Click here for the audio version of this post.

Welcome to this edition of Weekly VA Marketing Tip! This series is specifically designed to help virtual assistants avoid marketing insanity. Every Monday, my posts will prompt you to accomplish one specific marketing action to promote, brand or position your professional virtual business.

Implement these tips each week and I guarantee you’ll sustain your marketing momentum, increase credibility and visibility in your field, build stronger relationships, boost your ‘know, like and trust factor,’ get more ideal clients looking for you, and have a consistent marketing game plan for your virtual assistant business.

You might even start to like marketing!

Just 3 Questions

What issues, concerns or problems keep your target market up at night?
What are they willing pay any amount of money to have someone solve it for them?

The only way to know is to ask.

This week you’re going to send out a 3-question survey to find out.

Create a short introductory paragraph to:

• briefly define the purpose of the survey (without going into too much detail);
• identify who should fill out your survey;
• give your deadline (if any);
• outline an incentive, if any.

Here are 3 questions to ask (run your questions over with someone first, to make sure they are clear enough):

1. What are the 3 biggest problems you are facing when …
   
2. What would be helpful for …
3. What are you missing in …

The goal is to get a clear picture of the pain your market faces so you can create a niche education marketing strategy, and give your market what they want.

NOTE: The above questions need to be about their business, not yours. For example DON’T ask: What are the 3 biggest problems you are facing when hiring a Virtual Assistant?

Select a free online survey service (I use SurveyMonkey.com). Copy and paste your introductory paragraph and questions to the survey program. Then send they survey out to:

• existing and past clients
• your mailing list
• social media sites (post the link several times during the week)

Once you review all the replies, you need to figure out:

• Is there enough of a recurring theme (problem, pain)?
• Do you have a solution for it?
• Is this a topic you’d enjoy tackling?

If you answered yes to all of the above, you’ve hit on your niche topic. Now you can create a marketing action plan to write articles, blog topics and newsletter pieces, as well as web copy, your free offering (pink spoon) and info products.

How did this marketing strategy work for you? What did you learn? Stay tuned next week, as we build on the replies you receive to create an info product.

Have an awesome week!

You’ve heard me say that I truly appreciate receiving feedback, because it helps me grow and improve in my business.

By creating monthly surveys, I’m getting more feedback than I ever expected to receive, which is great, because I’m discovering new ways to improve and how to align myself on some of my projects in the works.

In reading the replies regarding the ’30-second Intro’ audio project survey, someone made this remark:

Why would I pay for it if what attracted me to subscribing to your ezines, it was already free in PDF form? I don’t like the part about ME being your #1 Marketing Guru. It’s clear (and important) that you sent this to multiple recipients. However, it just sounds, well….fake.

Interesting. Because this was the only person who mentioned sounding fake in my request I don’t know if this is reaction that most people had, but didn’t say anything or unique to this one person. What can I learn from this feedback?

The most important lesson I learned from this person’s comment is I didn’t include enough information in my survey introduction. I didn’t clearly define the difference between the audio program (which will have a price tag attached to it) and my guidebook (free to newsletter subscribers).

For the past few months, I’ve been hooked on surveys (can you tell from my last 2 posts?)… I promise to keep my enthusiasm in check and not bombard you with too many!!

This morning, I received an email from Leo at TecSource.ca regarding yesterday’s audio product survey. Leo is not, I repeat NOT a Monkey User (read the end of this post for an explanation).

This is what he wrote:

Hi Christine, [why does everyone get my name wrong?]

The concept is great but I was a bit reluctant to be part of the Monkey survey. Why can’t a company stop looking and calling people monkey’s ?

It is OK to call the Geek Squad but to ask a suspect/prospect to sign into Monkey?

This is my gut reaction on your Monkey marketing selection.

Kind Regards

Leo

Ahh, I love humorous sarcasm!!!

You see, Survey Monkey has been around for ages and most of my colleagues use it, so I just take for granted everyone knows who they are. I also mistakenly assumed that by using an industry-leading program, it would increase my credibility…

It never crossed my mind to put myself in my audience’s shoes. I didn’t even consider the notion that I could be giving an unprofessional impression or making my potential prospects feel I’m treating them like monkeys — the exact opposite of what I want to achieve.

I can’t tell you how happy I was to get Leo’s feedback. He could have just as easily ignored my invitation and continued to think negatively about me. Who knows how far it could have gone? You know what they say about first impressions and negative word-of-mouth. OK, so maybe this wasn’t Leo’s very first impression of me — we’ve met before and got along splendidly. But if I created this gut reaction in just one person (that I know of), imagine how many others may be feeling the same way, or worse?

The bad news is that it may be too late to change the negative impression left on others who may feel the same. The good news is, now that I’m aware of the situation, I can do better next time, and I know how — choose a more professional-looking/-sounding survey program.

Who knows what kind of feedback I’ll get next time? And that’s perfectly fine with me; Each response I get makes me better.

So the lesson is to embrace feedback and create an environment that encourages open communication. I love constructive feedback — good and not so good — because it lets me know what’s really going on with my audience.

How do you encourage feedback? Is there something you wish someone would have told you, but ended up finding out the hard way? What criticism have you received that really helped you?

***********************

Names and links were posted with full permission:

Yes you can use my name as long as I am not referred to as a Monkey User.

I know, I am pushing the point but please ask your clients and not tech friends if they would mind filling in a Monkey survey, and then see where your credibility lands. Yes it is free but there is a perceived cost.

HAHA!! Thanks Leo for being such a great sport, for your insights and for your continued support.

clit swollen hugeasian nipplethe cartoon incredibles pornold women free hairyrectal teen anal fuking big asspoker top sexy models jarpants pissing aviextreme pissinginterracial movie quicktime freepissing domina

loans absa mortgagecredit slow loan alabama landamerican home inc loan pensacolalenoir trade and american of loanamerican wholesale countrywide lending home loanscalculator amortization bank loansloan 203k rehab fhahughes loans aileenon loan 2nds a homeloan aames home lawsuits

I’m thinking about turning my Designing a Compelling 30-second Intro guidebook into an audio version for those who are more auditory.

However, before I get too excited about my project, I want to ask the #1 Marketing Guru if it’s a good idea. That Guru always knows the right answer, and is more than happy to tell me.

Who’s the Guru? YOU, of course!

So this is where I’d like to ask your help. Would you take a few minutes to honestly tell me if my project has any merit?

Click here to tell me what you think: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=vModxFP71tJq2oOBgIhNLQ_3d_3d

online high programs accredited ged schoolnursing accredited georgia schoolscreditcard acuraaccredited online journalism degreesaflac credit unionaccredited online programs assistance physiciancredit 0apr cardadult accepting credit card merchant account Map