Choosing Between a Virtual Assistant and a Digital Marketing Company: Making the Right Call for Your Business Growth
When looking to outsource some of the marketing tasks in your small business the choice between a Virtual Assistant (VA) and a Digital Marketing Company (DMC) can be daunting. To be honest, perhaps you never thought of passing off marketing tasks to a Virtual Assistant or perhaps you thought hiring a Digital Marketing Company was only for Fortune 500 Companies.
Let’s take a closer look at these 2 options you have when looking to outsource your marketing tasks. Whether you're an online business with a small team, a solopreneur or a freelancer, understanding when to enlist the support of a VA or a DMC is important.
My Experience as a Virtual Assistant
As a Virtual Assistant of almost 5 years, I have helped numerous small business owners with marketing-related tasks. From coffee shop owners, coaches and course creators.
To be upfront my expertise as a Virtual Assistant does not lie in my graphic design creativity or marketing skills. I would classify myself more as a Tech Virtual Assistant. I thrive in setting up systems like Dubsado or Asana and putting together processes such as an onboarding process for web designers. When bringing on new clients, who want help with marketing tasks where I try to be upfront about this as much as possible
Through my journey as a Virtual Assistant, I have seen a pattern when helping my clients with their marketing tasks. Either they love my work and think it is the best thing since sliced bread, or they are disappointed with the results.
What I have come to realize is that the clients who are looking for consistent social media posting and are not looking to grow their accounts, love my marketing work of crafting captions and creating graphics. Their goal with their marketing is really just to have consistent relevant
posts for their audience to see if they want.
On the flip side, the clients who are looking for me to grow their account following 300%, increase engagement, and have crazy detailed graphics created seem to be disappointed.
What I have come to realize over the years in terms of marketing work, is that many small business owners are stirred in the wrong direction in terms of their marketing goals.
My clients who’s primary goal is to have regular relevant posts to go out and are not worried about engagement. As a more techy Virtual Assistant that is right up my alley. However, those that have big marketing goals and want a complex strategy with impressive results. Seems like they would have benefitted more from a Digital Marketing Company.
Understanding the Power of a Virtual Assistant
A Virtual Assistant is a multi-talented partner ready to simplify your daily operations and give you more time to focus on the money-making tasks in your business.
Here's why bringing a Virtual Assistant into your team could be a smart choice:
Administrative Overload - Sorting emails, scheduling, and data entry might seem small, but they eat up hours that could be spent on growing your business. A VA steps in to lift these weights off your shoulders, giving you back the time to concentrate on what really matters—the strategic moves that will help your business flourish.
Versatile Support - Imagine having someone who could handle bits and pieces of everything—such as social media engagement, managing who gets into your Facebook groups, or keeping your membership site questions answered. VAs bring their versatility to a range of needs, ensuring that your online business operations run smoothly without you having to micromanage every detail.
Scaling with your business - If your goal is to scale your business from a one-person show to having a small team under you, 5 different offers, an annual retreat and more. Having a VA onboard in the back end to grow with you is invaluable. The earlier you bring on a Virtual Assistant if if this is your goal, the quicker they can become acquainted with your business, how you operate and your goals. Not only can they help take tasks off your plate but they can be a great sounding board and offer advice with experience to help you reach your next business milestone.
Cost-Effective - Hiring a Virtual Assistant certainly is a financial investment (and I will not get into the argument of hiring an overseas Virtual Assistant here). Depending on how seasoned the Virtual Assistant is, their expertise in certain areas (such as a Tech Virtual Assistant who specializes in system setups), Virtual assistant packages and hourly rates can vary. However, if you take the time to search for a VA that really clicks with you and fits your budget. There are plenty of Virtual Assistants who are affordable and can help you take the tasks off your plate that would take you 5 times as long.
Signs You Need a VA:
There are a few telltale signs I have seen in my years as a Virtual Assistant:
You are taking more time to figure out the setup of something than the actual delivery of what you want to do. For example, you're taking 3 hours to figure out how to set up your email marketing platform, such as Converkit to send 1 email that took 20 minutes to write.
Your client workload is taking up more of your time and your marketing efforts and admin tasks are falling by the wayside
You are ready to grow your business by offering a new program, book or service offering and you know soon more of your time is going to be needed for the new endeavour. So now is the time to train someone to help with all the back-end maintenance of your business.
You are planning on launching a new course or online membership to teach others about the knowledge you have. But setting up tech software, managing payment processors or glitches in the system are not your thing.
Incorporating a Virtual Assistant into your business strategy isn’t just about offloading work. It’s about making a strategic choice to enhance efficiency, save money, and push your business toward its goals with a reliable, flexible support system by your side.
What Virtual Assistants are NOT:
They are not mind readers. So to have a successful relationship with a Virtual Assistant, you must communicate with them what you want, expect and in. Of course in time the longer you work with a Virtual Assistant they will learn your expectations so when the same tasks come up again, such as a semi-annual sale, they will have a great idea of how to start this repeatable task. But if your expectations change or you know you want different branding this goes around. It is your job to communicate that, no questions asked!
Virtual Assistants are not good at EVERYTHING. Although very versatile, resourceful, and quick learners. Virtual Assistants are not going to be an expert on all the things. There are only so many minutes in the day to learn, consume knowledge and serve clients to gain experience. So although many Virtual Assistants will have a good grasp on how social media works, they likely are not going to be experts on the algorithm (unless of course, they are Social Media VA’s or Social Media Managers) Same with systems. Myself for example I am well versed in Dubsado. Sure I have dabbled in Honeybook, and it is very similar to Dubsado and I figured it out with no problem. But to know right off the bat if Honeybook could perform a certain function, well I would have to go look into that before confirming. So although Virtual Assistants can be versatile at a wide variety of tasks, they can not be experts at all things.
Understanding the Power of a Virtual Digital Marketing Team
A Virtual Digital Marketing Team can bring specialized skills to the table, helping boost your brand's online presence and driving its growth.
If your business hinges on digital marketing for growth, a DMC's specialized knowledge can be a game-changer. From website development to social media ad optimization, DMCs possess the acumen to propel your brand to new heights.
Increased Conversions - If you are looking for increased conversions in your ads, sales copy, and product purchases or looking to get better reach in SEO, and social media posts, then sounds like hiring a digital marketing team is the way to go for you. Essentially if your goal is to increase conversion, and get better results in any aspect of marketing, having a digital marketing team backing you is invaluable.
Expert in Ads - Since a Digital Marketing Company lives and breathes marketing. They have done the trial and error of running ads and various accounts. They stay up to date on all things ads, how ad platforms are changed what the terminology means and can give you a good idea of what your ad spend will have to be in order to get results.
Algorithms - Again similar to ad’s Digital Marketing Companies, live and breath marketing. So keeping up with how social media algorithms are their jam. They are looking at data constantly to see what converts and what doesn’t in the world of social media.
Don’t get me wrong Virtual Assistants can do some pretty heavy lifting in the digital marketing department, especially if they specialize in marketing and/or social media. However, many Virtual Assistants or those who have a wide array of skills do not have the time to specialize in digital marketing. This is where a Digital Marketing company is your BFF if you are looking to increase conversion in your marketing. This is their niche, what they are trained and understand. They live and breathe marketing, nothing else!
Signs You Need a Digital Marketing Company:
You want to get more leads from your marketing efforts. You want to be the person who hops on a sales call and when asking the potential client “Where did you find me”, their response is an awesome blog you wrote or from an Instagram story series.
Those blogs you work so hard on. Well, you want more eyes on them organically, without having to promote the crap out of them on your social platforms.
You are tired of all the do-it-yourself training and empowerment speeches from online coaches. You are just ready to see results in your marketing with as little trial and error as possible.
You want to be seen as a leader in your space and your marketing to show that you take your business seriously!
What Digital Marketing Companies are not:
Digital Marketing Teams, will not help you with all the admin duties that come along with increased leads from your marketing material, that is what a Virtual Assistant can help with.
Also, with increased leads coming your way, tech issues with forms, websites, and payment processors can arise. Unless otherwise stated in their contract, this is not something they can help you troubleshoot. If your contract with them is for them to create 10 social media captions and graphics a month for you to promote a new service of yours. It is your job to ensure the checkout pages are up and running and troubleshoot any issues, this is not the Digital Marketing Team's job.
Digital Marketing Companies, also are not mind readers, just like Virtual Assistants. When they ask you for a detailed description of your ideal client, they are asking you for a reason. They need this information to write copy that will help them convert leads into paying clients for you. If you are not honest, give them much feedback and do not answer the question at all. Chances are you are going to waste your money. Although they can probably have a pretty good idea of who your ideal client is, they still need open communication from you to understand your business through and through.
So Do you Hire a Virtual Assistant or a Digital Marketing Company?
Choosing between a Virtual Assistant and a Digital Marketing Company is a pivotal decision that can shape the trajectory of your business. Before hiring you have a clear understanding of what your goals are for your business, what tasks are involved to reach those goals as well as having a clear understanding of what a Virtual Assistant vs a Digital Marketing Company. Before you spend money and time bringing a contractor on board, it is important to ensure you are bringing the right person on board who will help reach your goals and expectations.
