Welcome to another episode of the podcast that teaches you how to be a ridiculously good virtual assistant.
Today I want to talk about marketing your VA business.
Today’s Quote: We need to stop interrupting what people are interested in and BE what people are interested in. — Craig Davis
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Connect with Tracey D’Aviero, VA Coach and Trainer
Episode Notes:
Learning to do marketing is one of the most important skills you can master with your Virtual Assistant business.
But sometimes we get overwhelmed by what we should be doing to get the word out about our business.
Let’s talk about it.
What does marketing mean to you?
To me, when I was starting out, it meant advertising. Promotions. Getting customers.
And that’s not entirely wrong.
I mean those are the objectives of marketing.
But they aren’t what should make up your marketing strategy.
We are in the business of service, of support.
We need to make connections with people who will value our support and our service.
Yes we can sell packages of hours to anyone, but think about it this way.
Would you rather be the person standing on the street corner downtown, handing out flyers with your message of sale!, please hire me on them? If you have ever been nearby one of these people, you know that hits only one in a very few people.
Some people turn the flyer down altogether, with a no thanks. Some walk right by them. Some take the flyer and throw it out at the next trash can. It’s a waste of time and money.
We were at the Senators game the other night and when we arrived we saw folder cards on every second seat in one of the sections. We were not in that section so we didn’t get to see what the card was, but there were a couple of hundred.
As people came in and took their seats, the majority of them looked at it quickly and then dropped it to the floor. No interest.
It wasn’t compelling at all … and we knew that because the people who were sitting down left the cards on the adjacent seats, untouched. It was clearly an advertisement of some kind but it was of no interest to the majority of the guests in that space. much like the flyers on the street corner.
In this case I also felt that whatever the message was on the cards, it was a fail because it was not of interest to almost everyone in the section. If they had offered a free anything, an irresistible free offer, it would have been snapped up! Nothing would been left on any seats.
That was a long example!
The other part of my question is: Or would you rather be the person who is in fact in the right place, with the right people, saying or conveying the right things?
Your marketing plan is the thing that can help you do that.
Instead of standing on a street corner handing out sale flyers, go where your people are already hanging out. Hang out with them. Get to know them. Get them to know you.
And use social media to expand your reach and visibility.
Marketing is really simple. That’s what we are talking about today, Marketing 101.
Marketing is not selling, although it does produce that outcome when done well.
Marketing is not advertising what you do, not really anyway.
Marketing is about creating a system that works to do that. for you to get the word out about your VA business to people who need your help.
There are a lot of keys to good marketing but I want to focus on three today:
Be in the right place and say the right things.
Marketing is not going to work at all if you aren’t in the right place. Like the guy on the street corner or the note cards at the hockey game, you need to make sure that your potential clients are where you are ‘doing’ your marketing.
If you are just shouting from your front porch and hoping someone hears you, it’s going to take so much more effort to get the results, or the clients, than if you are spending your time in a place where there are more interested people than not interested people.
Getting to the right place can be a bit of trial and error at first but once you find your people marketing becomes a lot easier.
So how do you find your place? You need to know who you can help, or want to work with, a target market, and then where they hang out.
That can be from market research or networking or business conversations. How do you know where people are spending their time? You have to ask them.
It could be a local event, or an online group.
The other piece of being in the right place is saying the right thing, or things.
Remember when I said I used to think marketing meant getting customers?
Well yes, that’s the end goal of course.
But it’s not THE main thing to think about with your content or your conversations.
Yes, we have a service to sell.
Yes, we need clients.
Yes, we need to tell them what we can do for them so that they know – but we shouldn’t expect them to look at a social media post and click ‘buy’, or look at our website, and want to send payment.
I suppose it happens, but where the selling part actually takes place shoudl be in a discovery call. I call them sales conversations, you might call them a consult, they are all the same thing.
The discovery call is where you and the client connect to talk about their needs, and what you can do to help. If there is a connection, then you should go to the sale.
Let’s consider this – you are probably going to work with a client for $500 a month. Maybe more. Every single month. So even at that rate, it’s a significant investment for them. Some clients needs even more help than that, and will be spending $1000 or more a month. Significant.
When we are talking about them spending that much money, it needs a phone call or Zoom session.
They deserve a few minutes of our time.
Don’t set up your website for payments and hope that people will just click to spend $1K, hoping you’re a good fit.
I know I’m off track here but it’s really important to state.
My main point is that the SELLING part should take place during your discovery call.
Your content and your conversations should be about HELPING people. All of it.
Sure, you can post your prices on your website or in your social media posts, or answer a question about how much you charge if you are in a conversation with someone.
But, the point of marketing is to drive the client to that all-important discovery call.
You want them to be able to build know, like and trust with you.
Know – they need to learn who you are, what you do, who you support, and why they should consider working with you.
Like – with a service based business, it’s essential that you and your clients get along. I have worked with clients who I did not care for, and it makes for a very long and hard relationship.
Trust – you are gaining access to their baby – their business. No one cares more about their business than they do, and to pass over anything to someone else that impacts it can be hard. They need to know that you will care about their business, and that takes trust.
Get visibility and get noticed
Marketing is 100% about being seen.
Visibility is one of the things you need to strive for.
This goes back to what I was talking about earlier – where are your people?
In order for them to see you , or come across you, you need to BE where they are.
We call it to go where they are hanging out.
Find where your people are talking to other people about business.
That could be a local networking event (regular one), a local or virtual business event, a Facebook group, on LinkedIn, a conference, lots of places.
Really any business situation is an opportunity to be visible.
I have bought vendor tables at lots of events where my clients were going to learn from someone else. I have attended business learning events as a customer and networked all day long or multiple days, with people who are my potential clients.
I have flown long ways to attend multi day conferences, when my community was also going.
To get clients, you need to become a part of a community- and you need them to see you and get to know you.
Your marketing is about networking, but it’s also about using social media and SEO to help get you more visibility.
When I meet anyone, whether it’s in person or through a Facebook group interaction, I go and look them up. I check out their LinkedIn profile, their website if they have one, the rest of their social media.
I want to get to know them in the places that they are showcasing themselves online.
And your clients are going to do the same thing for you.
If they are on a social media platform then they should see consistent content from you that talks about what they need help with.
If they are attending an event, they should see you and hear you talking about what they need help with. Or they should be able to talk to others there about what they need help with, and your name should come up.
And that’s why selling should not be the main part of it.
Instead, you should be building credibility, showcasing your expertise.
And guess what? That is SO much easier!
And so much more fun.
Focus on getting seen – getting visibility for you and your business – that should be the goal of your marketing.
Your clients should build that know, like and trust with you. And when you are really clear about who you can help and how, the RIGHT people will want to book discovery calls with you, and then you can make your sale.
The last key to marketing that I want to cover in this episode is this:
Be interesting, and interested.
I can’t stress this message enough … make your content interesting.
What is interesting to your clients?
Well if you are a bookkeeper, you don’t want to post things about how great it is to be a VA or a bookkeeper. You probably would do better to post things about bookkeeping that your clients would be interested in reading about.
Remember it’s about building your authority in your services.
So things like how to get your books organized, or which systems to use, or tips for deductions or taxes, things like that. What do THEY want to read about or hear about? And yes, you can post about how to work with a VA too.
Think about it yourself. What are you interested in learning about and why? It doesn’t have to be business related – what do you look for when you are considering making a purchase? Reviews? Demos? Statistics? That’s exactly what your client is doing too. They want to build the trust in your ability to help them with their business. Post about that.
In terms of what kind of content to post, video is huge nowadays. It might be hard for you to do, but it builds that know like and trust factor faster than images or words can.
And obviously for your networking, it’s the same principle. You are on video – you are in person!
Be interested in who is around you. Create content for them. Have conversations with them.
Being interested is about caring what they want to read about, or how they work, or what they should know – like trends in their industry. Taking considerations to figure out will HELP them every day is the most important thing.
Being interestING is also important. If you are interesting, then that’s a draw in itself. Whether it’s in your content or when you are networking.
Be interesting. How? The best way I know is two fold – asking questions of the person you are having a conversations with, and then by telling stories about how you have helped others with similar issues.
Asking questions will get you all the information you need to create your content AND to have great conversations with people at any event.
If you ask someone how they find their clients, how they work with them, how they create their content, whether they host events, if they sell courses … any number of questions … then you have the answers going into the next conversations.
If you talk to a real estate agent once and ask great questions, then the next one you talk to you will have insider info … you can use their language. You can use their terminology. They will be amazed that you understand their business and they will trust you.
See how it works?
Marketing 101 is simple at its most basic.
Be in the right place and say the right things.
Get visibility and get noticed.
Be interested and be interesting.
There are a lot of other things that go into it like marketing tactics, content, email and social media. seo, key performance indicators.
But if you can master the basics, you can get eyes on your business super easily.
And that brings us back to today’s quote: We need to stop interrupting what people are interested in and BE what people are interested in.
This is the goal of your marketing. Be what people are interested in. Whether that’s online or in person. Stop trying to jump in and get noticed, and instead be what people seek out. They are looking for you. Help them find YOU!
I’m going to leave it here for this week. Thanks for listening!
Do You Need Help?
If you need help figuring out how to market your VA business easily and effectively, get in touch with me. I’m here to help. It’s the only reason I’m here at all, as you know. To help you become a ridiculously good VA.
I have helped hundreds of VAs who are stuck get moving through private coaching, group coaching, and live and self study trainings. If you want to talk about how we can work together, let’s connect on a Cut to the Chase call. You can book yours at YourVAMentor.com/chase
Thanks for tuning in this week! I’ll see you next time!
What You Need to Do Next:
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