Virtual assistants can help with publicity

Virtual assistants can be one of the most valuable tools in your publicity campaign, freeing you from routine tasks that take time away from the really important duties like building strong relationships with the media.

You can hire a virtual assistant for as little as $30 an hour. And here’s the best part. Your VA doesn’t have to work near you. VAs, who are independent contractors, can live thousands of miles away from you, and still do a fabulous job.

I’m in the process of planning the content for a series of teleseminars that I’ll host during the next several weeks to train assistants, virtual assistants, executive assistants and summer interns on how to help their bosses manage a publicity campaign.

For example, they’ll learn how to do the all-important research that’s necessary before the boss starts pitching reporters. I’ll teach them how to write routine press releases and what to do after they’ve written them. They’ll learn how to use media kits.

I’ll even do a training session on user-generated video that explains how they can shoot their own video of special events, commentary, news stories or feature stories for use on your local evening news, or on national news channels like CNN.

They’ll learn about photos and graphics, and other topics such as how to get the boss in front of the best bloggers. I’m doing a segment on how to use social networking sites for publicity. But before I get too deep into the content, I want to know what you think I should be teaching them.

If you plan to hire a virtual assistant, a full-time assistant or an intern, or you already have one, or if you’re an assistant who wants to be trained so you can learn new skill sets that will let you raise your fees, I hope you’ll answer 5 questions that will help me plan this course around your needs. If you complete the survey, let me know which of my two special reports you’d like me to email to you—my way of saying thank-you.

If you want to get a jump on training your assistant, you can start right now. One of the first things your assistant should be doing is writing simple press releases. She can learn how by signing up for my free email tutorial “89 Ways to Write Powerful Press Releases.”

If you don’t want an assistant and would rather have someone like a publicist or a press release writer help you with your publicity campaign, check out The Publicity Hound’s Resources List where you’ll find many excellent vendors.

Want more info on my V.A. training? Sign up for my ezine, “The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week,” in the box on the right side of this page.