Sometimes the marketing and promotion of your business gets put on the backburner because you are focused on other parts of our business. Have you ever been in this situation? I know I have! A situation where your number of clients and leads start to dwindle because marketing was not your priority.
In this interview with Michelle Salater from Written By Sumer, she explains how she is able to make use of a Virtual Assistant to help her market and promote her business in order to keep her pipeline of leads flowing so that she gets more clients. She also shares tips on how you can implement the same processes in your business so that your marketing engine remains on full blast even while you focus on your core competencies.
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In her own words:
I am an entrepreneur who has successfully used Virtual Assistants (VA) to build my business. I am the owner of Sumer, LLC, a company specializing in copywriting, SEO copywriting, and the marketing and promotion of blogs and websites after they’ve launched. In two years, I’ve grown my business from just myself and my VA to a four person team. Each quarter, my business increases an average of 28%, and much of our success is due to the digital / technological expertise of our VAs. As a digital marketing agency, we are so busy doing work for everyone else, that it’s easy to fall into the trap of not marketing our own company. However, our VA keeps the marketing machine running for us and we continue to grow and thrive.
Here are 3 Challenges I have faced making use of Virtual Assistants and the Solutions I found:
- Challenge #1: Not properly communicating what I needed and not knowing what my VA really could do for me. Solution: I solved this problem by holding a monthly meeting with my VA. During this meeting, I tell her my plans / marketing plans for the upcoming months and ask for her feedback. What I found is that she has a great deal of knowledge regarding how to set things up, how to execute my plans. We talk it over and formulate a strategic plan, set deadlines, etc.
- Challenge #2: Not knowing what to delegate. Solution: For 2 weeks, I kept track in a journal what I hated doing and tasks that I shouldn’t be doing. I went over the list after 2 weeks and circled what I could delegate to my VA. Then, she and I had a call and went over the list.
- Challenge #3: Once I knew what I needed done, I struggled with creating systems standards and accountability. Solution: I worked with my VA to create the systems and we documented everything and put it in the company procedure manual. Now, if I change VA’s, I can hand this information off to a new one.
Steps on how you can follow my success with Virtual Assistants:
- Get clear about what you want your VA to do. Keep a running list of what you can or you should delegate.
- Create a job description and responsibility list for your VA. Be very clear on the results you want your VA to produce, how they should behave, tasks he/she needs to complete.
- When you find a VA to work with, enroll your VA in your vision, your goals. You want to make sure your VA is excited about what you do and is ready to help.
- Ask your VA to help you create a Systems manual.
- Hold monthly meetings with your VA. Create an agenda beforehand and keep the meeting focused on the agenda items.
- Never hesitate to ask your VA for help or advice. In fact, you are paying your VA to assist you and he/she is the expert at helping business owners so make sure to ask and listen to what they have to say.
Michelle is an award-winning writer, author, and founder of Sumer. She has a passion for adventure, writing and copywriting. In 2009, she won the Charleston Business Journal’s Forty under 40 award for her business and community leadership.
Connect with Michelle Salater:
Via her company website www.WrittenBySumer.com
On Twitter @writtenbysumer
On her Facebook page
Question for you:
What steps have you taken to keep marketing and promoting your business especially if you do not particularly like marketing?
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