The Virtual Assistant Connection — The ULTIMATE Resource for Virtual Assistants — Is Now OPEN!

I’ve been working hard on this idea and site for a while now and today is launch day! I expect that all Virtual Assistants will enjoy this great new resource as it is my hope that it becomes the ULTIMATE resource for VAs worldwide. So whether you’re a VA or an aspiring VA, bookmark this site and keep checking back for new additions as the entire industry fills it up with every resource you could imagine! Read the information below for more details and please do drop me a line and tell me what you think. And remember this is for the VA industry…if you have an idea or a suggestion to help us improve the site and its offerings, please email me at info@theVAConnection.com.

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You’ve worked hard to build your VA practice. Maybe you’ve developed a product, written a book or an eBook, started a blog or an eZine, or even published a free report to help other virtual assistants establish their own successful businesses. Of course, you have to market your products effectively and consistently before anyone will know they’re out there. Wouldn’t you love to have just one place to market your products to other VAs around the world?

On the other hand, maybe you’ve just launched your VA practice and could use some pointers on how to make your business a raging success. Or perhaps you’re an aspiring VA and have just begun researching the ins and outs of starting your own practice. Either way, wouldn’t it be great if there was ONE place where you could find all the information you need? Instead of spending hours searching for books, guides, advice, organizations, and training, wouldn’t it be ideal if you could find everything in one centralized location?

Enter The Virtual Assistant Connection, the ULTIMATE resource for all virtual assistants worldwide. After being a VA for more than a year now, it has always bothered me that there wasn’t just ONE place to go for resources. They are scattered all over creation, and trying to find them is like trying to find a needle in a haystack!

So what makes The Virtual Assistant Connection different from other VA directories? For one thing, it will be assembled BY virtual assistants FOR virtual assistants. It’s not a directory where potential clients will come to find VAs (although they could); it’s a place for virtual assistants to connect with each other. The Virtual Assistant Connection was created in order to house all the resources available within the virtual assistance industry, not only to help VAs market their products and educational materials, but also to help fellow virtual assistants find the information they need so they can learn from others who have built thriving, successful businesses.

The Virtual Assistant Connection will hold all the resources you can imagine, including: Read more

Free Marketing - The Signature Line

If you’re not taking advantage of using a signature line in all your electronic correspondence, then you could be doing a disservice to your business. Maybe you think a signature line is not that important or that the people you email already know you, so why would you tell them what they already know? The truth is, you could be missing out on business opportunities by not promoting your products, services, or events.

How many email messages do you send out every day? More than 10, 25, or maybe 50? You already have a very targeted audience, whether you are emailing customers, prospects, members, press, or employees – and it isn’t costing you a dime of your marketing budget. Also consider this: people forward email messages to others all the time, so your audience isn’t limited to those whom you send emails. It has now been released to more people who may not even know you…yet!

I have personally had inquiries from people I emailed for technical support or with general questions about their product or service because they saw my signature line and either visited my Web site or wanted to know more about Virtual Assistance and how I could help them. Read more

How Cost-Effective Are Promotional Products?

Promotional products are used every day, often several times a day. They are looked at, written with, put on and involved in a whole list of other basic activities that allow for multiple direct or subliminal impressions of the imprinted ad messages.

By taking the general cost of a product (exact cost can vary because of quantity, intricacy of imprint and number of colors in imprint, and possibly other specifications) and dividing it by the number of exposures the imprint receives, you can get a general idea of your cost per impression (CPI). Here’s some examples:

Notepads

The recipient of a 50-sheet notepad will have a minimum of 50 exposures to the message, which is imprinted on each sheet. If any of the notes are passed on, or kept, the number of exposures can double and triple. The CPI for a $1 notepad works out to be .02 cents per sheet for 50 impressions. Read more

How Well Promotional Products Work

Commonly known as the number-one vehicle for carrying an advertising message, promotional products actually offer more of a response mechanism than other standard media. Not all companies track their results, but some do.

Using imprinted products such as gloves, caps, keytags, etc., as a way of promoting its “Call Before You Dig” seminars on maintaining safe working practices in cable line areas, AT&T generated a 95-percent success rate in scheduling seminars, which, within a year, translated into a 100-percent decrease in underground cable cuts.
As a way of improving response to its customer-satisfaction surveys, a manufacturer/servicer of electronic document-processing solutions included a piece of foreign currency and a customized description with them. It generated a 43-percent response. Read more

How Promotional Products Can Be Used

Motivation/Incentives

Imprinted products are often used to motivate sales teams toward more sales, production workers toward greater efficiency, credit departments toward more collections, etc. But they can also be used as incentives to get store managers to give you better shelf space for your products, dealers to load up on your product so they actually have to push it, consumers to purchase more of your product, delinquent library-card holders to return books and so on.
Recognition/Service Awards

Employees, customers and vendors are recognized for years of service, performance, volume or frequency of business, etc.

Traffic Building

Be it retail, business-to-business, associations … everyone has a need to draw customers. This may be to your store in general, for a specific promotion, to your tradeshow booth or to your special event. Read more

6 Steps To a Successful Promotional Campaign

Successful marketing and other communications campaigns that use promotional products don’t happen by chance. To realize goals, promotional products programs must be carefully planned, taking into consideration the audience, budget and, of course, the ultimate result to be gained.

Promotional Products Association International recommends the following guidelines for creating effective campaigns:

1. Define a specific objective.
Whether the goal is to increase traffic at a trade show exhibit or to boost sales with current clients, the first step in any campaign is to clarify the purpose of the program.

2. Determine a workable distribution plan to a targeted audience.
Distribution of a promotional product is as important as the item itself. Research shows that a carefully executed distribution plan significantly increases the effectiveness of promotional products. For example, a pre-show mailing to a select audience delivers more trade show traffic and qualified leads than simply distributing items to passerby at the show. Read more

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