Successful Marketing – Part I

At EA to VA we have conducted several surveys over the past several years.  The most popular question that we receive is, “How do I get clients and run a successful business?”  This is a very important question.  If you belong to the EA to VA community, you know that there are many resources available to you that will teach you how to run a solid Virtual Assistance business.  We encourage you to keep following the blog and post comments and questions when they arise.  Also, take advantage of the many resources within the weekly ezine.

We will always share tips, strategies and experiences on how to get the best out of your marketing efforts.  You will also continue to learn new strategies for marketing.  In this blog post, I want to highlight several strategies that you can use to boost your business by attracting more clients.

Be Professional: Before you ever enroll your first client to work with you, it is important that you decide to be professional in all of your business dealings.  Professionalism is both a mindset and a way in which you conduct yourself.  When you decide to be a true professional in all that you do, it will be an unspoken message that you are a force to be reckoned with.  That is how you want people to respect your business.

Target Marketing: Think about the type of businesses that you want your company to focus its’ energy on.  When you focus on one target market, this group of professionals will look to you as the person who is capable of solving their need for virtual assistance.  Think about your own needs when you make a purchase of some sort.  If you had a desire for Mexican food, would you dine at a restaurant that promoted waffles and chicken, Indian, Chinese and Mexican food?  It is not likely.  You want to eat at a place that focuses strictly on Mexican food.  It is all that they do and they prepare it very well.

Warm Marketing: Your marketing strategy should include associates that you are close too.  If you made a list of all of the people who are in your network, you would be surprised at the number of people that you have access to.  All of the individuals have their own networks as well.  If you educate the people in your network about your business goals and the market that you are serving, you may be surprised by the number of leads that you get for prospective clients.

Networking: It is imperative that you search for opportunities to get to know new business people.  The more you expand your network, the more opportunities you will create for yourself to find clients.  Networking in person is much more powerful than networking online.  Allow in person networking efforts to enhance your online networking.

Website: The website that you create must be an expression of you.  It is your online mouthpiece.  Your website speaks in your behalf when prospective clients are searching the Internet for the solutions to their problems.  Think about the problems that you solve for your clients.  Why are you THE virtual professional that they need to partner with?  How will they benefit from working with you?  These are questions that need to be answered on your number one marketing tool, you website.

These are just a few matters to consider when you are focusing on your marketing strategies. Post any questions that you may have about marketing your VA services to prospective clients.  For further assistance, join us in our LinkedIn forum.