How Virtual Assistants Can Improve Your Productivity
Hiring a virtual assistant is the most practical solution for business owners to boost productivity and be able to get more things done rather than creating a new job for yourself.
Especially if you’re building a startup, every minute counts. Instead of spending time on the simplest, yet most time-consuming tasks like setting appointments and finding email contacts, delegating these tasks would help you focus on more important things like creating a marketing strategy, networking with prospects, or making business decisions.
Virtual assistants are trained (and experienced) to do a set of specific tasks, and assigning them those tasks will not only help you reduce your burden but also help you get those tasks completed quickly and efficiently.
Here are five ways a virtual assistant can reduce your workload and increase your productivity.
1- Online Research
To succeed, startup founders and business owners need tons of information, such as the latest happenings in the industry, what competitors are doing, market research, best marketing strategies, etc. And the Internet is a vast ocean of information.
However, it is full of both relevant and irrelevant information. So finding a reliable source of information can often be a time-consuming task.
A virtual assistant adept in doing online research can help you find the information you want. As they are skilled in doing keyword research, competitor analysis, scanning blogs and online magazines to secure data, you can delegate online research tasks to a VA without any worry.
What’s more, a VA also knows about specialized search engines such as DuckDuckGo, Jooble and Filler Item Finder. So a virtual assistant will look beyond Google and Yahoo to find the information you’re seeking.
(Note: Jooble is the world’s 3rd largest “Job Search Engine” that operates in 71 countries.)
Working with a virtual assistant for conducting online research will not only reduce your workload but also help you find the quality information that you can trust upon.
2- Sending eNewsletters
eNewsletters are a good way to connect with your audience, keep it informed, and increase sales. What’s more, strategically curated eNewsletters packed with useful information can make your prospects/customers feel that you care for them.
However, it takes time to curate information from the web and write customized messages to send eNewsletters.
By hiring a virtual assistant, you can feel confident that your newsletters are sent out on time. Screen recording tools like Loom can help you create a quick video training for your virtual assistant. Or, if you prefer real-time training, video conferencing apps like Skype, Hangouts, and Zoom have screen sharing capabilities so you can guide them through the process and answer questions on the spot.
3- Blog Posting
A well-managed blog not only improves search engine optimization (SEO) of your business website but also guides your prospects to make informed decisions.
According to leading CRM company HubSpot, marketers who focus more on blogging get 13x more likely to see positive ROI.
However, it requires time and expertise to make a blog successful. From idea generation to content creation to content uploading to content promotion, you have to make sure that you do things the right way following the latest practices. Only then, your blog can get traction.
These days, when you can easily find a virtual assistant freelancer to manage your website blog efficiently, there is no need to stress yourself with the blog management task.
4- Social Media Management
Social media is an effective tool to build brand awareness, resolve your audience’s queries, and grow sales.
However, to ensure social media success, one has to build a community first. And the best way to build a community is to grow your audience, interact with your audience, and share useful content. It goes without saying that all of these tasks require expertise.
A social media virtual assistant is skilled in the best social media marketing practices, and they can work on the latest social media management tools, such as Hootsuite, Buffer, Sprout Social, etc.
Therefore, hiring a social media virtual assistant means your social media management will be handled by an expert and you can focus more on core business activities.
5- Email Filtering
Business owners receive hundreds and thousands of emails on a daily basis. Whether it’s from someone you met at a function, newsletter subscription from apps you’ve used, or notifications from your social media accounts, you can get sucked into reading and organizing every single message in your inbox. Sometimes, it becomes tempting to bulk delete everything without realizing there’s an email from a supplier or a potential customer waiting for your reply.
An apt virtual assistant is aware of the best email filtering practices and tools. So he/she
can professionally organize your emails to ensure you don’t miss any important email.
Entrepreneurs who receive hundreds of emails daily can save a great deal of time by delegating email filtering to a virtual assistant.
6- Bookings and Setting Appointments
Whether you need a good hotel for your next business trip or planning a lunch meeting, virtual assistants are skilled at organizing your schedule and making sure everything is locked and booked. All you need to do is show up.
Also, virtual assistants are experienced in calendar management. So they can help you with scheduling meetings and conference calls.
By hiring a virtual assistant, you can stay on top of things as your virtual assistant can efficiently book appointments and schedule meetings. Subsequently, you will have more time for growth-driving activities like making marketing plans.
Conclusion
Hiring a virtual assistant is the first step towards success. By delegating simple, time-consuming tasks to a VA, you will have more time to make strategies to grow your business.
As virtual assistants are adept at what they do, you can rest assured that they will complete the tasks efficiently. What’s more, the benefits a virtual assistant brings on the table always outweigh the virtual assistant cost.
Do you want to share your experience of working with a virtual assistant? Please leave it in the comment section. I’d love to know about it.
Espie Vidal from www.timedoctor.com