Tag Archives: business

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Marketing your small business is important to raise your brand awareness and build a pipeline of qualified leads that can turn into customers.

If you’re struggling with a limited budget, time restraints, or even a lack of direction, a solid marketing plan can provide guidance as you scale your business.

Here are 5 tips to consider when initially starting your marketing plan:

  1. Know Who Needs Your Help 

Understanding your target market’s pains, problems, triggering events, and priorities is essential in effectively marketing to them. Spend time networking and talking to other small business owners. Find out what they struggle with in their business. Read industry blogs, join online entrepreneur groups or listen to small business podcasts. Targeting the right audience with your value proposition can make all the difference in having a successful marketing campaign and attracting clients.

  1. Set Yourself Apart from Other Small Businesses 

What do you do that will differentiate you from others in your space and make your target market feel that you’re the VA to go with? What do you do better than anyone in the industry? What talent or experience will resonate with their pain points? Conveying this makes a compelling argument to learn more about you and your services.

  1. Be Strategic 

Start small and be scrappy. Figure out where you spend your time online and start there. Use free online tools or invest in a paid Google ad or sponsored Meta post. All these options are an effective and budget friendly option to start with. As your business starts to scale you can invest more time and energy into larger marketing goals and more sophisticated online tools.

  1. Leverage Current Clients 

Your current clients can easily help you with your marketing by sharing your social posts, adding you to their newsletters, and providing word of mouth referrals. Don’t be afraid to ask them for their help by mentioning your business to their network. As long as there is reciprocation, this can be a win/win for everyone.

  1. Have a Professional Visual Identity 

Having a logo and an easy to navigate website can make a difference in attracting customers. Having a unique branded identity (as previously mentioned) is important for your professional online presence. There are free and inexpensive options for designing your logo or website online, or you can also reach out to freelance graphic or web designers who can provide you with design assistance and website building tools.

 

BONUS TIP: Hire a virtual assistant to help you in the areas of marketing that you may not be confident in. Social media markting, graphic design, and email marketing are a few areas where hiring a VA a few hours a week (or more) may be worth the investment. We are always here to help you find the right virtual assistant that will become an asset to your team. 

Working with a virtual assistant can literally save you hours of your work week.  But, you may be wondering who works with a virtual assistant (VA)?

We can tell you from experience, almost anyone who runs a business, or has work tasks that they would rather outsource can benefit from working with a VA.

Below is a brief list of some of the professions our clients work in.

Coaching
Realtors
Chiropractors
Authors
Health care professionals
Sales
Financial Advisors
Advertising/PR
Computer IT
Consulting
Design
Entrepreneurs
plus many more….

A VA can do anything but bring your coffee, even though with mobile ordering, they can do that for you too! The truth is, a VA can do nearly anything in your business that you want them to do. But first, you have to determine what you should outsource. What part of your job do you love? What part do you hate or just don’t have time for? What is it that only you can do, and what can be outsourced?  Once you figure those things out, the next step is to get matched with a VA who has the professional experience and desire to help you. It’s that easy!

Assistant Match is great at matching businesses and VAs, so when you are ready, we can help you  find your perfect VA.

Balancing

Life can be unpredictable and throw you curveballs. An illness, a move, emotional issues, challenging relationships, and financial burdens can all be disruptive and stressful on both your business and personal life. How can you keep your business running smoothly when life happens? Here are some questions you can ask yourself to ensure a healthy work-life balance:

  • How much time can you actually dedicate to your businesss?
  • Can you delegate some or all of the work? Don’t be afraid to rely on your team to support you.
  • What can be postponed until your return to work?
  • Are there systems that can be automated? Develop strategies in your business now so it can run without you efficiently and smoothly. 

Being honest with yourself and having realistic expectations and goals can result in positive outcomes for you and for your business now and in the future.

Watch my video about my recent move and how I handled it.

When you’re trying to give maximum effort at work and at home, it’s easy to fall into the trap of second-guessing your own decisions. Overcome that what-if syndrome today

International speaker, author, trainer, and advisor,  Alex Theis has agreed to be a guest on the Assistant Match blog.  This month he is providing us with information to help give awesome presentations.

No matter what you do for a living, there inevitably will come a time when you need to prepare a presentation. You may need to sell your idea to a boss, present your business to a potential client, or give an amazing keynote speech. So how can you make sure you’re prepared to crush it?

Here is a simple, powerful formula I use to create memorable presentations with confidence.

1. Know your audience. What are they looking to walk away with? What are their pain points, desires, and expectations? If you don’t know, ask someone who does. Knowing your audience well makes preparing a presentation so much easier.

2. Educate and entertain. When people learn something new, a powerful brain chemical called dopamine kicks in, making them excited to take action. In addition, an entertained audience learns and retains more, which will make you memorable. So inject humor, entertaining stories and anecdotes, and your enthusiasm into your presentation.

3. Be yourself. No one else can be you. Your audience is listening to you. Step into your greatness and be your best you. Relax, remember to smile, and have a little fun.

4. Use stories create empathy. Empathy is the greatest force in marketing. Nothing creates it more than a great story that your audience can relate to. The old adage will never change: facts tell, stories sell. Stories can be personal, third party, or anecdotal. A presentation without a story is like a dog without a bone.

5. Provide a call to action. This is a very common mistake I see presenters make. No call to action or a very weak one. People gravitate to strength. Be strong. Tell your audience what action you want them to take. This is essential!

Follow these five easy keys next time you need to give an awesome presentation and you will love the results.

Alex Theis is a speaker, best-selling author, podcaster, and leading expert on customer and client retention. His internationally-downloaded podcast, Limitless, can be heard on iTunes, Stitcher, and PodcastLimitless.com.

Goal setting is an important step in your business success. But sometimes our best intentions to accomplish a goal is met with interference, or lack of planning.

Now is a great time to set attainable goals to kick start the New Year. Short-term goals can be just as important as long term goals. Accomplishing goals gives you immediate gratification and will help you maintain motivation with future goal setting.

Here are a few easy goals you can implement, or you can choose your own. Just make sure you write them down, put them on your electronic notes or calendar and/or tell someone about them, who will hold you accountable.

  1. Clean out your email inbox or computer desktop – start off the year with less digital clutter. It will help you feel much more organized!
  2. Set your daily schedule – what time you will get up every day and what time you will try and go to bed.
  3. Reconnect with your clients -drop them an email, or pick up the phone to call them. Don’t try and sell them anything, just call to say hello and see how they are doing.
  4. Invest in new technology -decide if upgrading software or hardware, is beneficial to your business success. Figure out if newer technology can save you time, or allow you to work faster.
  5. Delegate work -determine if your budget allows you to hire someone that can help you and your business. Figure out the tasks you would love to delegate and see if hiring someone makes financial sense. A virtual assistant can be hired on a project or as-needed basis. It may be great to have someone to outsource work to in 2018.

See our blog post – Tips to Clean Up Your Digital Clutter

 

We are thrilled to have international speaker, author, trainer, and advisor,  Alex Theis be our guest on the Assistant Match blog, and provide us with information about tapping into the power of referrals.

Whether you’re the CEO of a big company, a home-based business owner, or anything in between, referrals can be an untapped goldmine. Are you tapping into the power of referrals? Here’s five reasons why they are absolutely magical.

1. Referrals buy quicker. Word of mouth is the most trusted form of advertising in the world, so the buying decision requires less research. Referrals ask fewer questions and take less of your time.

2. Referrals negotiate less and rarely complain. That key concept – trust. Referrals have built in trust of you and your product. Their mind is already down the road of being satisfied even before they buy.

3. Referrals buy more and buy more often. People want to buy services and products from businesses they believe in. Because the trust of the referrer has been transferred to them, their average sale is higher and they buy with more frequency. Think Amazon…

4. Referrals cost you virtually nothing. Utilizing the power of your already happy customers and clients, you can compress the time it takes to buy. This means very little marketing dollars are spent and big time ROI.

5. Referrals are more likely to refer others. They were referred, so they tend to follow the same pattern. When we find a good thing, packed with value, we love to share it with others.

How can you tap into this virtual goldmine? Ask your happy customers and clients for referrals. Create a program to incentivize referrals. Reward those who have already referred business to you. Get creative and watch your business grow!

Alex Theis is a speaker, best-selling author, podcaster, and leading expert on customer and client retention. His internationally-downloaded podcast, Limitless, can be heard on iTunes, Stitcher, and PodcastLimitless.com.

There is a lot of information being pushed out online, and getting your message read is not always the easiest thing to do.

Here are 5 tips to help you stand out from your competition online:

1. Identify your customers pain points and explain how you can help solve them.

2. Keep it simple – blogging and social media marketing doesn’t have to be difficult. Keep it simple, focused and streamlined.  Make sure you stay in your professional lane.

3. Focus on quality  vs. quantity.  If you only have time to blog once a month, than make sure that blog post adds value to those reading it.  Same goes for social media.  Stuffing your platforms with content is never a good idea unless that content is relevant to your audience and provides useful information.

4. Collaborate with like-minded professionals. This is a great way to extend your brand and meet amazing folks who are on similar business journeys.

5. Be responsive.  If a comment or question is made on your blog or posted on your social media be sure to respond. It shows that you are invested and engaged with your community.

While the dog  days of summer brings warmer weather, backyard barbecues, and additional time with family, your business shouldn’t take a vacation.

Here are three tips to help keep your business moving forward through the remainder of the summer months.

 

1. Stay Visible

Schedule social media posts, newsletters, and even emails to go out throughout the summer months to make sure your business and your services stay top of mind to your customers.  Outsource these tasks to a virtual marketing assistant who, with a little direction, can do all the work and monitor your online presence.

2. Start a project

If you are staying put, this is a great time to upgrade your website, brainstorm new ideas or revisit old ones with your team.  With a little extra bandwidth in your schedule you can focus your energy on continued education. Take an online course, or volunteer some time with a local organization.

3. Reinvent yourself

While your clients are away, take this time to work on you.  Join a gym, get a walking or bike riding program in place.  Change your sleep patterns to get up earlier during the week.  By taking care of YOURSELF you will be better equipped to take care of your business and your clients for the remainder of the year and beyond..

 

We all have bad days, when things just don’t go right, or a meeting goes sideways and really throws off our mojo.  It can make you not want to be social and cause a detrimental impact on your ability to do business.

So, how do you get out of the “funk” of a bad day so the rest of your week isn’t shot?

1. Stay positive.
The saying “a bad day doesn’t mean you have a bad life” really puts things into perspective.

Procrastination happens the most when we are in a bad mood, and productivity happens when we are happy.  So work hard on your mood and staying positive as it really will have an effect on the outcome of your day.

2. Set up a self-rewarding system to keep you motivated.

Rewards are responsible for three-quarters of why you do things.  A self-reward can be as simple as a coffee break or going to the gym, to something larger like going out to dinner, or a weekend getaway.  It is important that you recognize the progress you make daily and celebrate it.  A reward will also help your mood, which in turn will keep you positive and productive.

3. Have a peer group available to you.

Friend therapy or co-worker therapy is so beneficial to keeping you on track and keeping things real. A happy, productive you, will attract great friendships. Remember, the groups you associate with often determine the type of person you become. Business networking groups can broaden your connections and provide you with people you can bounce business ideas off of.  Friends who makes you laugh or you can commiserate with can help alter your bad mood and keep your day on track.

These are simple steps that really can make a difference in your life and in your business.  Here’s to more good days ahead!

Albert Einstein  once said, “life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving”.  The key to keeping your business growing and prospering is forward motion. This is not always easy to do when there is so much going on in your day, week or month, but there are ways to overcome this challenge.

1. Set goals that are achievable. 

I suggest daily goals first, so that you feel a sense of accomplishment every day, and then set the goals that are more long term.  According to Thought Leader, Jesse Torres, entrepreneurs who know what they want and have set a course are more likely to accomplish their objectives.

2. Take the leap of faith

The saying “nothing ventured nothing gained” speaks volumes in the world of entrepreneurship.  Success is never guaranteed, but without leaping and trying new things, success will be very hard to achieve.

3. Never settle

If your business is doing well, great, but always ask yourself, “can it do better?”.  You should re-evaluate how your business is performing and make necessary adjustments based on feedback and results.

4. Improve your online presence and invest in visual marketing

Today it’s not enough to have an attractive and impressive website.  According to Business Consultant Sam Makad, creating appropriate marketing content involves a lot of creativity and it is necessary to rely on visual content to attract more visitors. Continually working on visual content is a very demanding task. It is important to change your mindset about spending money on visual designs and see it as a long term investment, as it is much more engaging and will attract a much higher number of visitors to your website.  You will also want to have a plan in place to share your visual content on multiple marketing channels as you never know where your customer may be searching.

5. Decide what you are willing to do

You need to be all in or all out as an entrepreneur. So take the time to figure out how much you can do alone, with help, or with a strategic partner.  If there is change to be made you have to be willing to make it, invest in it, and follow through on it.