Top Five Tips for Winning New Clients through Offline and WOM Marketing Strategies

Before we begin, let’s pause for a moment of self-reflection. Take a quick look at the below video and see if you can relate to this man:

An extreme example, of course, but sometimes working from home as a Virtual Assistant or online professional can become lonely and isolating, and we need to find opportunities to get out of the house. Furthermore, as virtual business owners, we need to be intentional in seeking out strategic opportunities to connect and network with like-minded professionals in our respective industries. There is a lot you can do through the Internet and Social Media, of course, but in order to be effective in marketing your business, it takes both offline and online marketing strategies to reach your potential.

So, here are some ways you can step away from the computer, get out of the house, and win new clients through offline and word-of-mouth marketing strategies:

1. Be visible in your local community and industry.

•    Join your local chamber of commerce.

•    Approach your local Rotary Club or community college.

•    Join a Meetup group in your area.

2. Ask for referrals from your current clients.

•    Thank them for the referral with lunch, flowers or a gift certificate.

•    Give both your current and potential clients more than one business card – one to keep and two to give away.

3. Attend industry events.

•    Network at events like the annual IVAA Live Summit.

•    Volunteer to help coordinate a local business organization’s event.

•    Set up a vendor booth at an event and promote your business.

4. Develop your own branded promotional materials.

•    Create brochures, fliers, special reports, and business cards to give away.

•    Make sure all materials, including presentations, are branded with your website URL, logo and contact information.

•    When marketing at a vendor’s booth, have a poster designed to promote your business and consider handing out some kind of inexpensive branded gift.

5. Find creative ways to talk about your business.

•    Practice a great 30-second elevator speech.

•    Share presentations with various networking groups.

•    Place an ad or start a column in the business section of your local newspaper.

Now, depending on where you find yourself, you may experience success either offline or online; however, we hope that the above tips can help you broaden the horizons of your marketing scope. While those of us involved in the Virtual Assistant industry may spend a lot of time in our online marketing strategies, participating in offline events has a viral word-of-mouth effect that some online strategies don’t.

The following quote from a blog post entitled “Bring Your Online Social Networking to Offline Success” provides some further food for thought:

Body language is very important, especially in business. Online networking lacks body language. You may not realize it, but people use body language a lot. It can often say more than the actually words that are being spoken. Body language can reflect attitude, emotion and true feelings. Many aspects of communication come through body language and when you are only communicating online you lose that dimension of communication.

Both of those indisputable benefits allow offline networking to deepen and reinforce relationships while adding credibility to your reputation.

So be creative, spend some time away from your computer (or cat), and let us know what strategies have or have not worked for you in your offline marketing endeavors. You can connect with us in the comment box below or on our Facebook Page.

Top Five Tips for Responding to RFPs

If you receive notifications for New Forum Threads at VAClassroom, you may have seen the literal flood of RFPs coming in last week. During tough economic times like these, it’s very encouraging to see the amount of work available for talented Virtual Assistants and online professionals. But this begs the question, how do you effectively respond to an RFP? First of all, check out this video from 2minuteswithava.com for some great advice.

And now here are some more valuable tips to make sure you’re putting your best foot forward:

1) Read the two books recommended in the above video for more information on RFPs:

•    Entrepreneurial Freedom: How to Start and Grow a Profitable Virtual Assistance Practice by Jeannine Clontz and Lauren Hidden

•    Virtual Assistant, The Series: Become a Highly Successful, Sought After VA by Diana Ennen and Kelly Poelker

2) Develop a proposal template that you’re happy with and simply tweak it to suit each RFP you apply for (especially if it’s successful!).

•    Our self-study VA Success Blueprint program contains some sample RFP proposals, as well as other important strategies and templates that may help you.

3) Be sure to include the following items in your response so the person evaluating has as much information as possible:

•    Date – Let them know you responded prior to closing date (if applicable).

•    Reference Number – Check the proposal for any reference numbers or specific proposal references so information is clearly communicated.

•    Reference to their original request – Repeat it either word-for-word so they can easily reference it, or rewrite their needs to show your level of comprehension of the project.

•    Outline your experience in relation to the project or tasks – Keep it organized and simple for the client to review.

•    Specific or special skills that you have – If they list special skills, let them know your expertise in that area. If you are still learning, just be honest and let them know how committed you are to continual learning!

•    Special connections that you share – Groups/People/Activities

•    Project estimate (timeline & costs) – Include how you calculate your costs and measure your effectiveness.

•    Any additional charges that you can foresee – Include any further information you think might help them.

•    Testimonials – Everyone loves to hear how successful you’ve been for other clients, so include some recommendations from similar projects in your proposal.

•    Contact information and availability – Don’t forget to let them know how to connect with you and the best way to do it.

4) Prepare your response carefully and thoughtfully, including the following elements:

•    Show some interest. Research the company, and if anything excites you about it, let them know!

•    Include any similar experience you’ve had. Describe how your similar or past experiences can benefit them.

•    Are you an industry expert? If you have worked in the industry before, include some specific industry information to show them how familiar you are in their area of expertise.

•    What specific skills do you feel would enhance their business? Shout out your strengths and tell them how your specific skill sets will impact their business.

•    Point out any spelling or technical errors on their site or marketing material. Impress them by showing them that you are paying attention and letting them know how to solve any errors.

5) Take note of how different businesses handle RFP proposals. For example, at VAClassroom, the process of responding directly to clients is handled a little differently than screened requests. Since the client has us to pre-screen the proposals we will be looking at a few key elements when we make our recommendations:

•    Specific industry knowledge & experience

•   Examples of similar tasks/situations

•   Availability and match of project scope/requirements

Hope these tips for responding to RFPs have helped demystify the process. If you are a VAClassroom Premium Member, be sure to check the Monday Memo and our forum for new job postings, a great way to add new client and income opportunities to your business!

If you have any questions or further tips on submitting RFP proposals, please leave us a note in the comment box below.

25 Top Marketing Strategies for Reaching New Clients (Part 2: Online Activities)

As promised (close on the heels of our last post about offline marketing strategies), we will now share some great tips for online activities Virtual Assistants and online professionals can use to reach more clients. Did we say these are our favorite kinds of activities?  Well, without further ado, here they are, with a couple extra tips thrown in for good measure.

Online Activities:

1. Create a high quality, fully search engine optimized website or blog site – We can’t emphasize enough how important this strategy is. Through new blog posts and pages, it’s crucial to expand visibility by producing regular content that is optimized with the keywords you want to build your business around.

2. Build a strong, targeted presence in social networks – Many people are now using social networks to secure joint venture partnerships and post projects in status updates.

3. Build a targeted Twitter following and actively participate in the community – Virtual assistants can land clients through Twitter by responding to requests that have been posted by business owners looking for help.

4. Create a branded Facebook Page and offer valuable and relevant content to your audience – Given the huge growth of Facebook, this is a very important strategy to help build up visibility for your business and create SEO value as well.  If you already have a Facebook Page, see where it can be improved and be sure to regularly add new content to it.

5. Create a LinkedIn Profile – By adding recommendations, joining and contributing in targeted groups, and answering relevant questions one-on-one, you can use LinkedIn to specifically connect with business owners (60 or 70 million professionals are on LinkedIn) who could become the ideal clients for you.

6. Join niche social networks – If you’re targeting specific groups like writers groups or small business groups, etc., look for networks like Ning that are supporting those groups.

7. Set up locally optimized business profiles in Google Places, Bing and Yahoo local directories – Because these profiles also have good SEO value, be sure to optimize your profile, add videos and create branding value for your business in the local community.

8. Contact Google Internet Marketing Firms / Multi-VA Firms, PR Agencies and present your portfolio – Connect with the key decision makers in these firms and agencies to present your portfolio and offer your services.

9. Create a free information product and offer in order to build a targeted e-mail list – A golden way of building up your credibility is to offer some kind of ongoing publication that is targeted to people with your skill sets. It should be valuable content (a video series, monthly newsletter, e-book, white paper, report) that will segue to the services you offer.

10. Blog, but only if you have some relevant content to share – Corporate blogs that merely present product and service updates are becoming redundant. However, blogs that share meaningful content that’s valuable to your audience can build your credibility if that content is targeted, specialized and reaching the right people.

11. Create a YouTube Channel and regularly distribute keyword-targeted videos – Video is quickly becoming the most popular medium and can’t be ignored by marketers. A great way to build your brand is by sharing tips videos (talking head or demos) and integrating these videos into your website to add a personal connection with your audience.

12. Start a BlogTalk Radio Show, regular podcast or AudioBoos where you share your expertise – This type of audio content is easily transmitted and shared on networks like Facebook, so it’s very effective for building your brand and targeting your audience.
13. Distribute keyword targeted articles and press releases through EzineArticles.com and PRWeb.com – Keywords will help you get listed in the top 10, but be sure to focus on the quality of the content before the keywords and write to benefit the lives and businesses of your target audience.
14. Create Presentations and PDFs through Slideshare.net and Scribd.com – With the rise of Slideshare.net, this strategy is gaining popularity as it can feed PowerPoint presentations directly into your LinkedIn profile. With these tools, you can also send new clients a link to your portfolio.

15. Put on webinars for online groups and associations – With tools like GoToWebinar or Free Conference Calling, you can focus on a particular industry (e.g. “Using Social Media for Interior Design Businesses”) and put on an informative webinar or tele-event.

16. Test out some low-cost Facebook Social Ads or Pay Per Click ads for targeted keywords – Another great way of targeting new clients is to test out these ads on your “Like” base from your Facebook Page. It is possible to get a lot of interest, visitors and sales through these ads.

Miscellaneous Strategies:

17. Referral Marketing – This is also called “Duct Tape Marketing” and involves being proactive with your existing clients and asking them for referrals to other colleagues. It relies on the “Know, like, trust factor” and can lead to many new client leads.

18. Set up Joint Ventures – Finally, a great way to build your business is to partner up with colleagues either inside or outside your industry who offer complementary services. For example, a person who writes articles might partner with someone in the social media space, and they could cross-refer each other.

We hope you find these tips helpful. If you are interested in reaching new clients, we recommend going through the lists in Parts 1 and 2 of this blog post series and ticking off the strategies you are currently using, evaluating which activities have been successful for you, and considering which strategies you might want to add to your overall marketing strategy.

As a community of Virtual Assistants and online professionals, we here at VAClassroom are committed to helping equip you with the skills that will help you reach your ideal client base. If you have any questions or comments, please leave a note for us in the comment box below. Also, let us know of any additional strategies or ideas that have worked for you.

25 Top Marketing Strategies for Reaching New Clients (Part 1: Offline Activities)

In this current economic climate, many Virtual Assistants and online business owners have experienced the highs and lows in their businesses over the past couple years. In fact, you yourself may have cycled from a time of abundance with great “high-value” clients to a drought where you have struggled to fill retainer clients that you may have lost for one reason or another. The ebbs and flows of a virtual business can cause a lot of stress.

During these times, it’s important to evaluate your virtual business activities and ask yourself some key questions:

•    What marketing strategies are you currently using to connect with new clients?
•    What strategies or activities have been successful for you? What has not gone well?

As we’re focusing on virtual business marketing this week, we’d like to take some time to share some top marketing strategies for reaching new clients. In our free event on March 17, “Virtual Business Marketing Makeover in One Hour,” one of the things we’ll be talking about is the fact that you must market every single day even if you have enough clients now. So, to start off our list, here are the first seven tips for how you can consistently market your business and connect with new and potential clients through offline activities.

Offline Activities:

1. Join or start a business networking group in your local area – This activity can actually happen both online and offline. Through Meetups, Tweetups, Chamber of Commerce or Local Business Associations, you can connect with like-minded individuals for collaboration purposes or to get connected with your target client audience.

2. Do a presentation for a local business group or association (i.e. local hospitality association, real estate association, small business owners) – For example, you could do a social media presentation that demonstrates how restaurants can use social media to draw in more customers. In a previous blog post, “Social Media Goes Local in 2010,” we talked about how restaurant owner Joe Sorge uses Twitter to engage with customers.

3. Attend a business fair/conference in your local region – These conferences and fairs are a great way to have face-to-face encounters with people who might potentially hire VAs.
4. Host a local event in your area (e.g. Social Media for Hospitality Businesses) – This activity requires some planning and maybe a bit of a budget, but it can be very effective as a form of networking.
5. Research and target local business clients with a one-on-one presentation – You could visit certain restaurants or spas you want to target to see how they could use social media to grow their businesses.

6. Publish an article in a local newspaper or trade magazine – This activity requires a certain level of writing skills, but can be very effective in giving your business more visibility.

7. Send targeted mail-outs to business lists through an association like the Chamber of Commerce – This is not the number one strategy we’d recommend because it isn’t very measurable, but it could definitely lead to multiple client opportunities in the local business community.

Stay tuned for our next post, where we will talk about tips for marketing your business through online activities (our favorite kind of strategies here at VAClassroom :).

And in the meantime, let us know if you have any questions or comments about these offline marketing strategies. Have you used any in the past and found them successful? Please drop us a comment in the box below!