Small Business Owners – Take Note – help is virtually around the corner!
Running a small business is not easy work. With so much to think about daily, most business owners don’t realise the things they aren’t doing when it comes to the back end processes of their very own business to assist in its own growth. This is where small business owners can benefit from engaging in a VA for their business.
What do I mean by that?
I’ll use one of my clients as an example on this one to give you genuine insight.
One of my clients David, who runs a Pest Control business. He’s a one man show. I first met him a little under 12 months ago, and business was ok for him then, but he was really wanting to make it grow. Whilst fantastic at the service he provides his clients, when it came to marketing his business and stepping into the digital age of Facebook, well this is where he struggled. That’s where I came in with my Virtual Assistant (VA) Business.
I spent some time with him going over what options he has and what I thought, for his business, would help him promote his business and make his brand stand out!
He had a website, but sadly, no focus had been put on his SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), so we first needed to tackle this problem. We then got him on Google with a Google My Business Listing. You are committing business suicide by not having your FREE Google My Business Listing – I highly recommend you go and get yours NOW, remembering to add as many images relating to your business (including your logo to help with branding) and images of your product/service. Why add these photos? These also rank in Google when a user is doing an image search, so be sure to remember this!
We then moved onto Facebook – he had less than 50 likes on his page, and hardly any content on it, and most importantly, not much contact information. We focused on getting his page up to standard and ensured potential clients could contact him easily by accessing his information from his Facebook Page. A few cosmetic changes as well with cover photos & profile photos that stood out.
We focussed on getting his brand known in our local region. To do this, we utilised local advertising groups & community noticeboards on Facebook – key thing to remember here;
Read the rules of these advertising/community groups; most will have rules relating to advertising posts, so don’t overdo it.
Always share content from your page to these groups; By doing this, you will capture your reach & engagement on these posts on your Facebook Page.
Tag your own page and note your website link in these posts; it will give the users a quick click through option to your page and the option to head over to your website for more information.
Once we started regularly getting his brand seen on Facebook, his brand was easily recognisable. The demand for his services increased. 3 months after we had started our work with him, his income for the business had tripled. For me, as a VA, I was beyond happy that the support I was providing had done what we set out to achieve. For him, as a small business owner, he was over the moon, as he could really start to see the benefits of having that support there, as he needed it and as it was required, without the worry of having someone working for his business on a full-time basis.
Nearly 12 months down the track, we now have his business at a point where his income, monthly has increased 5 times more than it was when we started, and the future for his business looks prosperous for him.
Whilst it can be a big step to take by engaging in someone virtual to assist your business, the benefits of it, long term, will be the best business decision you’ve made.
Note: This article first published in August 2017 in WAHP Business Magazine Australia.