What small business owner wouldn’t jump at the chance to spend their valuable time on tasks that will propel their business forward?
Why Your Business Needs a Virtual Assistant for Marketing
Every entrepreneur knows how tiring it can be to run a small business. There are constantly things to do all the time, every day. Even when you’ve technically “clocked out,” it isn’t uncommon for your mind to still be at work, mentally going over the things that still need to be completed. Oftentimes, many of these are mundane, time-consuming tasks that are filling your hours, making it more difficult to do things like actually run your business.
Even so, those tasks do need to get done. Why not hire a virtual assistant? These professionals are skilled in a variety of areas, from basic administrative work to bookkeeping. One particular area they may be able to make quite a big deal of difference in is marketing.
Quite a few digital marketing tasks do not require the skill of a professional marketer, especially if you are a small business that does not yet have the need for a designated marketing team. A virtual assistant could aid you with some digital marketing tasks so that you have time to spend on more demanding areas. Read on to understand more about the benefits and why you should hire a virtual assistant to help with your digital marketing tasks.
How is a virtual assistant beneficial?
No matter what kind of business you are, you need digital marketing. These online marketing campaigns are ways that companies can grow and expand, and it’s important for you to get on board.
Depending on the type of digital marketing you are going for, you may find it necessary to have promotions, manage social media content, work with partners, and do much more. It is possible to automate some things — the scheduling of social media posts, for instance — but as your business grows, your marketing efforts will have to as well.
Virtual assistants are contract workers that typically work by the hour, meaning you don’t need to pay for benefits, training, tax, work space, or much else. All you need to pay for is the hours they worked. Additionally, they’ve probably already got some training or experience in terms of digital marketing tasks, so you won’t have to do much other than briefing.
With a virtual assistant, you can reduce the length of your to-do list significantly and spend more time on the things that matter. He or she will continue to make sure your necessary marketing tasks still get done while minimizing the bother of training, paying, and managing a full-time in-house assistant.
How can a virtual assistant help me with marketing?
Just about everyone uses social media and other digital platforms nowadays. However, it isn’t just anyone who can run a good social media marketing campaign. Digital marketing requires some degree of expertise.
Though a virtual assistant definitely won’t be as technically skilled as a professional marketer, you may be able to find one who has some amount of skill and experience and has a good grasp of inbound marketing. They may have worked with other businesses that required some digital marketing work and have developed skills that they will be able to apply to your business.
Here are a few specific marketing tasks a virtual assistant can take over:
Email Marketing
A lot of small businesses choose to regularly send out newsletters to a mailing list in order to keep in contact with their audience. It may be to give them informative material to read, or even to offer special promotions exclusive only to them. Many companies choose to use email management systems such as MailChimp.
Though software does make it easier, email marketing can still be pretty time-consuming. A virtual assistant can save you quite a bit of time by scheduling your email newsletters, formatting content to make it attractive, and maybe even writing some content. Many of them may already have experience with email management software and will able to do it quickly and efficiently.
Content Marketing
It’s important for your business to produce content in order to enhance your brand presence and encourage sales. That said, it is another one of those time-consuming tasks. You need to put together quality, interesting content to draw your target market in, so it’s important not to neglect it. Does this mean you have to either hire a content writer or add that task to the end of your extensive to-do list? Nope! Opt for a virtual assistant.
Some virtual assistants have had experience writing content for business that will drive sales. And, if content writing is a priority for you, find one of these people. Your blog posts, social media captions, newsletters, and email can be written by a virtual assistant, which will clear up a significant amount of time for you. This will do wonders for your content marketing efforts.
SEO
Search engine optimization is one of the more time-consuming tasks of digital marketing. It requires constant attention. Your keywords have to be reevaluated, content has to be optimized, and your website and other social media channels have to as well.
A virtual assistant trained in SEO tasks will be able to contribute to website traffic growth, generating high-quality leads, and potentially driving sales. You don’t want just anyone to visit your site — you want people who want you.
Social Media
Most businesses have several social media channels they use to connect to their audience. It’s an incredibly useful tool, but one that requires constant attention. A virtual assistant could help you create an appealing business profile on different social media platforms (or to improve upon existing ones) and keep it updated with content for your audience to enjoy. They may also be able to continue to engage with your audience, making your customers and potential customers feel valued — increasing brand loyalty.
Conclusion
Digital marketing is not a core business activity, but it is definitely an important business task. It is one that cannot be neglected. However, for small business owners, these tasks can be extremely time-consuming.
With a virtual assistant, you will be able to free your schedule for the things that you really need to do while knowing that your digital marketing efforts aren’t being neglected. You won’t be spending a huge sum on additional in-house staff, but you’ll still have someone who helps to better the business and drive sales.
9 Things a Virtual Assistant Can Do Better (and Cheaper) Than You
Virtual assistants can be incredibly helpful to small businesses. Oftentimes little things get
neglected, like thank you cards for incredible suppliers or new clients. Besides those little things though, there are quite a lot of other tasks that virtual assistants can take on to free up your schedule. Here are a few:
Bookkeeping: One of the basic tasks that virtual assistants can take off your hands is bookkeeping. They can keep track of bills, invoices, receipts, and lots of other things so that you never have to fall behind on payments.
Online Research: Though you may not be ready to hire a dedicated marketing or business analyst, you may find great value in having a virtual assistant doing some business research for you. They can look for information on competitors, look at new products in the industry, and even do background checks on applicants or other individuals coming into contact with your business.
Database Entry: Data entry is incredibly dull, but essential. Don’t let the mundane task of updating client information fill up your time. Simply let your virtual assistant know exactly what you need, and hurry off to your more pressing business meeting.
PowerPoint Presentations: Need a PowerPoint presentation for an important meeting? Have a virtual assistant transform your data into a beautiful, professional presentation.
Email Management: At times, email can be an incredible waste of time. A virtual assistant can filter your inbox, marking the ones that need immediate attention, the ones that can be dealt with later, and even deal with basic replies by themselves. Of course, this requires some trust and training, so spend some time with your virtual assistant before you have them take care of your email.
Social Tasks: Those little extra things do make a difference in professional relationships. Send out little thank you notes or gift baskets for major suppliers or clients with the help of a virtual assistant.
Travel Research: Got a business trip coming up? You don’t have to deal with managing your trip yourself. With a virtual assistant, you can simply have someone book your flight, your hotel, and even send you itineraries for your journey.
Meeting Management: Another big time waster is meeting management. A virtual assistant can schedule and manage your calendar for you, ensuring you don’t schedule anything on top of another obligation.
Industry Research: As a business owner, it’s important for you to stay on top of industry news and trends. However, it can be time consuming to look for and curate all the information yourself. You can hire a virtual assistant to keep track of those major industry changes for you, ensuring you never have to smile cluelessly when a client or another person brings it up.