What is a Virtual Assistant?

According to Google, “a virtual assistant (typically abbreviated to VA, also called a virtual office assistant) is generally self-employed and provides professional administrative, technical, creative, or social assistance to clients remotely from a home office.”

We agree with that definition 100%, but we think virtual assistants can be so much more. A virtual assistant is a time and money saver. They are skilled experts in one or more areas of business that can directly improve and impact the way small businesses operate. Virtual assistants are like employees but with even an even greater desire to see you succeed and a greater ability to support you in your efforts.

Here are 3 main types of VAs and a brief overview of how they can contribute to the overall efficiency and success of your small business.

 

Administrative and Clerical Support VA

Any professional or small business owner knows how many moving pieces go into effectively running a business. Staying on top of schedules, appointments, travel arrangements, bookkeeping, emails, etc. can be time-consuming and overwhelming. These daily tasks can easily get neglected and pile up or continue to distract you from the more important things you could be doing to really develop and grow your business. This is one area that an assistant can be of great help.

A general administrative and clerical support virtual assistant typically has prior experience working in an office and has the right set of skills to increase organization and efficiency of accomplishing day-to-day tasks. Whether it’s taking an overloaded inbox and creating a streamlined system for receiving, storing, and responding to emails or managing your schedule so that appointments are set at optimal times and your calendar stays organized, a virtual assistant can dive in, clean up and improve the way your office or business operates.

Oftentimes, an entrepreneur seeks out a personal assistant, receptionist, or office manager as their first hired employee. Administrative and clerical tasks are of utmost importance and seeking support in these areas is a vital step in expanding any business. However, choosing to work with a virtual assistant can greatly reduce the pressure and added costs that come with hiring an actual employee.

 

Marketing Support VA

Keeping your brand or product up-to-date and visible to the right audience is another time consuming, but necessary part of running a business. Marketing tasks can include content creation, social media management, email campaigns, and advertising. All of these things require an overall marketing strategy as well as a more targeted strategy for each platform or campaign.

The range of marketing tasks carried out by a VA can vary depending on their individual skill level and areas of expertise, as well as the needs of a particular business. As a small business owner, you might need an assistant that will support you by helping create an overall marketing strategy and will follow through to ensure the plan is implemented on an ongoing basis. These VAs might have general knowledge in most aspects of marketing and can single-handedly carry out basic, but effective marketing efforts.

On the other hand, you might need a more comprehensive marketing VA team, which is made up of individuals that specialize in specific areas of marketing. While you might choose a VA to oversee all marketing tasks, there are actually multiple virtual assistants carrying out those tasks according to their unique areas of expertise. While one VA manages your social media engagement, another will focus on copywriting and content creation, while yet another manages online ads.

Marketing virtual assistants can assist with specific pieces of your marketing efforts or can help you create and implement your marketing plan from start to finish. Either way, they offer a tremendous amount of intelligence and support in your efforts to effectively reach your target audience.

 

Specialized VAs

We use “specialized virtual assistants” as a broad term to include VAs that have a very specific skill or targeted area of expertise. These include graphic designers, website developers, professionals trained in specific software or business tools such as Infusionsoft or Salesforce, search engine marketing and optimization experts, etc.

Specialized assistants can be a great asset to small businesses that need support with one particular project or ongoing support with a particular system or tool. These kinds of projects and tasks aren’t usually enough to keep a full-time employee busy, but do require unique skills to accomplish.

Instead of going trying to design a logo yourself or going to various websites to try to find a decent premade logo, why not save time by hiring a graphic design assistant that can cater to your particular needs and style? Instead of spending hours trying to learn every function and tool included in Infusionsoft or Salesforce, why not hire a VA to get the system organized, get processes set up, and implement specific campaigns so that the software works for you as it’s supposed to? Instead of attempting a “do-it-yourself” website, why not hire a virtual assistant who has the expertise needed to build a unique and professional site quickly and effectively?

Specialized VA can provide focused effort where, when, and how you need it.

 

What kind of virtual assistant do you need?

A virtual assistant is a flexible, professional, and oftentimes much more affordable alternative to hiring a full- or part-time employee. A virtual assistant is someone that is an expert in their field and desires to share their skills to support their clients. That said, you might run into the need for various types of virtual assistants as unique projects and needs arise for you.

The beauty of it is that there is no one set of talents or services that define or limit virtual assistants. A virtual assistant simply provides entrepreneurs and small business owners with the help they need, when they need it, and in a way that saves time, energy and money.