Today’s Quote: If social media is the cocktail party, then email marketing is the ‘meet up for coffee’. The original 1 to 1 channel – Erik Harbison
Welcome to another episode of the podcast that teaches you how to be a ridiculously good virtual assistant.
Today I am going to talk about email lists and why Virtual Assistants need one of their own.
Click the play button above to tune in, or choose your favourite podcast player below:
Connect with Tracey D’Aviero, VA Coach and Trainer
Episode Notes:
Creating a newsletter for your VA business probably seems like a waste of time.
You don’t need hundreds of clients, right?
Right – you don’t need a mailing list that has thousands of people on it.
But that doesn’t mean that it’s not a good marketing tool for your VA business.
Everything is relative, and you can get clients from your email list even if you just have 100 people on it. It just has to be the right 100 people.
The same as networking, you want to connect with people one to one – -and like our quote today says, your email list is the original 1 to 1 communication tool.
it’s not about getting hundreds of subscribers – everyone started out with one! it’s about creating an engaging audience that keeps up with what you are doing in your business.
Let’s first talk about why it’s a good idea:
Aside from the thought about it being a marketing tool – which can feel salesy and icky, just think about it as a really good habit to get into. Here’s why:
When you put together a regular newsletter, you get practice with writing about business.
You get to share your expertise and write professionally so that people can learn from you and also connect with you.
The more you do anything, the better you get at it.
And writing is super easy because you don’t have to feel nervous or anxious about people seeing you do it. You just need to write about what you know.
Your clients need to feel that they can trust you – it’s one of the most common reasons that small business owners tell me that they don’t work with a VA – because they have a lack of trust.
Not in you, they don’t even know you.
Just in general. They don’t know how to trust someone they have never met – and may never meet! – to log in to their systems, to see the back end of their business, to handle their money, or deal with their clients.
It’s a really foreign concept for many people who have never worked with someone who isn’t in the same office as them.
And one of the best things we can do to build up their trust is to be available for them to get to know.
A newsletter can help you do exactly that.
So like I say the more you do it the better you get at it. Plan on at least a monthly newsletter when you start out – move to biweekly or weekly as soon as you can.
Sending out a regular newsletter helps you to create content about things that your audience – your clients – don’t do well, or don’t know anything about.
And it gives you a reason to connect with them regularly without feeling salesy.
Which brings me to what you can put into your newsletter.
The content is simple – it doesn’t have to be a crazy busy newsletter.
I put in a personal note, usually with a picture.
Then I say what is happening this week or in the coming weeks.
Then I give some resources – a featured blog post, video, or event coming up.
And contact links.
You don’t have to put in personal stuff if you don’t want to – I find its a good ice breaker for each newsletter so it isn’t just a bunch of links.
Whatever you do, you want to have a call to action, just as any social media post or blog post.
Being able to tell someone to ‘hit reply’ is one of the easiest calls to action, and it can help them confidently reach out to you to ask questions or inquire about whether you can help them.
And they will!
You can share client stories or a new blog post, or successes you have had – things you have learned, or mistakes you have made (be careful with these, always tell how you fixed them!) – even show them behind the scenes of working with a VA.
Clients are so curious – and they don’t often have a trusted source to tell them what they can do with support for their business – become that person for them.
As long as your content is interesting, they will look forward to getting it.
And don’t forget to add your affiliate links if you set those up after the last podcast episode!
If you haven’t listened to that one yet, be sure you do – your newsletter is exactly the place to use all of them!
So how do you get a newsletter started easily? A little planning.
Like you did for your blog, plan out your topics. Decide which ‘regular’ sections you want to include (you can change these out if you like) – and decide what you are going to put in each of them.
Create bullet point notes to start compiling your content for each issue or email. Don’t try to sit down and do it all at once – it simply takes too long.
Break the create tasks into small tasks so you can do a little at a time – one step forward takes less time and helps a big task like a newsletter go much more easily.
Stories sell, so the more you can use stories in your copy the better. If you are going to reference a particular tool you use to help your clients, see if you can think of a situation where you have worked with a client and specifically describe how it helped them. Or if you haven’t got a story, create one – how WOULD you help your client with it? And talk about that. It’s really easy once you get started.
Although it seems easy to post things on social to get clients, you need to realize that a lot of your followers are probably not even seeing your posts. The social media platforms are really moving to paid promotion, and unless you are super active on social your people may never see what you want – or at least not often enough to move them into the action of buying.
Having your stuff show up in their inbox can bridge the gap much faster – when you provide them with quality content regularly. So plan it, and you can!
And of course you need to give them an incentive to give you their email address to begin with. That’s what I call a freebie.
Most people will not just sign up to get a newsletter, so you need to create something that they can get instant gratification from – like a PDF or ebook or something that they can get a quick win from.
I’m not going to talk about freebies in this episode, but stay tuned for an upcoming episode for that!
Then all you have to do next is find a program that automates the sending and you are good to go. There are all kinds of them, and some have free levels or aren’t very expensive.
Be sure that you use one of these platforms, they make it easy to create opt in forms that you can use anywhere.
Don’t spam people. Collect your names ethically and treat them like your friends. Like you would want to be treated yourself.
Put your opt in box / link everywhere – on social media, on your website and in all the emails you send out too.
Don’t worry about list size.
Don’t worry about unsubscribes.
Worry about engaging your audience and providing them them with exclusive information – and yes, talk about your services in a way that feels natural and not salesy.
When you send out a newsletter regularly, and you set up a process to do it that is efficient and helps you to make it great, you become better at it. You get to enjoy it and your audience will too!
Keep your target market in mind at all times so you can find interesting tidbits for them in your normal ‘surfing’, and you can seek out statistics, quotes, information, trends and more that are directly related to their business.
Become their expert!
And remember too that if you are a VA with a newsletter, you are in the minority! So their inboxes are not going to be filled with VA newsletters – you will have a real leg up by presenting a polished and professional email for them regularly. They will know you, like, you, and trust you.
And yes, they will want to work with you.
Need Some Help?
This is exactly what I help VAs do. As a VA coach and trainer, I help you set yourself up for success, helping you fix the specific things that are going wrong in your business. When we work together either privately or in a group we talk specifically about your business and you – there is no one stop solution for everyone when it comes to service businesses like VA businesses.
I’ll help you get clarity around your issues, and cheer you on as you walk through the steps to fix them.
I’ve helped hundreds of VAs through their challenges and got them on their way to growing their business and the lifestyle that they dream of.
I’d love to do the same for you.
You can work with me privately, or you can join The Virtual Circle, my mastermind group for Virtual Assistants. Check it out at www.YourVAMentor.com/TVC (the virtual circle) – I bet it’s exactly what you need to start running the VA business you dreamed of.
Reach out to me if you are interested.
That’s all I’ve got for you this week, see you next time!