The Essentials of Outbound Marketing: Reaching Out

Today we are going to talk about marketing - in particular, outbound marketing - and how to do it well to get clients.

What is marketing? The act of putting your VA business in front of people Instead of thinking of it as advertising and publicity, think more of it as visibility and sales/getting clients Focus on increasing your visibility so your clients can decide on their own to buy

Why do we need to do marketing? Learning how to market is the best thing you can do to guarantee the longevity of your VA business because it brings in revenue and that keeps you in business the second thing to do is get good at conversations - which is just an extension of the marketing

The more you do right, or well, the less you actually have to do

If you have 10 sales conversations and you get one client, that means your conversion rate is 10%. We want to strive for better than that. So we don't make 20 conversations to get 2 clients - instead we improve our conversion rate, or the sales conversations that go right (and we sign the client).

We look for 7 sales from 10 conversations by doing better at them.

Market your business in 20 minutes a day - but you first have to have the essentials in place first

What are the essentials?

What is your offer? What do you want people to buy?

How much will it cost them?

Who is going to buy it?

Where are they - where will they see you, or where can you see them?

What will you say to them? before, during and after

ONLY when you know the answers to these questions, you can doing some marketing to connect with your clients.

Inbound Marketing Content that helps people see you and connect with you or reach out to you (attracting them IN to you)

Outbound Marketing Actions and content that help you reach out to others to connect with them (reaching OUT to them)

Today we are going to talk about outbound marketing.

Outbound: Networking, cold calling - just conversations with people. Let's park the sales talk and just talk about conversations.

Conversations - talk to someone, ask them questions, see if they need your services, if not - move along, if yes, keep talking.

That's why it's essential that you know the services you are going to offer.

Your BEST services Do what you know best Don't do things you don't do well, or don't like doing - that's not a service I offer

You can charge more, you can confidently talk about it You can enjoy your work - and be the client's expert

They will work with you, trust you, and refer you

Ask questions wait for answers Listen to them What does the client need? What do they want to get help with? What is their budget? When do they want to start?

Really easy to sell a client when you can do what they need.

Other Outbound ways to get clients:

Sponsorships at events - vendor table or sponsor (you often get to speak or get extra mentions in front of the whole event crowd) Sponsorship in publications - could be helpful Business groups BNI Chamber - weekly commitment/referrals but often a great way to get clients - you will be the only VA Attending events - ask questions at the mic and never forget to introduce yourself, your company, and tell people who you help and with what Email marketing - mailing out to your list Guesting on a seminar - showcase your expertise Teaching a lunch n learn - usually the whole group will need your services (if you speak at the right places) Social media ads - can be pricey but are very targeted

Anything where the service provider initiates the conversation is outbound marketing

What will you do to market your VA business? whatever works for you - whatever is comfortable for you - whatever produces results for you.

That's all I've got for you this week.

If you need some help with nailing down your marketing essentials, or having conversations with clients, or doing outbound marketing better, reach out to me at [email protected]

I've helped hundreds of VAs through their challenges and got them on their way to the next thing. I'd love to do the same for you. I do private coaching, and my new mastermind The Virtual Circle registration is open now. Maybe one of those options is right for you.

That's all I've got for you this week, thanks for tuning in to learn to become a ridiculously good Virtual Assistant.