Have you ever tried building an email list, all on your own? If yes, you will know it is difficult. Trying to promote your business in several areas all at once can be tough.
You will even have to use different strategies for each segment of your target audience.
So, what do you do?
Many people have found success by using virtual assistants (VAs) to grow their businesses. This post will tell you what you need to know about using virtual assistants to build your email lists. For any business, building a sizeable e-mail list is a great way to generate potential leads.
When starting out, the best bet would be to hire a dedicated virtual assistant to do marketing tasks for you.
Hiring a full-time employee can be expensive. The cost of hiring VAs is much less than that of typical marketing teams. Additionally, they maintain high levels of efficiency.
Looking to use virtual assistants to grow your email list? Here’s what they can do for your business.
Integrating subscription forms into web pages
Opt-in marketing has been around for quite some time now. What could be easier than integrating a subscription form on your website, to retrieve contact details of interested leads?
Hire a professional assistant to set up web forms. You will have email addresses of web page visitors that you can later reach out to.
Lead research, nurturing, and segmentation
Conversion funnels require a considerable emphasis on understanding consumer interests.
Not all visitors are going to qualify as leads or customers. You need to nurture them at various stages of the buyer journey(Attention, Interest, Desire, Action).
This is best achieved through a proper segmentation of audiences into distinct categories.
As part of the marketing cycle, a virtual assistant can help with research, segmentation, and nurturing valuable leads. He/she can collect details of target customers on various online channels.
A dedicated expert can set up automated emails (or autoresponders), to deliver appropriate content to the right prospect, at the right time.
Campaign creation
A virtual assistant can help you grow your email lists through the creation of customized campaigns for your business.
Most campaigns start with a brief or marketing plan. It involves gaining an insight into consumer preferences, costs, current trends, and engagement analytics.
Every campaign must be unique – with attractive visuals and design using software or presentation tools.
Your VA can create an engaging explainer presentation or video for customers or users. This will keep your audience informed about your offerings.
An experienced VA can get your marketing campaign off the ground by taking these time-consuming tasks off your back.
Outreach
Outreach forms an integral part of an organization’s marketing strategy.
Most businesses need to have an active social media presence via forums and online communities and groups.
Hire a virtual assistant to join digital spaces that are related to your target audiences or industry. He/she can provide advice and recommendations on behalf of your business.
Outreach and PR activities are essential in forging long-term relationships with clients. It helps to build trustworthiness and credibility among customers. When people trust you, it is easier to generate leads and sales.
Developing your brand identity
Building a successful brand takes time. Trust, credibility, and engagement are prerequisites for businesses – if they wish to become a market leader or authority in their niche.
First things first. A website is a primary requirement for almost all types of businesses. It has to be suitably appealing in design and copy. It informs the customers about your business, products, and service offerings.
A virtual assistant can build a user-friendly and comprehensive website for your business.
The next crucial step in brand-building is to develop a brand persona. A VA experienced in graphic design could easily handle this task for you, by creating a professional logo and photo.
Keep this in mind, though. It is imperative to be consistent throughout all channels – website, social media profiles, and email. It ensures that your business is identifiable.
Content creation and publishing
A focal point of your marketing strategy is content. It has to be impeccably written. Your content must be engaging and relevant to attract the right audience.
Needless to say, content creation can be time-consuming. Most businesses work actively on a schedule and it can be hard to keep up.
Hiring an experienced VA with articulate writing styles is a great idea, especially if you don’t have the time or the skills required to do it on your own.
In today’s world, content isn’t about writing alone. It requires an in-depth understanding of search engine optimization techniques (SEO) so that the posts can rank higher in search engines.
Posting on authority websites can also provide the required exposure and traffic to your organization.
A VA can create different types of content for your business such as e-books, guides, checklists, etc.
Webinar management
Webinars are a huge deal right now.
As a business owner, you probably have your hands full trying to promote a workshop or event or course. It can be one Herculean task trying to manage it all by yourself!
Have you considered outsourcing it to a virtual assistant?
They can help out with the organization and support – sending out bulk emails, recording events, and even engaging with participants through live Q&A.
Referrals & contests
More often than not, contests, giveaways, and referral programs are proven to increase exposure and sales for a brand.
Ask your VA to send out promotional offers or discount e-coupons in company newsletters to people who have provided at least two successful referrals.
Promotions and deals act as incentives for users to provide more referrals.
They would want to receive company newsletters and marketing material in anticipation of lucrative offers.
Managing paid advertising
This, too? You might ask. Of course!!
Ad optimization on Google or Bing involves researching keywords/ catchphrases that are linked to your industry or niche. You can hire virtual assistants to perform this task for you.
They will help you develop the ad copy, and link the advertisement to your company’s landing page. So when someone clicks on the ad, they are directed to your website and asked to fill out a form.
Now what? Your VA can collect email addresses that have been populated from the landing page.
Subsequently, you can have them design appropriate email marketing campaigns, to qualify interested leads from such lists.
Social media management
A great way to use a virtual assistant to grow your email list is to hire them to manage your business’s social media platforms.
Ask them to set up business pages on social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
A VA can help with designing appropriate graphics and engaging visuals, that are consistent with your brand voice.
After all, a professional-looking business page creates the right impression!
They can assist you when it comes to social media marketing, too.
Content creation, hashtag/keyword research, and moderation of responses are a few tasks that you can offload to a dedicated VA.
VAs usually have experience in scheduling software such as Buffer, Hootsuite, Social Pilot, and more.
Not only that, they can help you track social mentions actively. Social mentions are akin to social proof or testimonials about your brand.
Social mentions occur when a social media user mentions an individual’s or brand’s name, either in a positive or negative light. It is essentially a measure of how users or consumers perceive your brand.
A VA can help your business keep track of such mentions online, and in turn, this will help you know your audience better.
You can then draw up effective PR and marketing strategies.
Cold calling/emailing
For businesses that are starting out, cold calling can be an effective way to build an email list. It is a cumbersome process as one would need to pitch random people from business directories/websites.
Hire a VA to do it for you instead. A VA can look up a website or directory, collect phone numbers or email addresses, and send an appropriate pitch.
Sounds great? Of course, it is. You can easily save six to eight hours per day!
Improve your email marketing workflow
Most experienced VAs are adept at using email marketing software such as Mail Chimp, Convert Kit, SendInBlue, and others.
Email marketing software can automate several tasks – content publishing, scheduling, and integrating workflows.
A VA can help with launching and testing email sequences. This can work well for new product launches or A/B testing subject lines. Email marketing can nurture your audience through engaging content.
Quality content helps in building a strong email list. If people like what they read on your site, then they would surely want to subscribe to your website.
You could use a virtual assistant to build your email list in myriad ways.
They can help you organize administrative tasks, track the performance of advertisements and social mentions, and research industry trends.
You can also hire them to analyze markets and competition and collect feedback from existing customers.
If you haven’t done it already, it’s time to hire your very own virtual assistant for growing your email list and business!
