Are you writing to a specific audience? If you don’t, your message might not be heard. Such a waste of your time and energy.
As Virtual Assistants, we all spend a lot of time marketing our businesses. Finding clients is one of the biggest tasks that takes up our time.
But if you aren’t doing it right, you could be wasting a lot of time and energy.
Do you have a target audience that you are communicating to?
Many VAs I talk to have not narrowed down their focus yet.
This happens for a number of reasons.
- You think you have to offer specialized services if you ‘niche’ down.
- You are afraid of losing business if someone comes along that doesn’t fit that target.
- You literally just have no idea who to choose, so you don’t.
I hear these three reasons all the time. They are valid excuses, but they will keep you stuck.
If you are struggling to find clients and you are using any of these excuses for not choosing a target niche, I’m here to let you know that it’s time to make some decisions!
Here is how to break through these thought patterns:
1. Offering Specialized Services
When you serve a particular market, you don’t have to specialize in something that you don’t already know how to do.
When you are targeting a group of people to market your business to, you still focus on the services that you offer NOW – that’s part of how you decide which clients to target.
You don’t go after a group of people that you are not qualified to support. You choose the services you want to offer, and then seek out industries or groups that need those services. It’s a win-win for both of you!
2. Saying NO to Others
Marketing means putting your message out there in front of people that you know you can be of support to. It’s advertising, for lack of a better word. You are trying to attract the attention of the ideal clients that you would love to work with.
That doesn’t mean in any way that you can’t work with someone else if you want to. If you are targeting financial professionals and an electrician or a life coach comes along and wants you to work with them, you can totally choose to do that as well.
Don’t confuse marketing with making actual choices about which clients to work with. Marketing well will get your message out in front of lots of people – and you get to choose who you work with!
3. Paralyzed By Decisions
Many VAs I talk to just have no idea who needs their services. This is a totally normal thing. It’s not just you! If you have never learned to do analysis or research like this, it’s okay to not know. But it’s important to LEARN to do it. How? Talk to someone!
I teach my students and clients to do a Skills Inventory that helps them determine which are their best service offerings, and then we talk about which industries might be able to use them.
You have to think about what you can offer clients, and consider how others might use a VA in their business. It’s easier than you think, but it often takes having a discussion with another business owner to get unstuck.
Choosing a target market will help you get clarity about specifically who you can help and what that means to their business. That clarity will carry over into your marketing, your networking, and any conversations you have about your business.
People will get a better understanding of what you do – which is the whole point of marketing!
When what you are writing or saying is specific and clear, you will save time, energy and you will get clients!
For more tips to help you get your VA business moving, so that you are headed towards success, check out this free video: Take Action and Stop Making Excuses. There are more than 50 free videos for VA on my Youtube channel!