If your small business’s staff is struggling to complete essential administrative or marketing tasks, outsourcing to a third party may be the more practical option.
After all, hiring specialists with specific expertise can help you save time and money while avoiding the headaches that come with doing everything in-house.
Knowing what duties should be performed in-house and what tasks can be outsourced is essential for running a successful business. Find out with us the top 7 types of mundane tasks that can be outsourced so it is easier for you to decide when outsourcing virtual assistant services.
What are Virtual Assistant (VA) Services?
Virtual assistants are self-employed experts who work from home for clients. They can serve multiple clients and work on various projects if they have specific skill sets. They work to the client’s specifications and provide a wide range of reasonably priced services.
From simple administrative tasks to accounting or human resource management, a virtual assistant or a virtual assistant company can handle a wide range of professional funtions.
Top 7 types of mundane tasks you can outsource to Virtual Assistant Services
Virtual assistants are not assigned specific tasks, and their duties vary depending on their employer. Here are some common jobs assigned to virtual assistants.
General Virtual Assistance
General Virtual Assistants, as the term implies, can assist with multiple aspects of the business. This can range from day-to-day tasks to more involved administrative tasks.
The current trend is to hire offshore general virtual assistants in developing countries where labor costs are lower, while still gaining access to quality staff and graduates.
A virtual assistant can also serve as your personal assistant, assisting you with errands and personal tasks like managing schedules, planning trips, and booking flights.
These professionals typically have a broad skill set and are familiar with basic tools such as Microsoft Office, Google Drive, and Skype. Because their skill set is so broad, most General virtual assistants are eager to learn new tools and contribute more to the company.
Content Writing & Management
It is vital to create content in order to increase brand awareness and sales. That being said, it is yet another time-consuming task. It is critical not to overlook the importance of creating quality, interesting content to entice your target market.
Does this mean you have to hire a content writer or move that task to the bottom of your long to-do list? Nope! Choose a virtual assistant.
Some virtual assistants have experience creating sales-driven content for businesses. Find one of these people if content writing is a priority for you.
A virtual assistant can write your blog posts, social media captions, newsletters, and emails, saving you a significant amount of time. This will greatly benefit your content marketing efforts.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) & Digital Marketing
One of the more time-consuming aspects of digital marketing is search engine optimization (SEO). It necessitates constant attention. Keywords must be re-evaluated, content must be optimized, and your website and other social media channels must do the same.
A virtual assistant who has been trained in SEO tasks will be able to help increase website traffic, generate high-quality leads, and potentially drive sales. You don’t want just anyone to visit your website; you want people who are interested in you.
Social Media Management
Creating a social media account is the first step toward achieving global exposure. A dynamic presence across multiple platforms with consistent customer engagement is required. However, social media marketing is a time-consuming task that should not be undertaken by business owners.
A virtual marketing assistant for digital marketing will align your accounts with your social media marketing strategy. They will use social media management tools to create and schedule relevant posts at regular intervals, respond to customer inquiries, and constantly engage your audience.
Web Development
Your virtual marketing assistant understands the value of having a visually appealing virtual storefront to make a good first impression on clients, partners, and vendors. A regularly updated and maintained website is essential for gaining more business.
Hire a digital marketing assistant to ensure that your website is always up and running. Nowadays, the majority of candidates applying for such positions have experience managing and developing websites.
You can view the candidates’ personal portfolios and projects to evaluate them better. Virtual assistants are gaining popularity, and even affiliate marketers use them to manage and develop their websites.
Audio And Video Editing
Outsourcing design tasks has now surpassed the creative industries of audio, video, and photo editing. Engaging in this practice may also help you develop new ideas and provide a fresh perspective on your design projects.
Outsourcing design tasks is also an affordable option for new businesses. In fact, contracting out work to a third party is frequently the most effective way to reduce overhead and labor costs.
See more» Innovature BPO’s Post Production Services (Photo Editing and Video Editing)
Miscellaneous
Sometimes you need random tasks completed around the office. It could be anything from taking notes during meetings to purchasing office supplies.
However, after a while, you realize that you’re wasting a lot of time on non-essential tasks, which is detrimental to your business by reducing productivity. In this case, a virtual assistant can handle general day-to-day tasks while saving you money on higher labor costs.
Those tasks are, in general, as follows:
- Write down meeting minutes and create a detailed document;
- Transcription of voicemail, video or audio, podcasts, and meeting recordings;
- Recruit potential team members and contractors or freelancers;
- Research data, statistics, and facts for meetings and use the data to create Powerpoint presentations or blog posts;
- Perform generic errands for the office, such as purchasing items online, arranging locations for office parties, etc.
VA decision: How do you know what to outsource?
If you’re wondering how to outsource and what tasks you can delegate to virtual assistants, we’ve put together a step-by-step guide to help you decide which tasks to delegate to your future virtual assistants.
Note down everything
Documenting how you spend your day is the first step in your journey to delegation. Write down every task you complete throughout the day as soon as you open your computer.
This exercise allows you to take inventory of your day and see where you spend most of your time. Perform this for one week. After you’ve documented your daily activities, it’s time to decide which tasks require your attention and which can be delegated.
Make a category for each task
Every task in your company will be divided into four categories:
- Things I don’t know how to do
- Things I despise doing
- Things I don’t have time to do
- Things that only I am capable of doing.
Fill the categories mentioned above with each task you completed throughout the day, using the list of tasks you took the time to document. Consider the following:
- Is this something I’m familiar with?
- Is this something I despise?
- Is this something I had time to do?
- Is it possible for someone else to do this?
Taking the time to consider everything from “Do I hate doing this?” to “Can someone else do this?” will assist you in determining whether a task truly requires your attention.
For example, if you host a weekly podcast, you probably shouldn’t be the one who contacts potential guests, researches and prepares interview questions and topics, or writes the show notes.
A Virtual Assistant can take care of those details for you. On the other hand, a virtual assistant cannot record the podcast episode for you.
This exercise determines where you should focus your energy, and where you can delegate specific aspects of your business to a virtual assistant.
Don’t miss» 8 interesting facts about Virtual Assistant Industry during Covid-19
Innovature BPO’s Virtual Assistant Services
Innovature BPO is your dedicated virtual assistance service. We provide professional, tailored services to meet your needs. We are incredibly proud of our team, who are experienced virtual assistants.
Our virtual assistants not only perform administrative tasks but also assist clients with their business activities. We can assist you with:
- Administrative/ Generalist
Organizing appointments, managing your diary, handling emails, organizing travel, formatting documents, creating PowerPoint presentations, updating expenses, sending invoices, etc.
- Business operations
Lead generation, data mining, email marketing
- Digital Marketing/ Social Media
Write the content, implement strategies, research, find quotes, create images, find engaging questions, send newsletters, manage Google Adwords, monitor statistics, etc.
- Graphics/ Graphic Designer
Setting up emails, fixing technical errors, and creating backups of your website.
- Technical/ WordPress
Create images for social media and presentations, and create simple flyers and brochures.
In order to help your business grow, we provide our clients with high-quality outsourcing virtual assistant services at reasonable prices, resulting in a faster return on investment (ROI).
With outsourcing virtual assistant services, you can free up your schedule for the things that are truly important to you, while remaining confident that your digital marketing efforts will not be neglected. You won’t spend a lot of money on additional in-house staff, but you will have someone who helps to improve the business and drive sales.
See more»
- Unlocking the Potential of Virtual Assistants for Improved Customer Service
- Top 30 benefits of Virtual Customer Support Assistants
- Virtual Assistant Hiring Process: The 10 essential steps you should take
- Hiring a Virtual Assistant: Top 15 skills to look for
- Top 10 Time Management Tips for Virtual Assistants
- Top Virtual Assistant Stats to watch out for in 2022
