building Blocks: Succeed as a Chief Virtual Officer:

• Write a "how-to" article or a "ten tips" article
• Answer questions you get from prospects and clients as a blog post (much like this one)
• Invite prospects to write guest blog posts.
• Write about a client's success
• Post a list of relevant links with a short comment on why you found each valuable
• Share a recent experience you had

It's very helpful as part of your marketing strategy to also visit other blogs and post comments there that will link back to your own blog.

More tips on blogging and marketing can be found in the Action Guide, Building Blocks: Succeed as a Chief Virtual Officer.

What topics do you write about on your blog?

Marketing a business is a huge topic. Today we will address a specific concern one virtual assistant has.

Question:
I ran a VA business from 2007-2009. As much as I loved it, I found that I was having to spend a large percentage of my time marketing my business. I would like to start up again, but what alternatives should I consider besides doing my own marketing?

Answer:
To give the best answer, I first asked some additional questions.

• What percentage of time did you use to market your business?
• What marketing strategies did you use?
• Would you be open to having someone else do your marketing and if so, how would you envision that?

The virtual assistant stated she spent at least 50% of her time marketing her business. Now that may seem like a lot. However, I did a bit of research and found several entrepreneurs who encourage spending at least 60% of your time marketing. I do know that if I'm working 20 hours a week for clients, I'm spending an additional 10 hours or so marketing my business. So the amount of time seems right.

What we sometimes forget is that we are entrepreneurs and business owners. That means usually we are the one person doing it all: sales, marketing, client work, administrative work. And that takes time. If we don't want to spend the time doing the marketing, we have two choices:

1. Hire someone as our marketing person
2. Find a J.O.B. - because a business owner must market their services and products in order to succeed

Some marketing strategies that are very effective are in-person events such as SBA events, BNI meetings, professional associations. Then there's online marketing: a blog, social networking sites, ezines, press releases. Yes, these all take time. That's why it's important to put together a simple marketing plan and calendar and schedule these events and actions. Our Action Guide has a sample marketing plan and calendar with details on how to put them into action.  Having a plan helps you make sure you're using strategies that are most effective and less-time consuming than just haphazardly posting something on a social network every day.

Joining local small business groups and attending monthly mixers are effective marketing strategies. Get to know the people, what their needs are, how you can refer them to others. It's important to build relationships with these people before you ever try to "sell" them your services. There's a whole section in our book, The Commonsense Virtual Assistant - Becoming an Entrepreneur, Not an Employee, that has lots of great information on marketing. You can purchase a copy on the website.

The Commonsense Virtual Assistant

I believe doing your own marketing is most effective. However, hiring someone to market your services for you is also a viable option. After all, isn't that what many of our clients hire us to do for them? You can hire someone to help promote your services - online, via mailings, follow-up phone calls, and even by attending in-person events.

Another great marketing strategy is article writing. It establishes you as an expert and always links back to your website. Check out my articles at Ezine Articles.

You can read more about proactive marketing at another blog post of mine.

I'd love to hear your comments!

Email marketing can be used in a variety of ways to communicate with clients and prospects:

• Provide clients with information about the industry
• Promote your products and services
• Invite people to an event
• Send out a monthly newsletter

When planning your email marketing strategies, you need to answer these basic questions:

• What is the purpose of your communication and who do you send it to?
• How often should I send out a communication?

The purpose of you communication could include:

• Driving traffic to your website
• Get clients to purchase a product
• Get new "likes" for your Facebook fan page

Once you've defined your goal, you'll know who you want to send your communication to.

The most challenging part of creating a newsletter is creating valuable content. You want your message to be education-focused. This will help build trust, loyalty and retention. Don't just sell - provide value. The content should be interesting and relevant to your readers. Ask yourself, "How will this information benefit my readers?" 

Communicating more often is not necessarily better. It is more beneficial to send quality content in a quarterly newsletter than a monthly newsletter with so-so content.

If you'd really like to know what you readers want from you and how often they'd like to hear from you, ask them. Ask, "What topics would you like to see addressed in the newsletter? How often would you like to receive it? Weekly, monthly, quarterly?"

Take time to plan your email marketing so it's most effective. Remember - it's not how many people you send it to that measures your success. It's how many people who actually read it and take an action such as:

• Click through to your website
• Call you for an appointment
• Buy a product or service
• Share your content via social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn

Please share your most successful email planning tips. And get more great tips in our book and Action Guide.

At the supermarket I noticed a package of batteries with this blurb: Lasts as long as Energizer.

So, they're as good as the next guy.

Is that any way to advertise yourself? Is anyone going to switch battery brands (or, more importantly, start working with a "virtual" partner on mission-critical tasks) because they're "as good as the next guy" ?

Marketers talk about your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) for a good reason. If you can't show a prospect why you are the only possible choice, why you are the perfect match for them, ask yourself: why should they choose you?

If you're only as good as the next guy, what happens when the next guy gets just a little bit cheaper, or a little better, or both?

(By the way, even if you're far better than the next guy, if you can't show a prospect why you're a perfect match, consider the possibility that they aren't a perfect match for you.)