Need More Business? Try Cause Marketing!

"I need more business, but my budget is tight" seems to be the cry of every local business I speak to. As I began to hear this more and more I came up with a solution that provides ways to market your business for virtually no cost except for your time.

One way to do this while building your brand is to partner with a charity and leverage the concept of "cause marketing." Cause marketing is about adopting a specific charity or non-profit campaign that complements your business and then promoting what you are doing for that cause.

A great example recently was The Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel's Hand Bag Drive at which they collected used hand bags in good condition to raise funds for the Partners In Education Program. Other successful examples are the businesses that sell soda by the can and are collecting the pull tabs for The Ronald McDOnald House. After taking the tabs to a recycler, the money then goes to The Ronald McDonald House.

There are many ways to utilize the idea of cause marketing. If you are a retail outlet you can become a drop off point for a Toys for Tots drive or a food drive. You can contact organizations like The March of Dimes, Muscular Dystrophy Association, American Cancer Society, Women in Distress, and others and find out what their needs are and how your business can help meet those needs.

The key to utilizing cause marketing is to make sure you are promoting your involvement. Send a press release out to all the media contacts that you have. If you don't have a media list, develop one by simply researching the media outlets in your area.

The great thing about cause marketing is that it can be done for virtually no money as all you need to do is create a program, develop and promote it. That can be as simple as letting your clients know that this month your business will donate a percentage of the profits to a local charity. Then have a picture taken of you writing and sending the check to the charity with a catchy caption such as, "Suzie Smith proves that service to humanity is the best work of life with her donation to (insert charity) made possible through the support of her clients. Suzie Smith can be reached at (insert phone number)."

This month pick a cause and use it to leverage your business success.

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Jonathan Lederman is President of JSL Services providing his voice talent to local businesses, events, and sports teams along with business consulting, and motivational speaking. Jonathan can be reached at 561-367-9281 or rd1299@aol.com

What is a Virtual Assistant?

The story goes that Thomas Leonard (known as the father of life coaching) was going to be travelling the country in his RV on sabbatical and he wanted his assistant to run his life and business for him while he was away. He was the first one to coin the term, "Virtual Assistant."

A Virtual Assistant is an independent business owner who supplies administrative/secretarial support to others remotely or virtually. A Virtual Assistant is a mostly home-based independent contractor, a "solopreneur", who is an administrative expert, and partners with other business owners to accomplish their administrative tasks.

Picture a corporate or small business office with a Secretary or Administrative Assistant who sits outside the boss's office providing him or her administrative support with day to day tasks and special projects. Now, picture that same Administrative Assistant in a different location, but still providing the same support. Communication is accomplished through email and the phone instead of face to face.

Because of the tremendous advances in technology, what once had to be done in a traditional office can now effectively be handled remotely, through e-mail, telephone, fax, overnight mail and on-line communications. All this virtually eliminates the traditional overhead associated with conventional office support.

Because Virtual Assistants (VA's) work from their own offices a small business owner doesn't have to incur the costs associated with hiring a salaried employee. A VA provides their own office space, equipment & supplies.

A small business owner partnering with a Virtual Assistant can enjoy several cost-effective solutions: No office space needed · No employer-related taxes to be paid · No benefit packages to buy · No downtime or personal leave. Since a Virtual Assistant is available on an "as needed basis," a small business owner has the choice to use a VA only as necessary for their business. A Virtual Assistant is under contract only for the time that is worked on a particular task or project.


Christine Myers
Virtual Assistant Services.net, Inc.
www.VirtualAssitantServices.net