Get The Balance Right
It can be very tempting to fill each of your ezines with information about your latest service or product, and, indeed, your readers will be expecting to hear a certain amount of that. But, do not forget also to include some free tips or an advice spot. Giving a measured amount of free information marks you as an expert in your field, and a generous one at that.
To promote your professional virtual assistant business, join us at: https://www.ukava.co.uk
Send Messages At Reasonable Intervals
Do not use your ezine in the same way as you would Twitter or a blog. Your subscribers have given you permission to send them information, but, if you abuse it, they will soon be sorry they did. The result will be that they will leave your list just as quickly as they subscribed to it. Send updates once or twice a month and leave it at that.
To promote your professional virtual assistant business, join us at: https://www.ukava.co.uk
Use A Proper Email Delivery System
When you first start sending out email newsletters, it is very tempting to send them using your normal email delivery service, such as Outlook. After all, it is free and already there on your desktop. However, internet service providers frown upon mass mailing, and you will find very quickly that your email address will be blacklisted and you may be banned from sending any email. There are many legitimate ezine delivery services available whose costs are minimal; use one to manage your mailing list.
To promote your professional virtual assistant business, join us at: https://www.ukava.co.uk
A ‘Double Opt-in’ System
If you use a proper ezine delivery service such as Constant Contact, Aweber or Vertical Response, your subscribers will go through what is known as a ‘double opt-in’. This means that, after submitting their email address through your website form or other link asking them to sign up for your newsletter, they will receive an email asking them to confirm their subscription by clicking on a link within it. This is key, as it stops third parties from adding subscribers without their knowledge.
To promote your professional virtual assistant business, join us at: https://www.ukava.co.uk
The following series will look at some housekeeping rules, which will ensure that you follow the strict etiquette of internet marketing, while presenting yourself and your business in a professional and ethical way.
Make sure your subscribers actually subscribed
There is nothing more annoying than being inundated with unsolicited sales emails. We all hate it. If you are boosting your subscriber list by adding email addresses from business cards you have picked up, trawling the yellow pages or your local Chamber of Commerce’s mailing list, your messages risk not only going straight to the junk mail folder, but also alienating people with whom you might have established good working relationships. Make sure the owner of the email address has requested that you send them information, or, at the very least, has agreed to receive it.
To promote your professional virtual assistant business, join us at: https://www.ukava.co.uk
Include a link to your newsletter sign up page on your Facebook profile and from time to time include it in your status. The day that you have sent out your latest issue is a great time to do this.
When you’ve added previous newsletters to your web site, add the page address to your Facebook status. Make sure there is a link to ‘sign up for more articles like these’ at the bottom of the article page.
When you’ve added previous newsletters to your web site, Twitter the link to the article page. Make sure there is a link to ‘sign up for more articles like these’ at the bottom of the article page.
Host back copies of your newsletter on your web site as an archive. At the foot of each article, include a link to your sign up page with a message to ‘sign up to our newsletter for more articles like these’.
Collect business cards and email each one asking for permission to add them to your newsletter list. Do not add them directly without permission as this will not win you many friends!
Ask telephone callers if you can add them to your newsletter list. If they have enquired about any of your products or services, they are a prospect and won’t mind your keeping in touch in this unobtrusive way.
Offer email only discounts and tell visitors to your site that you do so. If they are interested in your services, they’ll sign up in the hope of getting a discount.
Include a Forward to a Friend link in your newsletters so that your readers can forward an article to a friend that may find it interesting. For this reason, also include a link to your sign up page in each emailed newsletter.
Consider a popup window which appears when a visitor leaves your web site. Ask for their email address so you can keep in touch – make sure it links to information telling them about your privacy policy, how to opt out and how often you will contact them.
It’s simple but very effective, include an opt in form on every page of your web site. It’s also worth checking your web statistics to see where people leave your web site. Check the last page they view before they leave and make sure there is a note asking them to sign up for your newsletter at the bottom of this page.
Run a joint venture with a complimentary business. Chose a business that provides services to a similar target market, for example small businesses. Include a link in your newsletter for readers to opt into the other businesses list, in exchange for their running an opt in for your newsletter on theirs.
Join your local Chamber of Commerce and email the member list (if it’s opt-in) about your services with a link to sign up to your newsletter. Again, don’t just add everyone to your newsletter list but introduce yourself by email and ask if they would like to subscribe
Send an opt-in email to everyone in your address book asking them to sign up for your newsletter. Make sure your don’t just include everyone in your contacts list in your newsletter list, ask their permission first.
Include a newsletter sign up link in the signature of all your outgoing emails. You can include this in a PS at the bottom of your email after your name and before your contact details.
We all need to fill our marketing funnel with the contact details of potential clients and referrers of our business services. The following series gives you some ideas about how to collect contact details, and in particular email addresses, so that you can begin to build relationships with your prospects.
Put an offer on the back of your business card to get people to sign up for your newsletter. For example, “Visit www.mywebsite.com/freereport to download 20 Top Tips for Outsourcing to a Virtual Assistant”. When they land on your page, ask for their email address in order to receive the free report.
Create Checklists.
Have checklists for every process in your business. For example, when you take on a new client, have a checklist that prompts you to check you have received back the signed contract, you have sent your Welcome Pack, you have set up an appropriate email address, you have their stationery, etc. This saves time and prevents things being forgotten.
For more tips and resources, visit https://www.ukava.co.uk
Sort Your Emails.
Hands up who has an inbox with more than 10 emails in it? If you have, it can be a huge waste of time trying to find what you are looking for and the clutter can be overwhelming. Have files for incoming email and set up rules for all mail that can be dealt with later so that it goes directly to those files.
For more tips and resources, visit: https://www.ukava.co.uk
Keep on networking.
This is often the first thing that gets dropped when you become busy with clients work. I know; I’m guilty of it myself. But when you suddenly disappear from groups you have been a regular at, often the assumption is that you are no longer in business. Accept that networking is part of the ongoing development of your business, choose one or two groups that you will remain a regular at and keep going. Even if you are not looking for more clients, you will still establish relationships that you will benefit from later on.
Review your marketing activities.
Set aside time each month to review your marketing activities. How many enquiries have you had in the previous month and where have they come from? Have a look at what is working for you and what could be improved.
Writing your blog.
The same writing advice applies here as it does to newsletters but with the added bonus that you can schedule your posts for in advance. I’m actually writing this on 3rd June but you’ll be reading it weeks later!
Writing your newsletter.
If you write a newsletter, be it weekly, monthly or whatever, try to write in blocks. It can be hard to find a quiet time to sit and write but when you do, often you feel like you could write for hours. Do it when you feel inspired and then split the content over several newsletters.
Check and update your web site.
Check your web site is up to date and current. Set a side time, perhaps once a month, to check all the information is current and add anything new your clients and prospects might find useful.
Create checklists.
Have checklists for every process in your business. For example, when you take on a new client, have a checklist that prompts you to check you have received back the signed contract, you have sent your Welcome Pack, you have set up an appropriate email address, you have their stationery, etc. This saves time and prevents things being forgotten.
Do your filing.
In addition to your client files, have files for everything related to running your business. Then set aside time each week to file everything you have dealt with that week. I use the last half hour on a Friday for this.
Book keeping and invoicing.
I’d recommend allowing time on two days of the month, about two weeks apart, for paying all your bills, inputting all your expenses, raising all your invoices and checking payments have been made.
Back everything up.
If you’ve ever deleted something accidentally or suffered a computer crash, you won’t need to be told about this. Back everything up at least once a day. I use Carbonite and it automatically backs up my whole system everyday at 6pm. Then if I lose something or my system dies, I have a copy of everything easily accessible online.
The UKAVA:In The News Newsletter is out now.
As a Virtual Assistant, What Are You Really Selling?
What Documents, Systems and Processes Do You Need In Your Virtual Assistant Business?
Find it all at: https://www.ukava.co.uk/html/ukava_news.html
There’s nothing more annoying than being inundated with unsolicited sales emails. We all hate it. If you are boosting your subscriber list by adding email addresses from business cards you’ve picked up, mining the yellow pages or your local Chamber of Commerce’s mailing list, you’re messages risk not only going straight to the junk mail folder, but alienating people you could have established good working relationships with. Make sure the owner of the email address has requested that you send them information, or at the very least agreed to receive it.
I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year. Now you are back are you all fired up for the New Year and committed to making real headway with your business in 2010?
Is one of your resolutions to make this year YOUR year? If you’ve decided that over the next few months you want to focuss your efforts on building the business of your dreams, the new Group Mentoring programme from the VA Success Group could be just what you need. Learn from experts in the field of virtual assisting as well as gain support, feeback and accountability from your peers in the group. Here you’ll not only set you goals for your business, but be given a step by step action plan to achieve them.
Find out all about it at: http://vasuccessgroup.co.uk/virtual-assistant-mentoring/virtual-assistant-group-mentoring/
15. Include a link to your newsletter sign up page on your Facebook profile and from time to time include it in your status. The day that you have sent out your latest issue is a great time to do this.
14. When you’ve added previous newsletters to your web site, add the page address to your Facebook status. Make sure there is a link to ‘sign up for more articles like these’ at the bottom of the article page.
13. When you’ve added previous newsletters to your web site, Twitter the link to the article page. Make sure there is a link to ‘sign up for more articles like these’ at the bottom of the article page.
12. Host back copies of your newsletter on your web site as an archive. At the foot of each article, include a link to your sign up page with a message to ‘sign up to our newsletter for more articles like these’.
11. Collect business cards and email each one asking for permission to add them to your newsletter list. Do not add them directly without permission as this will not win you many friends!
10. Ask telephone callers if you can add them to your newsletter list. If they have enquired about any of your products or services, they are a prospect and won’t mind your keeping in touch in this unobtrusive way.
9. Offer email only discounts and tell visitors to your site that you do so. If they are interested in your services, they’ll sign up in the hope of getting a discount.
8. Include a Forward to a Friend link in your newsletters so that your readers can forward an article to a friend that may find it interesting. For this reason, also include a link to your sign up page in each emailed newsletter.
7. Consider a popup window which appears when a visitor leaves your web site. Ask for their email address so you can keep in touch – make sure it links to information telling them about your privacy policy, how to opt out and how often you will contact them.
6. It’s simple but very effective, include an opt in form on every page of your web site. It’s also worth checking your web statistics to see where people leave your web site. Check the last page they view before they leave and make sure there is a note asking them to sign up for your newsletter at the bottom of this page.
5. Run a joint venture with a complimentary business. Chose a business that provides services to a similar target market, for example small businesses. Include a link in your newsletter for readers to opt into the other businesses list, in exchange for their running an opt in for your newsletter on theirs.
3. Send an opt-in email to everyone in your address book asking them to sign up for your newsletter. Make sure your don’t just include everyone in your contacts list in your newsletter list, ask their permission first.
2. Include a newsletter sign up link in the signature of all your outgoing emails. You can include this in a PS at the bottom of your email after your name and before your contact details.
We all need to fill our marketing funnel with the contact details of potential clients and referrers of our business services. The following series gives you some ideas about how to collect contact details, and in particular email addresses, so that you can begin to build relationships with your prospects.
15 Tips to Build Your Newsletter Subscriber List
1. Put an offer on the back of your business card to get people to sign up for your newsletter. For example, “Visit www.mywebsite.com/freereport to download 20 Top Tips for Outsourcing to a Virtual Assistant”. When they land on your page, ask for their email address in order to receive the free report.
Better Than Advertising
So as you can see, creating your brand or the ‘image’ for your company isn’t about expensive graphic designers or advertising experts. It’s about identifying what’s great about your business and communicating that in a clear and consistent way. If you can turn your clients into raving fans, they’ll not only stick with you through these turbulent times, they’ll also recommend others to you. Now that’s got to be better than spending a fortune on advertising!
How Can You ‘Delight the Customer?’
Years ago I used to work for a holiday company who used the line ‘delight the customer’. The idea was that you don’t want the customer just to be satisfied with what you have produced for them. In order to get them singing your praises you really need to ‘delight’ them. So what can you do to delight your clients? Where can you add that little bit of extra value or really show some initiative? If you are seen to be going that extra mile, your clients will love you for it and that’s when they start to become your raving fans and tell everyone how great you are.