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What sets this podcast apart? We believe in the power of meaningful marketing—a holistic approach that prioritises authenticity, connection, and purpose, whilst still turning a profit.
Chantal Gerardy is an International Award Winning Marketing Strategist who empowers purpose-led businesses to revolutionise their online marketing approach and create a brand that resonates deeply with their online audience. If you're tired of cookie-cutter marketing advice, and seek strategies that truly make a difference, this podcast is for you.
If you are a business owner feeling overwhelmed, stressed, or struggling to cut through the noise online? We've got your back!
Our podcast is tailored for entrepreneurs hungry for clarity, confidence, and tangible results in their online marketing. Our podcast isn't just about boosting sales; it's about creating an efficient marketing machine that reflects your values, passion and purpose. Whether you're stuck or looking to maximise your marketing, we're here to guide you every step of the way.
Our episodes dive deep into practical skills, customer-generating strategies, and streamlined systems to help you thrive without relying on paid ads. From mastering social media, creating content that converts, ranking on google, getting your website to work, lead list building and email marketing, each episode is packed with tips and techniques to help you thrive online.
Join me each week as we explore management and monetisation online marketing strategies designed to reduce your time online while increasing your impact. With our guidance, you'll align your business and marketing team more closely, ensuring every effort moves you towards growth. From overcoming challenges to seizing opportunities, each episode is packed with actionable advice to help you thrive in the world of online marketing and effective management.
Are you ready to transform your online marketing, build a business that you enjoy, and leave a lasting impression?
Tune in to the Meaningful Marketing Podcast and unlock the secret sauce to marketing success.
This podcast is brought to you by Podpro Australia. Do you have a VA and you feel like you're not getting the best out of them? Then this episode is for you.
Social media, Google, email marketing systems, website traffic, and the endless content creation that comes with marketing. It's overwhelming, right? Say goodbye to endless stress and hello to clarity. with the Meaningful Marketing Podcast. In this podcast, I will share with you fast and free practical methods to help you manage, monetize, and market your business, all infused with a healthy dose of motivation.
Let's do this.
Welcome To another episode of the Meaningful Marketing Podcast. I'm your host, Chantal Gerardy
I'm super excited today to be sharing with you a podcast on how to empower your virtual assistant. Master marketing with less input. I recently ran this as a webinar presentation and it was so well received that I thought creating a podcast for our listeners would be the next best thing.
On top of it, I am on my way to the Philippines on Monday for now the second time this year. Earlier this year I got the opportunity to go to the Philippines and present to nearly 200 virtual assistants on how to level up their boss's marketing. And I'll save that for another episode because I went through 10 key areas that you could work with your virtual assistant on in order for them to become better marketers.
Marketing managers for your business. But today I'm going to be talking to you about how you can empower your marketing manager or your VA or your PA or your wife or your daughter or son, whoever is managing your marketing for you. How can you empower them to be better at doing it? There are three major problems that I see quite often.
The business owner is completely overwhelmed with managing their marketing. It is all chaotic. They're constantly putting out fires. The VA is enthusiastic but is lacking in strategy and skills to manage it effectively. Everyone seems to be stuck in the weeds of daily tasks. The business owner and the virtual assistant is wanting a clear and actionable plan so that they can focus on scaling the business rather than micromanaging or being Reactive rather than proactive.
Many times their virtual assistant is completely underutilized. In fact, when I start working with business owners, this is a key thing that we identify, is what are the current tasks that they're doing? What is the time that they have in order to fulfill the tasks? And then we look at the marketing gaps in your business and how we can better utilize the hours that they have.
So many virtual assistants are handling basic tasks And many of you, I'm sure, are wanting them to better manage your marketing. You see their potential to do more, but you're unsure about how to empower them with the right skills and direction to drive your marketing forward. You are stuck between hiring, firing, and rehiring, and the aggravation of it all.
You're starting to realize that it is not them. It is you. And this is an absolutely huge one. So if you're ready to grow without burnout, this podcast episode is for you because if you want to grow your business and you don't want to continually feel the strain of trying to carry all the marketing by yourself.
And if you're looking for ways to better delegate and build a sustainable marketing strategy and create more freedom in your day to day, And get better results. And if you're ready to jump off that hamster wheel and have a marketing machine and manager that gets results, this episode is for you. So this is business owners who've got employees, teams, VAs, PAs, or perhaps it is you that is managing the marketing.
And more than anything, you want to maximize the management of your marketing by improving your productivity, your performance, and the profitability.
So my promise is that in today's episode, I'm going to show you how to transform your VA into a confident marketing manager, Who drives consistent leads and sales. And this in turn is going to free you from the day to day marketing tasks and empower you to focus on growing your business, all with less input and effort from you.
Who likes the sound of that?
Let's talk about all the marketing tasks that should be happening within a business. Everything from website management to social media management, lead generation, video marketing, project management, customer relationship management, and improving systems and automations. These are all key areas that on an ongoing basis need to be implemented within the business in order to create a marketing machine, a sales and lead generating marketing machine.
So I've created a five page checklist for you, and if you jump onto the website, online business marketing.com au, and if you go to the VA coaching tab, you'll be able to download that checklist. Now, when you have a look at that checklist, it is like OMG. Wow. There's a lot that goes in to the management of your marketing if you want it to be a performing marketing machine.
So the reality is, is that your marketing is probably stuck in a cycle. Without a clear strategy, your marketing is going to be inconsistent, unfocused, it's going to lead to missed opportunities, it's going to be a waste of time, and it's going to be super frustrating. Your VA may have the potential to help you, but they need the right skills and direction.
You're probably working harder, not smarter. You're probably spending hours managing tasks that could be delegated, you're feeling overwhelmed, and you're still not seeing the results that you want. And the longer you wait, the more time and money are lost in this endless loop. And your growth will be completely limited if you do not have a plan.
If you don't know where you're going, you can't get there. It's as simple as that. So hoping for better results without a solid marketing plan is wishful thinking. To scale and grow, you need a roadmap that will empower your VA to execute effectively and free you up to focus on the bigger picture goals.
Now, if you jump onto the website and you go to the free downloads tab, I've also created a marketing gap free resource for you to complete, which will identify where in your marketing you possibly have gaps.
So your biggest challenges are that you don't have this marketing strategy and without it, your instructions are going to be scattered. Your potential customers will never be able to find you online and your VA is going to fail to drive meaningful results have a marketing plan, you your campaigns will be hit and miss.
Your brand will be unclear to potential customers online and you'll have poor lead generation and less sales income. If your virtual assistant is underutilized, You're only going to be scratching the surface of their capabilities and they're going to be handling basic tasks instead of driving your marketing forward with proactive strategies.
And it's not them, it is your responsibility to provide strategy and structure for them. You're missing out on leveraging a valuable resource who could be running effective marketing campaigns and freeing up your time. Challenge number three is the overwhelm from trying to do it all. So as the business owner, you're caught up in the daily grind, managing every little detail because your VA lacks the skills or the direction to help.
This leads to burnout, wasted time and missed growth opportunities because you're too busy to focus on the big picture and tackle high priority rocks. I bet that sounds familiar to many of you. And number four, probably one of the most important, is that you're going to lack in lead generation and funnel generating activities.
Meaning that if they spitting out marketing content online. It's never going to generate leads if you do not have funnels implemented and if they don't have the strategy or the funnel expertise, they're not going to be able to do it. Your virtual assistant desperately wants to be able to help you, but the reality is is that they are implementers and they're not strategists.
The strategy should be the businesses. Your marketing will not produce the results you need to grow because it lacks expert guidance and strategic insight. Your business growth will plateau and you'll feel stuck in the same place, unable to move forward with confidence.
So the awesome thing is that you have got some cool opportunities, right? You could develop a clear, results driven marketing strategy. A strategy that aligns with your goals, provides you with a roadmap for success, and ensures consistent, targeted online marketing. And the benefit is you're going to improve your brand visibility, your lead generation, and your overall marketing effectiveness.
Opportunity number two is you're going to transform your VA into a marketing manager. When you upskill and empower your VA to take ownership of your online marketing, they're going to go from execution to performance tracking and get better results. This is going to free up your time and energy while your VA confidently handles campaigns, drives results, and contributes to growth.
Opportunity number three is to streamline your marketing for maximum efficiency. If you implement processes and systems that simplify your marketing, this will reduce your overwhelm and ensure every action is purposeful and impactful. You're going to work smarter, not harder, and you're going to achieve more with less effort and enjoy more freedom to focus on higher level business activities.
Last but not least, opportunity number four. When you leverage expert guidance, you can grow. So if you partner with someone like a marketing strategist, or a virtual assistant coach like myself, they can provide you with support, proven frameworks and expert insights. This means you can continually Optimize your marketing, overcome challenges with ease and scale your business with confidence.
The biggest revelation that I had when I first moved from South Africa to Australia was that without a clear plan, without a strategy, without direction, everything you do online is a waste of time. And if you're investing in a virtual assistant, it's even going to be more of a waste of time for you.
So let me share with you four strategies that the business owner can implement right now with less input from yourself. So if you focus on these four strategies, you in turn will have to give your virtual assistant less input and you'll get more output from them. So number one is all about increasing productivity.
The biggest challenge is your marketing is scattered with too many tasks eating up valuable time and your VA isn't maximizing their potential. What can you do? Well, you can implement productivity tools, things like Trello or Asana and techniques like time blocking or automation to streamline your tasks.
Prioritize high impact activities that drive results. The result is your virtual assistant will become more efficient, freeing up time for strategic growth activities and allowing you to focus on higher level tasks. Thanks. When your VA is equipped with the right tools and focused on key priorities, you'll have to manage them in a lot less time and with a lot less stress.
Brian Tracy said, It's not about working harder. It's about working smarter and prioritizing your time on the right activities. Strategy number two, skill improvement. Your biggest challenge is your virtual assistant lacks the necessary skills to execute your marketing strategy effectively, leaving you to manage most of the tasks yourself or to not do them at all or do them incorrectly Because the business owner only knows what they know and the virtual assistant only knows what they know.
The good news is you don't have to learn everything, you just have to learn what you need to know in order to implement the strategy that will generate you leads and sales online. What can you do?
You can work with a virtual assistant and marketing coach such as myself. And complete targeted training programs on social media management, email marketing, and looking at analytics. You could find yourself a mentor in your business to help you build your and their expertise.
The result is your virtual assistant will develop into a competent marketing manager who can independently manage the marketing and deliver better results. By upskilling your VA, you unlock their full potential and reduce your workload, leading to a more empowered team and a stronger marketing impact.
Benjamin Franklin said, an investment in knowledge always pays the best interest. Strategy number three. Improve your overall management. So your biggest challenge is your marketing tasks are delayed or they improperly executed due to a lack of clear direction and management practices. What can you do?
Well, if you establish a structured framework for task management and delegation, you could use tools like ClickUp or Monday and set clear goals, deadlines and accountability measures to ensure that everybody meets the tasks they're supposed to do. For me personally, I like to do a Monday, what are we going to do this week session?
And a Friday, what did we do? What worked? What didn't work? And we look at the data. That way by checking in on that Monday and Friday I feel like there's accountability and everybody's on tasks and everyone's given an opportunity to be able to discuss the projects, ask any questions and have their questions answered.
The result is you're going to improve your task execution, there's going to be fewer errors and you're going to have a more productive VA who knows exactly what's expected of them where. Effective management isn't about micromanaging. It's about providing a clear road map and an opportunity for your VA to thrive. For myself, by just having that Monday and Friday check in, it meant my VA's bother me less on the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. However, we've also got boundaries in place around when they can actually contact me. And there's also skill development time in my week for any VA's that are needing additional training.
Tony Dungy said, the secret to success is good leadership, and good leadership is all about making the lives of your team members or workers better.
Alright, number four, strategy number four, addressing burnout, lack of creativity, and decision making fatigue.
The challenge is both you and your VA are feeling overwhelmed and burnt out, leading to reduced creativity and clarity in your marketing. I bet many of you are feeling that way right now. What can you do? Well, if you implement a balanced workload, encourage single tasking over multitasking, provide creative brainstorming sessions and set aside time for reflection and strategic planning, it's going to improve your overall wellbeing.
A more energising creative team that consistently generates fresh ideas and approaches, leading to more engaging and effective marketing campaigns. Addressing burnout is crucial, not just for well being, but for maintaining a high level of creativity and clarity that drives successful marketing.
Norm Kelly said, you can't pour from an empty cup, take care of yourself first. So what do you have control of? Well, what can you actually control? You can control you and your team upskilling and getting additional training. You can control improving your daily productivity.
You can control the overall management style of how you manage your tasks. You can control the systems and processes that you have in place. You can control the way that you communicate within your team. And you can control the way that you delegate your ongoing marketing tasks.
So what would frustration free marketing management look like for you?
The only thing stopping you right now is the how, and the good news is that you don't have to do the guesswork anymore. I want to share with you how you can reach your goals easier and faster than you ever thought possibly through upskilling your VA. Now for some of you, you may not have a VA, And that's okay.
Many business owners come to me feeling overwhelmed and stressed and they know that the next step is to get a virtual assistant. There will be a previous episode that you can go back and look at regarding how to source a virtual assistant. However, if you know that you're ready for a virtual assistant and you'd like to explore how that would look, please feel free and reach out to me because I am affiliated with multiple virtual assistant agencies and connect. And I can connect you to the right person.
We recently had a business owner, sign up. And when she came to me she said, I've had my virtual assistant for the last year. It's cost me an absolute fortune. I ended up doing all the tasks because by the time I gave her the task, I could have done it myself. She was sitting there waiting for, tasks and was basically fluffing around and not getting much done.
She's an amazing person, but I've just gotten rid of her. And after listening to your webinar, we've decided I'm going to go back, I'm going to rehire that virtual assistant, and I'm going to get you to come in and work with us so that we have an overall marketing strategy, we have an overall plan,
And with your guidance, we can set up a management system on how we can better work and we can turn her into a marketing manager and a marketing machine and we can free myself up as well. We've also recently had someone else sign up. They have not got a virtual assistant at all, have been thinking about it for a very long time, contacted me and said, could you connect me to a virtual assistant?
I said, not a problem. Found out what they needed help with. I was able to source the right agency for that particular, business that was about a three week process. After the three week process, that business owner and her virtual assistant is now working with myself. A previous client of ours came to us and said, we have a virtual assistant.
They're doing social media marketing online, but we want to create a lead generation system in place. Please could you train my virtual assistant in order to be able to do that? So they got a virtual assistant. I taught them how to, set appointments through LinkedIn, how to create a social media management plan, how to build an email list.
We created lead generation funnels and we implemented a webinar funnel within their business. And I taught the virtual assistant on how to manage the marketing in order to fill those webinars. So if you're thinking about getting a VA or if you're thinking that your VA is underutilized, or if you're thinking, I don't really have a strategy and I don't really have a plan, Maybe it's time that we have a chat.
This is Chantal Gerardy from the Meaningful Marketing Podcast, and I've hoped that you've enjoyed today's episode. Thanks for listening in. Meaningful Marketing is all about you making your marketing meaningful. If you've enjoyed today's episode, please hit that subscribe button. For subscribing means that you won't miss out on future episodes, all about marketing and motivation.
Stay inspired, stay focused and make your marketing meaningful.