Cold pitching is when you reach out to people who don’t know you or anything about your Virtual Assistant business and you try to sell them your services. Today, I’ll go into the details of why it’s a bad short-term and long-term marketing strategy and what you can do instead.
What Is Cold Pitching?
In summary, it’s where you pitch your services to an audience that doesn’t know you via email, DM, or phone calls. It can be something as simple as a social media post that says, “Hey, I’m a VA hire me.” Or, it can include a few more details, but I’ve actually seen several of these posts on social media. I’ve also had similar ones sent to me via direct messaging (DM).
Why Cold Pitching Doesn’t Work
Because the VA industry is a relationship-based business. Really ALL service-based businesses are relationship-based. When you reach out to someone who knows absolutely nothing about you and asks them to buy your services (or products) it can come across as “spammy”.
At least that is my perception and I get at least one cold pitch every day. I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling this way! It’s not a great way to make a good first impression or start a relationship. “Hey buy my….” fill in the blank. Do you like it when you get cold pitched?
Why Do People Cold Pitch?
Because maybe they don’t know any different. Maybe they don’t understand marketing or they think cold pitching is marketing. I get it, you don’t know what you don’t know, but cold pitching is not a good strategy for getting clients.
A better strategy is creating content that showcases your expertise and solves a problem for your audience. Now that may give you the shivers <laugh>, but it doesn’t have to.
3 Simple Steps To Drop The Cold Pitching Strategy
As Zig Ziegler said, “Stop selling and start helping”. It can make a huge difference when it comes to getting the right clients for you.
#1 – Create Some Kind Of FREE Content
Any content you create should be based on the services you’re selling and solves a common problem. It doesn’t have to be a 1,000-word blog post or a YouTube video – but it can be if that is something that resonates with you.
It could be a simple social media post that just focuses on one thing. Something that your audience has issues with and how to solve it. Create a freebie that is easy for YOU. Do what you like to do. Content is king for a reason because what it does is it shows people you know what you’re doing.
Don’t forget to include some type of “CTA” in every piece of content you create. For example, if you want more information on WordPress click here, call me, send me an email” – fill in the blanks. This could take them to your website, or a link to your calendar. So when you create content, you’re not selling, you’re simply telling them what they need to do next.
#2 – Share It With Your Target Market
Once you’ve got your content ready to go – the next step is to share it with your target market. If you don’t really know who your target market is, or you haven’t niched down to a specific industry or profession, I have a free step-by-step masterclass that will help you do that.
Click here + watch the Free Getting Clients Masterclass
Knowing who your target market is, is so so important. You want to get focused when it comes to your target market because you need to get in front of the people who are your potential clients. Because this is where you SHARE your content.
Don’t share your content in a group full of VAs, that doesn’t do you any good unless your target are other VAs. You want to find your target market online and then share your content with them. It can be a Facebook or LinkedIn group for instance. And don’t forget to add it to your social media profiles and posts.
#3 – Rinse + Repeat
Marketing is all about repeating yourself because you want new eyes on your content all the time. You want to constantly look at how to create something even just once a week that you can share. Start now – today.
Do the first thing you need to do – make a decision and then figure out where your target is, create your content, share it and then repeat. If you have an email list, share it there, but share it where your target hangs out and then repeat these simple steps, create, share, repeat, create, share, repeat.
In summary, step one is to create your free content with a call to action. Step two is to share it where your niche hangs out. Step three is to rinse and repeat steps 1 and 2.
A More Advanced Way To Get Clients
Consider doing a simple lead magnet funnel. This is where you create a freebie that sits on your website and visitors have to give you their email in order to get it. This will help you start building an email list, which is really a sales pipeline of potential clients.
This is something I teach and actually walk you through step by step along with giving you a website in my VA Success System. You can find more details below this post.
Drop the cold pitching and start helping your potential clients today! Feel free to post below and let me know what kind of free content you’re going to create. I’d love to hear from you. All comments and questions are welcome.
Oh, and don’t miss reading my Ultimate VA Success Guide: 8 Tips On How To Get Clients As A VA if you’re looking for more tips.
Thanks for reading – Susan
P.S. If you're ready to invest in yourself and a professional future, please check out my VA Success Training. It's for people that are serious about running a successful Online Business. It includes everything you need from business set-up, getting clients, client management, a WP website, coaching, a supportive community, and so much more.
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