How to Market your Virtual Assistant Business?

Posted on February 16, 2008 by lbelan

Anyone who owns a business will know that marketing is a necessity. We would all love to be able to advertise on television, radio, in newpapers, magazines, billboards, etc. The cost could easily add up and, let’s face it, small business owners don’t have the budgets that the big boys do.

This is not to say that we should give up the idea of promoting our business. There are many inexpensive ways to promote your business that are just as effective that don’t require thousands of dollars.

A great way to market your virtual assistant business is through networking. There are many inexpensive or even free networking organizations in every city. Your local Chamber of Commerce is a good place to start. You could become an active member in discussion boards or create your own free blog on many of the blogging sites that are out there such as WordPress, Blogger, Facebook, etc. Offer advice and tips when posting on discussion boards or blogs. This is a good way to establish yourself as an expert and this can do wonders for your virtual assistant business because people will come to you first.

Another good way to get the word out about your business is to volunteer your time and services to charities and non-profit organizations. A great way to network locally! Invest in business cards that are relatively inexpensive these days. A good site that I’ve found is www.vistaprint.com. They have some really affordable prices!

Once you’ve got your business cards printed up keep them handy and with you at all times. Hand them out to friends, acquaintances, leave some at places you frequent locally like your hairdresser’s and other local businesses. Many such establishments are willing to help so be sure to ask! When leaving your business cards with others be sure to give them two: one for themselves and one to pass along.

Some of your local newspapers are a good place to advertise your business. You’d be surprised how inexpensive these are and the numbers of readers they reach that might be small business owners in your area that need some help! Very often small business owners prefer to work with someone locally.

These are just some of the ways you can market your business inexpensively. I hope this has been helpful. If you’ve tried other methods to market your Virtual Assistant business that have worked for you, we want to know! Tell us about it! :)

Virtually yours,
Linda Belan
Your Outsource Solutions, LLC
www.youroutsourcesolutions.com

Filed under: Internet Marketing, Small Business, Work From Home, virtual assistant | Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

« »

17 Responses

  1. Matt Hanson, on February 16th, 2008 at 10:40 am Said:

    I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.

    Matt Hanson

  3. lbelan, on February 16th, 2008 at 10:47 am Said:

    Hi Matt,

    Thanks for the words of encouragement and for adding me to your RSS feed!! :)

    Linda Belan

  4. How to Market your Virtual Assistant Business?, on February 16th, 2008 at 11:53 am Said:

    [...] post by Virtual Assistant’s Networking A.at_adv_here_7881, A.at_pow_by_7881 {font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; [...]

  6. lea green, on February 17th, 2008 at 5:58 am Said:

    Hi Linda.
    I can recommend another way to promote a business and it’s magnets. I’ve found at http://www.dcp-print.com special offer for free magnetic business cards. When you design it with fine colors and so on – people tend to leave it on their fridge door or something like that.

  7. lbelan, on February 17th, 2008 at 7:59 am Said:

    Hi Lea,

    Thanks for the great tip!! It never occurred to me to use magnets. This is why I created this blog so we can share great ideas like this! I will check out the web site.

    Thanks for stopping by. :)

    Linda…

  8. Giblink, on February 18th, 2008 at 3:56 am Said:

    Great Post! Cheers!

  9. lbelan, on February 18th, 2008 at 9:32 am Said:

    Thanks, appreciate it!

  10. Jack, on February 20th, 2008 at 4:53 am Said:

    I have no doubt why some of your posts became a technorati favorite. I still have to work a long way to be like yours.

  11. lbelan, on February 20th, 2008 at 10:01 am Said:

    Hi Jack,

    Thanks for the comment. It’s appreciated.;) I try to post articles that would be of interest to my readers and hopefully help them with building their VA business. Stay tuned for more…

    Linda…

  12. Nataly, on February 24th, 2008 at 7:34 am Said:

    I had a very good experience with http://www.dcp-print.com in the past but haven’t tried their business magnets (i ordered their 250 free business cards). Lea – can you give some more detils regarding those fridge magmets?

  13. Christie, on February 25th, 2008 at 5:10 pm Said:

    Thanks for the tips. I have been doing VA for family and friends for about 10 years and I just decided to branch out and start marketing myself. I look forward to reading more from you.

  14. lbelan, on February 25th, 2008 at 9:17 pm Said:

    Hi Christie,

    Thanks for the comment! I will try not to let my readers down and come up with more good information and advice.

    Cheers,

    Linda…

  15. Alison Heath, on March 20th, 2008 at 4:37 am Said:

    I wasn’t sure about advertising my Virtual Assistant business in my local paper but after reading your advice I am going to give it a go .

    I will let you know how it goes !

  16. lbelan, on March 21st, 2008 at 8:36 am Said:

    Hi Alison,

    I’m glad you find my article helpful. Yes, please let me know how it goes. If you need to discuss, just email me. Good luck!!

    Cheers,
    Linda…

  17. Erica, on July 9th, 2008 at 3:39 pm Said:

    Hi Linda,
    I just started my VA business and I too was confused on the best way to market my business. It is my goal to leave my corporate job and dedicate myself to my business 100% of the time. Thanks for your post.

Leave a Reply