Posts Tagged "Virtual Assistance"

Give Your Content Away

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Aug 20, 2009 in Business Tips, Marketing | 0 comments

I was having a conversation today with one of my team members, Jeff, about the reluctance we sometimes see in people wanting to give free content away.  Some schools of thought are that you should charge for everything and not let anything go for free.  I have one thing to start this conversation off with:

If giving away content for free will cause your knowledge well to run dry… you may want to re-think the business you are in.

You should be in a business where you can create content like nobody’s business.  You should be a never-ending resource or supply of information in your area of expertise.  If you don’t feel this way, it means that you may not be stretching yourself far enough, researching your industry enough OR (and here’s the BIGGIE) listening to your customers.

So, that is the first part…  Understanding that you need to go outside of yourself to create fabulous content and stretch the creative mind and the listening mind.

Here is the second part…

Nobody will buy from you if they haven’t experienced you in some form or another.

You need to allow your prospective customers the chance to sample your information, expertise and build up that know, like and trust factor.  If you hoard all of your information to yourself and slap price tags on everything, people aren’t going to buy your products.  They want to experience the product, the service, the program, etc. to make sure it’s a good fit for them.  So, give TONS away!

Think about free trials at Costco. I was there last night and had THE best spinach dip there.  Now, if it wasn’t so fattening (I’m training for a 5K race at the moment), I would’ve bought it but I never would’ve thought about it if I hadn’t had the sample.  Walking through the aisles I also tried these delicious mini pizzas.  Again, not what I want to eat right now but STILL – I hadn’t heard of the brand or considered buying them before.

Don’t give away the same garbage that everyone else does.

Browse around a few websites and you’ll see that a lot of people give away the same types of freebies.  E-books that are simply upsells into the *REAL* information.  Instead, give away a really solid product that someone can use to solve a problem they are having.  Then, the person feels like you’ve actually helped them.  When they encounter a similar problem in future, they’ll remember how you helped.

Customers are smart. They’ll see fluff for fluff and quality for quality.  Let them try everything to see if they like it and you’ll convert many more sales.

Question for you: what is your favorite way to give away content?

(If you want any of our free content, see the Downloads section on our Support Site — not even an opt-in required!)

Web 2010 Discover Ten Strategies Defining Your Business Future with Jay Berkowitz

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Jun 8, 2009 in Business Tips | 2 comments

[tags]Jay Berkowitz, Web 2010, strategies, business, future, Erin Blaskie, virtual assistance, technology, blogging, social media[/tags]

Metromom Online Success Telesummit – Must Attend!

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Apr 27, 2009 in blog, Events | 2 comments

I’m really excited to be one of the speakers at the upcoming Metromom Online Success Telesummit. I’m one of 18 experts giving information on how to maximize your time and energy with knock-out internet marketing strategies.

My talk is about: Virtual Assistants: Delegate For Greater Success

I will share the following tips:

• Learn how hiring a VA saves you money
• Discover what kind of tasks your VA should be doing
• What you need to do BEFORE hiring a VA
• How to find a great VA
• Learn how much delegating tasks will cost you

This is a virtual event that takes place on May 1st and 2nd. And the best part is that it’s f.r.e.e! You can go to this page to learn more about it and watch a great video by MetroMom Founder, Kim DeYoung

Ps – Here’s a quick audio message about the specifics of my talk.

[tags]Metromom Online Success Telesummit, mompreneur, Kim DeYoung, MetroMom, virtual assistant, virtual assistants, virtual assistance, delegate, outsource, delegation, outsourcing[/tags]

Death to the VA?

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Jan 7, 2009 in blog | 8 comments

Today marks the BIG day for our free teleseminar where we’re going to introduce the new business and what our BIG plans are for 2009. It seems like a lot of people are doing this… We’re really moving into who we are truly meant to be and to see everyone doing it is glorious!

One of the things I’ve been joking (partially?) with my clients about is that on January 1, 2009, the virtual assistant part of my died. I am going to admit it… I did not make the world’s greatest VA. Funny that it took me four years of running my VA business and teaching others to create VA businesses before realizing that it just wasn’t my calling.

So… why is that? Well, a few things. First – I’m a born entrepreneur. I revel in the big picture, the results, working inside of your passion and exceeding set goals. Second – doing “tasks” is not my specialized skill set. Sure, I could do all of the “tasks” that a VA was required to do but when it came to just staying in that one place, I couldn’t. I was always off doing other things too which distracted me from being just a VA.

Now that I’ve stepped into this new me, I realize that being an Internet Marketing Strategist IS my forte. The best part is that our company can still offer virtual assistance but in the form of implementation – the follow through to carefully thought out plans. It’s just that I don’t need to be doing it… My talented team can (and they do an even better job than I ever could have!) There were many holes that existed in my previous work with clients and now that I can see them, it’s allowed me to adjust accordingly.

No one was being served properly when we mashed together – both parties having different expectations and both expectations falling short. The client didn’t know where to start, we didn’t know their businesses well enough (and soon enough) and the frustration would set in. Being a big picture thinker and loving when goals are set to work toward, I changed all of that for 2009.

Instead of just “doing”, now we’re doing what we’ve naturally done for quite some time… We’re now planning, following through and then measuring results.

Come to our free teleseminar to learn more. Just click here to register. If it’s past the date of the teleseminar when you are reading this, click through and register anyway – you’ll get a copy of the recording and can hear about all of the exciting things we’re doing in 2009 and beyond!

You can also learn more about our company by watching our video here:

[tags]Erin Blaskie, internet marketing, internet marketing strategy, internet marketing implementation, marketing strategy, virtual assistant, virtual assistance, BSETC[/tags]

Free Teleseminar: Sheri McConnell at Create Your Group Discusses Membership-Based Businesses

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Jan 6, 2009 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

On January 12, 2009, we hosted a FREE teleseminar with Sheri McConnell, founder and president of Create Your Group (www.createyourgroup.com).

Sheri recently announced that she was going to be liquidating her Create Your Group Program and never offering it again… This piqued my curiosity and I invited her to come to BSETC to explain why a liquidation (good to hear if you are wondering what the next steps are with your product!) and also why she’d retire a product that is in such high demand.

Not only that, Sheri discussed membership-based businesses and why they are so smart to create. We had an open call format where I asked her my burning questions and the participants asked her theirs. This is the time to listen to this audio recording as Sheri really will be changing her focus away from this type of content delivery where CYG is concerned and moving to another format (which she just might share on the call!)

To obtain a copy of the recording, please enter your information below.

[tags]Erin Blaskie, BSETC, teleseminar, free teleseminar, internet marketing strategy, internet marketing implementation, internet marketing support, internet marketing, virtual assistance, Sheri McConnell, Create Your Group, www.createyourgroup.com, membership-based business[/tags]