As you know, one of our favourite things to do is hop on a call with all of you and share/discuss all the great things about working virtually.   In turn, we hope a few things will impact you significantly enough to where you’ll implement and make positive changes for you and your business.

So for January, we’re hosting not one, but TWO fr’ee calls that I’m pretty sure you’ll be interested in:

It’s not enough to dabble in a few pieces here and there that you get from the experts out there … generating publicity requires a strategy and realistically, a VA who has received the right kind of training, CAN help their client implement the pieces to create a great plan and therefore  generate publicity.

Now, none of us at VirtuallySuccessful.com are publicity specialists, and so we’ve asked Diana Ennen, Publicity Expert, to join us for a f’ree call on Tuesday, January 19th  at 1pm Eastern / 10am Pacific to share the 7 Mistakes Virtual Assistants are Making when it comes to building publicity.  This information is relevant to your own business as well as your clients so please do make a point to attend. 

To make this even more fun, we encourage you to share your own questions or strategies you have used to support your clients in generating publicity. 

Register for your spot in the form below and please do post your comments in the section at the bottom of the page.

Call #2 - Future of Virtual Assistance Call
What Every Online Business Manager Needs to Know This Year - Top Trends for 2010
Wednesday, January 20th at 3pm Eastern / 12pm Pacific  

The role of Online Business Manager (OBM) is a natural one for many Virtual Assistants and so  that’s why we decided to focus January’s Future of Virtual Assistance call on the top 2010 trends for OBMs.

On Wednesday, January 20th, yours truly, Tina Forsyth, founder of OnlineBusinessManager.com will lead this discussion on:

• How the economy is affecting our clients and what to watch out for

• The best clients who really need your help (and there will be more of them in 2010)

• What is really important to clients right now, and what will make you stand out from the crowd

and much, much more.

>>Sign Up For Your Spot

“Specializing” is the hot word when it comes to the Virtual Assistant industry. 
For the last 2 years we’ve seen the trend of VAs specializing in various areas -
social media, blog design and customization, podcasting and video specialist -
just to name a few. 

What if I told you that online based business owners everywhere are screaming to
find Virtual Assistants who specialize as Publicity Specialists?

It’s true … we talk to business owners all the time and their number one goal
is to build their presence and be regarded as an expert in their own specialty.

Sadly, other than the expensive public relations firms out there …. there is
no one to help them.We want to change this.  We want to help Virtual Assistants who have an
interest in specializing in this area, learn the right skills, strategies and
secrets and then confidently provide these skills their clients (while demanding
higher rates) to support them in generating publicity.

Interested?

By taking this training, you would be one of the very few Virtual Assistants
that specialize in this area.  You’d be in demand, have clients knocking on
your door non stop and comfortably set your price high to demonstrate your
expertise.

The program starts Monday, January 25th and Publicity Expert Diana Ennen will be
leading the training.  Just to show you what’s possible … here’s just a
sampling of the publications that have featured Diana …. would you like to
generate the same kind of attention?

>>I want to learn more about the Publicity Specialist Training!

It’s a tough decision to make … but once you actually do it, it makes a HUGE difference in the growth of your business.  Before you even think of saying “I can work with all kinds of business owners, why would I want to limit myself by selecting a specific market?”, hear me out.

When I started my own VA business in 2003, I didn’t have a target market.  When I heard anything related to the importance of selecting a target market, I turned away and thought “I Do NOT need a target market …. anyone and everyone can benefit from my services.”

It’s true.  Virtually ANY kind of business can benefit by working with a Virtual Assistant.  But what I was missing was this - by not selecting a target market, I was marketing to every business owner.  How do you possibly do that and get someone’s attention? 

Here’s another example I’m hoping you can relate to. 

Scenario #1

A Virtual Assistant who has not selected a target market, attends a Chamber of Commerce networking event.  The VA offers great services and is ready to work with any business owner who is willing to consider her.  She tells people she’s a Virtual Assistant and shares a little about the services she offers. 

In some cases, people have never heard of the term Virtual Assistant and while they may be interested in learning more, they are not captivated by the VA and her services and move along to connect with others at the event. 

Scenario #2

A VA who has identified her target market attends a networking event that she knows her target market will also be attending.  She knows exactly what kind of challenges her target market is faced with and so when she connects with new contacts, she shares what she does — using specific words that relate to the target market and the kind of help they need.  The new contacts are captivated by the VA, want to learn more, are eager to continue the discussion and a new relationship, which may turn into a paying client, is born.

These scenarios are very general, however my goal is to emphasize the difference in response when you have selected and understand a target market. 

Take a look at the article below “Virtual Assistant Tips to Identifying Your Target Market” and take some time to answer the 5 questions included. 

What will you do differently moving forward?  Share with us by commenting below.

Identifying your target market is essential in the success of a Virtual Assistant business. It doesn’t matter if you have a fabulous website, brochure and business card, if you have not identified your target market, all your marketing efforts can be a waste of your time, money and energy.

Selecting a specific target market can be somewhat of a daunting task for those in the Virtual Assistant industry. Quite often one may think that absolutely anyone in business can benefit from the services of a Virtual Assistant – right? Not necessarily.

Many Virtual Assistants (VAs) feel that if they select a specific target market, they are limiting the potential number of clients that come to them for assistance. The reality is that by not targeting and promoting your VA services within a specific market, you are actually limiting yourself and preventing your Virtual Assistant business from growing.

These 5 questions will help you determine your target market for your virtual assistant business.

1. What kind of work do you enjoy? What tasks/projects excite you? If you could create your own job description, what would it include? If you enjoy what you do, then you are more likely to express enthusiasm and demonstrate your best work. This is an important factor – if you don’t enjoy a specific type of work, then stay away from the professionals who may need that kind of support.
2. Who do you enjoy working with? This may an obvious question but it is one few Virtual Assistants consider. Do you prefer to work with men or women? What age group? Do you work best with people that are older or younger than you?
3. What does your ideal client look like? Is your ideal client a well-known professional with a large business, and making seven figures? Do you prefer small or start-up businesses? If you have family, do you want to work with someone who may also have a family and understands the flexibility required in your Virtual Assistant business?
4. What professions interest you and which do not? This is important. Just like question #1 above, it’s important to enjoy and be enthusiastic about the work you do. If you dread a specific profession, then there’s no use in attempting to work with that profession. For example, I personally have no interest in the financial industry so working with a financial planner or accounting business would not be in my best interest or in the best interest of a potential client.
5. What skills/knowledge/expertise do you offer? If you offer great skills, knowledge and expertise in a certain area, consider which professions are in dire need of this kind of support. For example, if you offer expertise and enjoy working with online technology, to support the automation, product delivery and marketing of a business, which type of industry would benefit and be willing to pay for this support? If an industry does not need your expertise or are not willing to pay for it, you may be better off finding another industry that does.

The five questions above may seem obvious, however Virtual Assistants are not taking the time to consider these questions, and many others, to help in selecting a target market.

If you want to build a Virtual Assistant business with great clients, you must select a target market. With a target market selected, you can market and speak directly to those who you want to attract to your business. And then your virtual assistant business will grow like you always imagined it would.

It’s been so inspiring to see various people proclaim the goals, inspirations and excitement for this new year.  I personally (Cindy talking here) think it’s going to be a fantastic business year and I’m looking forward to great things that are in the works.

What do you have planned for 2010?  If you publically declare your goals, you are more likely to achieve them.  We would love to hear from you … please use the comment box below to share anything and everything that you truly want to make happen this year.

Here at VirtuallySuccessful.com our goal is to provide you with cutting edge ideas, tools and programs to you create the business you really want in 2010.  Remember to let us know if there is anything we can help you with.

Do you wish you knew more about how to generate publicity — both for yourself and your clients.

Have you dabbled in it here and there — submitting the odd article or press release, with no serious strategy or model?

Publicity is a critical piece to building a business, yet it’s something that often does not receive the quality attention it needs.  Why?  Because we simply don’t know enough about how to do it properly.  We may hear about a few “must do” strategies from an online expert and we take a stab at implementing the strategy … but really we don’t know what we’re doing. 

Sadly most business owners will seek out the expertise of an expensive Public Relations firm to help them …. only to spend thousands of dollars with little return.

Virtual Assistants CAN help online based business owners build publicity …. IF they know their stuff and know it well.  It’s not enough to just submit articles once in a while. That’s one mistake …

To support both Virtual Assistants and their clients, the team at VirtuallySuccessful.com has invited Publicity Specialist Diana Ennen to join us for a FREE call to share the “Top 7 Publicity Mistakes Virtual Assistants Make“. 

Here are the details:

Date:  Tuesday, January 19th, 2010
Time:  1pm Eastern / 10am Pacific
Duration:  60 minutes

Sign up below to reserve your spot.  We look forward to having you join us!