Marketing a Virtual Assistant Business

Internet Business Model Series
Service Business / Charge by Hour or Project

Start a virtual assistant business and the clients will beat a path to your virtual doorway, right? Yeah, right <<in my most sarcastic voice>>! The biggest part of a business’ startup budget must be allocated to marketing. Here are some ways to market a virtual assistant business.

Advertise – Place ads in the local newspaper’s business section, the Yellow Pages and business trade journals.

Set-up a website – A website is where all the virtual assistant’s services, skills and rates will be listed and where payment processing will be done. All advertising will lead potential clients to a website.  The website address will be used in the VA’s signature line in emails and on articles submitted to article directories and business journals.

Write articles – Writing articles can really help a virtual assistant business by directing potential clients to his or her website. There are many that accept and publish articles on the internet. Websites like eHow, ezinearticles.com, and other content sites will publish an article where the virtual assistant can put a bio at the end. The bio can list the virtual assistant’s skills and specialties along with the VA’s phone number and a link to the VA’s website. Use your virtual assisting skills to create a following by writing great Internet content.

Create business cards – Virtual assistants should always carry business cards with them as they never know who they might meet. Business cards should include the VA’s name, telephone number, and website address. The back of the card is a good place to list a few of the skills that the VA can provide to a potential client.

Social networking – Social sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and YouTube offer huge forums to attract like-minded business professionals. Create social groups with other virtual assistants and business professionals who can utilize your business skills. The social site, Squidoo, allows members to create unique pages, called lenses, that showcase a particular kind of content giving the VA more exposure on the internet and with the search engines.

Email marketing – Email marketing is much like direct mail except it is never a good idea to email those who have not requested your information, in fact, it’s against the law. A sign-up form must be placed on the virtual assistant’s website to collect email addresses of those who visit the site. Once the visitor has given permission to send emails, the VA can send information periodically to that list. There are services that help website owners keep track of the email addresses on the list, one popular site used for email marketing is www.AWeber.com.

Promotional items – Virtual assistants can get involved in the community by volunteering or sponsoring charity events. By sponsoring local charity functions a VA business can get their business name listed on T-shirts, mugs, and other giveaways. Brand recognition is important, magnets, key chains, and other merchandise that carries the business logo can be given away at trade shows.

Marketing a business is not easy but it is a vital part of gaining new clientele. There isn’t just one way to do it, virtual assistants should try one marketing idea and add others as they deem necessary.

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