Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

My point is that anything that requires that much explanation is going to be an uphill battle when it comes to selling. People like to deal with specialists, not generalists. 

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Exactly Steve - which is why her title is a marketing issue. 

Yup. Steve said it.

Alright, I produce maple stuff.  It`s in the food group.  I`ve got what I feel is a very unique and great product (Pure Granulated Maple Sugar).  Along with that, I feel we have a pretty good web site.  I need traffic to my site and then turn over to sales from that traffic. 

Very few people have ever heard of maple sugar.  So, what I really am trying to do is create a market for something nobody has heard of let alone think they want.

With all of the above said, are you saying you can write blogs or ezine articles for me that would drive traffic to my web site? Or what would you be able to do for me as a specialty food producer who is absolutely computer illiterate, (you will notice I have yet to figure out how to put a picture up on my side bar).  What would the cost to benefit ratio be.  What would you do for me as my VA if I were to say I want to hire you?

Greg

Kate, I think there`s definitely potential to find clients in the food/wine industry.

I`m working with a public relations professional right now who specializes in the wine industry, and all of her clients are vintners. I think you could probably find niche clients not only with local winery owners (there are several in my state and they do utilize newsletters to keep in touch with customers and wine enthusiasts), as well as the professionals (like my PR person) who work with that market.

Keep asking those questions, digging around, researching the market, and you`ll find your path to them. :)

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Danielle Keister, The Relief Virtual Assistance
Administrative Support Services for Business Consultants and PR Professionals | Founder, Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce

Virtual Assistance is the profession of self-employed administrative professionals. What a Virtual Assistant would provide is the administrative support to execute someone`s blog or ezine and so forth.

Take a blog for example. A Virtual Assistant isn`t going to write the blog posts, But, a client might like to write several posts at once, maybe even in stream-of-consciousness style. The client can then have their Virtual Assistant go in to proofread, edit and cleanup posts, perhaps find suitable stock images to add visual interest, and schedule the posts for publication.

A Virtual Assistant isn`t going to write a client`s newsletter (although there are VAs who do also happen to be talented writers and their clients can avail themselves of those services as well), but they can input the articles, proof and edit them, put together basic print or ezine layouts, and work with ezine delivery product such as Constant Contact or IntelliContact.

Clients also often have their Virtual Assistant take care of their list management using products like Aweber. In that case, the Virtual Assistant can set up campaigns according to client specifications, proof, edit and input the messages, schedule autoresponders, send out broadcast messages, create the html code for registrations forms and place it on the client`s websites... the list goes on.

All of this kind of work is administrative execution, and just a few examples of the vast amount of administrative support that Virtual Assistants can provide for clients.  

Kate, I didn`t realize you had another thread on this topic and I responded to your other post as well. I think you can find a niche market working with small vintners and the professionals who work with them. For example, I`m working with a public relations professional whose niche is the wine industry. All of her clients are boutique vintners. Keep asking those questions and poking around, and you`ll eventually find all your answers. :)

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Danielle Keister, The Relief Virtual Assistance
Administrative Support Services for Business Consultants and PR Professionals | Founder, Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce

A VA would also likely do formatting, copy-editing and proofing, and perhaps offer some suggestions for the overall  look and feel, and useability of  what the site owner wrote for the content.

The assistant isn`t a writer---that`s a career path in itself. Nor is an assistant an SEO expert, site developer, or marketing analyst.

Hi all,

I am new to this forum, but noticed there is an opportunity here to educate.  I am both an educator and a Virtual Assistant.  I actually changed my title to Chief Villager since that sounds more fun and intriguing, and probably just as ambiguous.

The main point I would like to discuss is how a virtual professional, remote office manager, virtual assistant, or whatever we choose to call ourselves, enhances businesses across the globe. 

We operate remotely largely so our clients do not have the added high costs of employees.  We typically operate on a higher level than our in-house counterparts.  Many of us are more of the executive assistant/office manager types, and many of us have left corporate to hang up our own shingle.  The industry was already dubbed `Virtual Assistant` before many of us came on the scene; the industry was started in 1996.  We enhance our client`s businesses by working in long-term collaborative relationships with our clients sort of like an executive assistant or office manager, except, we work for ourselves and choose who we work with.

To clarify some of the confusion, many of us do have high level writing skills and write press releases, ghost write for authors, specialize in SEO copy, shopping cart set up and implementation, blogs, etc. for coaches, authors, speakers, entrepreneurs, marketing gurus, real estate professionals, etc. 

Just Google the term Virtual Assistant and you`ll get millions of us.  Who knows, maybe some of you could use a VA versus an in-house assistant.  We are high level and really enjoy partnering with our clients to help them grow their businesses whether setting up and marketing the blog, website, online marketing, etc.  Most of us are very tech savvy...we have to be to stay on the cutting edge and work remotely.

In fact, one of our colleagues, Karen Reddick, was on the Today show about a week or so ago.  She works remotely from Colorado with a travel agency in Illinois.  I have clients scattered across the US and Puerto Rico.  So, geography is no longer an obstacle.  A brick and mortar business is not necessarily a must-have either.

Check out our main organization`s website and what we do www.thevirtualnation.com.  We are an educational destination for Virtual Assistants and Virtual Professionals around the globe.  Our motto is: "If it takes a village to raise a child, then it takes a virtual village to grow a successful business."

We also have a client portal from which our clients can determine if our skills set, values and work style are a fit for them. www.michelleulrich.com.

I know it`s hard to comprehend all these new ways of doing business, but it`s the wave of the future...especially with more corporations like Boeing asking management to go virtual, fuel prices creeping higher everyday, and families wanting/demanding more flexibility.

California has over half a dozen community colleges teaching people how to become effective, successful Virtual Assistants.  I am on a statewide committee developing standards for our state and we have colleagues in other states like Oregon and Colorado looking at our curriculum to develop their own certificates, AA and AS degrees.  In fact, we`ve already been discussing our career ladder for BA and BS degrees in specialized fields of Real Estate Virtual Assistance, Insurance Virtual Assistance, and many others.

With Gratitude,
Michelle Ulrich, Chief Villager & President
The Virtual Nation (tm)
PO Box 3692, Citrus Heights, CA 95611
(916) 536-9799 Office
michelle@thevirtualnation.com
www.thevirtualnation.com
www.michelleulrich.com

Michelle - There was really no confusion about what a virtual assistant can do. The issue is selling your services, and coming up with the right terminology to make you sound like a good value to the niche you are trying to break in to. I have rephrased what my company "does" several times to make it more clear to a potential client. The original poster is not vague in her skills ... she is vague in her description of the position she is looking for and the value she will offer to a client. So regardless of what a VA can or can`t do ... she really just needs to work on her copywriting for the job description so that she can attract some clients in her niche field!

So how about it Kate? We should help you with your marketing so you can land that awesome job you are looking for! (This is no offense to you ... we were just confused when you first started, so I just want to make sure you land those perfect clients by not confusing them!)

HI Greg - THANK YOU for asking a question I CAN answer! I am in Connecticut and can safely say I am the only VA who has in their background that they worked at Old Sturbridge Village History Museum and can cook an entire meal over a fireplace! That said: Just last night I was looking at the website for Springfield, MA`s locally grown food: http://www.buylocalfood.com/ I was really excited to see the types of small farms that are out there and encouraged that this niche is even farther reaching than I initially thought - and I would love to work with some of them -SO - If I were your VA I could do all of the following: 

1) I would find some nifty maple sugar recipes. Post them on your website and others. To create a demand for your product.

2) Bag some small samples. Put together a "kit" that we can send to people who ask for it. Maybe if they sign up on your web page. (see #5)

3) Do some press releases about how active you business now has become - send it to Yankee Magazine, Mother Earth News etc. hoping for an article or a mention. Also, WNPR`s Faith Middleton show - the Food Schmooze where she frequenly interviews small organic farmers on her show.

4) Get links on other pages like Buy Local, Yankee, etc. for your website.

5) Add a sign up section to your website and send subscribers news and recipes periodically. (Ezine)

6) Also, look into who supplies such products to places like Old Sturbridge Village`s gift shop (and others) and the Vermont Country Store and Catalog.

We`d have to talk off line about my rates but I can tell you that a VA charges only for the time they spend on your projects. I have a time clock program on my computer and 10 minutes is 10 minutes - that is all you are charged for.

If you would like to know more, please let me know.

Also, I`d be glad to walk you thru the process to get your picture on the boards!

Katie

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Kate LaFrance | HELP Virtual Mktg+Admin www.helpvirtual.com
Visit my blog: Your Marketing Mindset