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"I wish I'd had this book when starting my business! I have read
many books on the topic of starting a Virtual Assistant business
over the years and can honestly say "Failure Is Not An Option" is
the most comprehensive handbook I've seen. Patty walks you through
every aspect of setting up and starting your VA business, including
examples and templates of important forms and documents. Throughout
the book, concrete examples make it easier to adapt the advice to
your own situation. If you set up your business as you work through
the book, you will have a solid business model and a jump-start on
landing your first client by the end. If you're serious about
starting a Virtual Assistant business, you need to get this book!
It's an investment you won't regret."
Cindy Opong President, Creative Assistants, President-Elect
2009-2010 IVAA, www.ivaa.org,
www.CreativeAssistants.com
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Marketing Resolutions for the Year
By Patty Benton
Everyone knows that with the New Year
comes the big New Year’s resolutions. Many of us make personal goals,
such as losing weight, being nice to our mother-in-law, not eating out so
much, etc. etc. Oddly enough, many of us do not set New Year’s
resolutions for our business. This is very important to do. The
beginning of the year is a great time to look over the past year and look
at our successes, and yes, our failures. What went well last year? What
needs changed from last year? This information will help us set our
resolutions. On top of this, we need to look at how to help our business
grow. In this article, I am going to help you get started on your
“marketing resolutions for the new year.”
-
Look at your past marketing plan.
What worked, what didn’t?
-
Create a new marketing plan for this
new year. Be sure to include the following:
-
Monthly plans. Create a
plan. Don’t just haphazardly advertise; what a waste! What will be your
goal each month? Will you put together a mailing list and send letters
to the same businesses each month for 6 months? Will you add your link
to 5 sites each month? Will you start a company newsletter? Will you
advertise in 5 newsletters each month? Will you apply or call 5
positions posted each day in your local newspaper?
-
Target clientele- It is
very important in marketing to establish who you want to sell your
service or product to, and market to that group. Don’t just market
somewhere because it’s cheap, market because it is going to reach your
target clientele. If I am selling computers, why would I advertise in a
garden magazine? Wouldn’t it be smarter to advertise in an IT magazine
or newsletter even if it costs more?
-
Budget marketing
allowance. How much are you going to budget each month for marketing?
What will you spend that allowance on? Be specific!! How much will you
spend on postage, to advertise in newsletters, etc.?
-
Track your budget-Pay
attention to where you are spending your marketing budget. Make an excel
spreadsheet, create your budget in it, and then track your budget by
noting besides each allowance where you spent it. You can even add a
column to document how many leads you received from each advertising.
This will allow you to better track what is working and what is not
(helpful for monthly marketing and your next new year plan)!
-
Plan your follow-up. Have a plan in
place for when the phone rings from your marketing and it is the first
client. I have an initial contact form in place. I fill out all the
information I need to do follow up calls/emails. Make sure you get
name, number and email (at the least)! I once had a potential client
call and in the middle of the call my daughter felt that was the best
time to give me back her lunch (if you know what I mean). While trying
to talk with the new potential client, and clean her up (without
letting him know I was distracted), I forgot to get his email. This
cut off any future follow-up that I could do with him. If I had my
form, this would not have happened! Have something in place!!
-
Continually check your marketing
plan. Check frequently the success of all of your marketing-that
spreadsheet will be a big help. If you aren’t receiving any calls or
sales from your marketing letters, evaluate why. Try to use a
different marketing letter, or is it that you didn’t create your
follow-up plan. Check the responses your getting from each newsletter
advertisement (track the responses) and evaluate if you are spending
your money on the right newsletter.
Make this year your most successful year
yet! Let’s all grow our businesses and become even more prosperous than
last year! In order to do this, let the world know (okay, your
neighborhood for now, and the world next year) that your business is
there and what you can do for your neighborhood. Create your target, and
go for it!
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