Marketing Must Haves Part 1

Your business is up and running, you're ready to go, but you need work. But, to get work, people have to know you exist. Although it's great that the VA community knows about you, you need your target market to know about you.

What kind of marketing materials do you need? The list is simple, however, it's time consuming to put together. Why? This is your first impression on a potential client and as we all know, we only get one chance for that first impression.

Elevator Speech

What happens when you're at a networking function and someone asks you what you do? Do you fumble for the words, or do you have your "commercial" ready?

Your elevator speech should be about 30 seconds and include what you do, how you do it, who you do it for, and what you've done for someone in particular. For example, "Valley Virtual Assistants provides marketing and sales support to small business owners who do not have the time to market themselves. We use our marketing background to partner with other businesses to gain awareness for the client resulting in more inquiries; and, in the long run, a larger profit -- leaving the business owner more time to concentrate on the billable work he/she currently has. We recently created and implemented a marketing campaign for a video production company including a website, brochures, and additional marketing materials which resulted in six new clients and a 30% profit increase from the previous year."

Put some time into it. Give your audience enough to get the general idea of what you do, but hungry to know more.

Business Cards

Business cards are key as you never know when you're going to be able to hand them out. I don't go to networking functions often, but I was once in a seminar and the instructor used VAs. This was the perfect opportunity to give her my card and let her know that I was available.

Your business card should contain your pertinent information: your logo, name, phone, website, email address, and website address. Some people like to put their physical address on there, and some don't. Personally, I have mine on there, as well as my fax number. I don't want anyone have a reason NOT to reach me.

Business cards are not as expensive as some might think. I use VistaPrint for my business cards. VistaPrint does offer 250 free business cards for the price of shipping. The only drawback to that is that their logo is on the back of the card.

Speaking of the back of the card, though, don't let that space go wasted! There's no reason that you can't put a call to action, or a special offer such as "Call now for a free consultation," or "First two hours free with the purchase of a monthly retainer package." I've also known VAs to list their services or specializations on the back of the card.

Letterhead

Some VAs use a lot of direct mail for marketing and some very rarely do. The bottom line is, at some point in time, you're going to have to send out a letter. Create your letterhead now, so it's available when you need it. Depending on your preference, you don't need it on nice vellum paper; however, you do need it to look professional. Again, this is another impression of your business that is going into the hands of a potential client.

When creating your letterhead, your logo should appear in the top header. Your contact information and its placement is a personal preference. I've seen some people use it in the top header and some in the bottom header, but all contact information should be available to the recipient of this letter.

Second pages of the letters that you are creating should not be the same letterhead as the first. The second page of your letter should simply have a smaller version of your logo in the upper left corner as well as the contact information of your business in the footer.

Keep in mind that when you have this letterhead printed professionally it will cost you. I recommend, if you have a color printer at home to just buy paper and print as needed. Also, make sure that you do have an electronic version of your letter head so that when you are emailing letters, it still comes across to the reader as a professional document. I prefer creating my letters in word and then putting them in to a PDF format. To me, it looks clean and crisp. I also recommend that you have a gif or jpg of your signature so that you can insert your signature into your letter if sending electronically.

Envelopes

Your envelopes should match your letterhead and should include your logo, return address, and your website address. Again, you can have them professionally printed or you can print them yourself.

Another option is return address labels, although I don't feel that they are as professional as envelopes pre-printed.

Company Brochure

Brochures are great "leave behinds" and they are great ways for people to learn more about your business. Remember when creating them, that you are not only promoting yourself, but you are more likely than not promoting the industry. Somewhere on that brochure, you need to tell the reader what a VA is!

Make sure your contact information is on your brochure - all of it. Don't ever allow the person holding your marketing materials not know how to contact you.

Make sure that you touch upon what a VA is and what you do as part of the industry. What do you specialize in? What services do you offer? This is not the place for the laundry list of what you can do. You want to put your main services as well as "for a complete list please visit my website at www.yoursitehere.com ".

Do you have clients that are happy with you? Include testimonials on your brochure so that you can show your potential clients what you've done for others and the impact that you've had on them.

Tell them about you! What is your background? Where did you gain this knowledge to offer these services? What degrees or certifications do you hold? This is the time to sell yourself, just as you would do in a job interview.

Your brochure should also include your elevator speech in some form or fashion. Again, give them enough to understand what you do - but also the desire to learn more.

Finally, somewhere on this brochure, you need to tell your reader why they should choose you. Perhaps they already know what a VA is and that they need one. Now you need to sell your business and how you can help them. What is your strongest selling point? What solutions do you offer? What problems have you solved?
Please tell me there's no more!!

Oh but there is! Your marketing arsenal must be stocked full of ammo that will aid you in obtaining and retaining the client base that you want.

This should keep you busy for awhile, but the time put into each of the items listed above will be well worth it.

In my next article, I will touch on marketing kits, "gimmicks", and direct mail (or email) campaigns.

About the Author
Heather Jacobson doesn't pay for marketing if she doesn't have to. Discover how she does it and claim 10 free marketing tips at http://www.10freetips.com