120. The VA & OBM Marketing System: 2 Platforms, Not 10 (And 4 Other Things You Need)

Marketing feels nebulous. Heavy. You don't know what to post. You sound like everybody else. So you post when you need a client, then disappear. Nobody hears from you until you panic and need another client. 

Maybe you tried Instagram for a few weeks, then Facebook groups, then cold DMs, then Threads. You're showing up in random places with no purpose and it feels pointless. So you quit. Then panic. Then cycle again.

Here's why: You're doing marketing decoupage, cute, but not effective. Marketing is meant to compound over time, but if you don't have a clear message tying things together, there's no way to compound and no way to tell what's working.

In this episode, I'm breaking down the 5-part marketing system designed specifically for VAs and OBMs (not generalized tactics from people who need bigger audiences). You need handfuls of clients, not thousands of followers. This system is built for that.

Plus: Why most marketing advice isn't for you and what to do instead.

 Effortless Attraction (8-week group program) is now open: Join us inside!

For VAs & OBMs turning expertise into a signature method and a business that pays for outcomes, not hours.

BOOK A FREE BUSINESS AUDIT
Free 45-min call. Find your bottleneck, see what's possible.

FREE RESOURCES
Tools, trainings & community.

WORK WITH ME

Expansion: 1:1 coaching to build your signature method and offer suite.

Effortless Attraction: 8-Week Marketing Intensive (Apr & Oct)

Foundations to Flow: 8-Week Offer Design Intensive (Feb & July)

Website | Instagram | Threads | LinkedIn | YouTube 

Podcast produced and edited with love by @FerAssists

Transcript

[00:00:00] Andrea Elibero: Hello and welcome to Solepreneur Scaling Stories. I'm Andrea a certified OBM turned business coach, helping VAs OPMs and done-for-you. Service Pros turn their unstructured expertise into a signature method and a business that pays them for outcomes, not hours. So if you want a business that gives you freedom instead of taking it, you are in the right place.

[00:00:23] Andrea Elibero: today we are diving deep into marketing, but I'm going to talk about in a way that's really specific to you. It's really specific to VAs and O OBMs because I feel like especially when you are done for you a service provider, marketing itself can feel like. Really like nebulous.

[00:00:41] Andrea Elibero: It can feel really heavy. And, you know, things like, well, I don't really know what to post about. Like, my things are kind of straightforward, you know, I kind of sound like everybody else. And listen, I just wanna post like get a client or you know, market or whatever to get a client and then I'm out because this is not what I want to be doing.

[00:01:00] Andrea Elibero: And so maybe even you're guilty of posting and ghosting and posting, only when you need to get a client. and then nobody hears from you again. Nobody knows that you exist until you need another client. You know? Or maybe when you do show up, you are only getting likes and comments from other service providers, and your ideal clients are not the ones who are interacting with you.

[00:01:22] Andrea Elibero: So it kind of feels like, what's the point in this? You know? And it can feel like. Like you have to market yourself, but there's so many ways to do it. There's so many options. There's so many platforms and there's so many voices telling you so many different things, so you have no idea what to do.

[00:01:38] Andrea Elibero: things like, oh, LinkedIn is where you'll find the premium clients, right? The people you're looking for. Well, you have to engage and DM your ideal clients on Instagram. Well, if you're not doing reels, then why bother? 'cause that's the thing that's gonna get you seen by more people. Or what about threads?

[00:01:52] Andrea Elibero: I find all of my clients on threads. You need to be on threads. Or maybe wait, is podcasting? Am I supposed to be podcasting? You know, like all of [00:02:00] these things. So many different voices and maybe, maybe all of that just makes you wanna like slowly close your laptop and crawl back into bed, like under the covers and just be like, listen, I'm just gonna stick with my clients and hope that they refer me to somebody else and just be done with it.

[00:02:16] 

[00:02:17] Andrea Elibero: for sure, these are things that are super, super common. And so in addition to the marketing feeling really nebulous, feeling okay, I just wanna do my client work. can we like chill on this?

[00:02:28] Andrea Elibero: I also see a cycle that comes up as well. So maybe you do things like. You know, okay, I'm gonna be good and post on Instagram and I do that for a few weeks, but it doesn't get traction. Or maybe you're like, okay, now that's not really working, so now let me move on to Facebook groups and try to connect in there.

[00:02:48] Andrea Elibero: Okay, wait. Oh wait, that's not really working. Like I get some comments, but not so much movement. And now you think okay, let me like maybe cold DM people. I don't know, but I hate that. So, okay, like, let me go on threads and now you're just like [00:03:00] gossiping with other. VAs or OBMs, and so you're showing up a little bit in a bunch of random places and it kind of feels pointless, right?

[00:03:07] Andrea Elibero: Because it's like, what am I even doing? Like I don't have a purpose here. And so then you're like, okay, forget it. I'm just like, what's the point of this? And then you panic and then you cycle again. Because what else? what are you going to do? when you're doing things like this, it feels really exhausting and it feels exhausting because

[00:03:26] Andrea Elibero: it's not really a strategy. It's more like this like paper mache decoupage situation where it's like, cute, you're doing things, but it's not necessarily effective in terms of marketing and getting clients and things like that. Marketing is meant to compound over time, but if you don't have a clear, cohesive message that's tying things together, if you're not intentional and know why you're showing up on the platforms you're choosing, then.

[00:03:55] Andrea Elibero: There's one no way to compound, and two, there's no way to tell what's actually working for [00:04:00] you. And then on top of that, all of it feels really exhausting. So it's no wonder that you're feeling anxious over marketing, So we are going to fix that. you know how I talked about all of these different voices telling you 1,876 different strategies like earlier when we first started this a few minutes ago.

[00:04:19] 

[00:04:20] Andrea Elibero: and the thing is, is that it's especially even more confusing for done for you service providers to figure out who to listen to. Because the vast majority of these marketing people are not actually talking to you. You're not their primary target audience. They are generalizing broad marketing tactics that work for them and their audience, which are people that generally need a bigger audience.

[00:04:48] Andrea Elibero: and they're generalizing that to you. But the tactics that they're, that they mostly talk about are not necessarily designed to support your type of business because the vast majority of VAs o [00:05:00] OBMs done for you, service providers that I know, they are really busy with client work and they don't have all of the time needed to meet these other people's definition of success.

[00:05:10] Andrea Elibero: What you actually need are like handfuls of clients at a time, right? And. You are good at what you do. You're, do you enjoy your client work and, but you didn't start your business to become like the face of the industry most likely, right? You just wanna market so you get clients like the end and so. A lot of these other marketing strategies just go above and beyond and it's just too much, and they're not taking into account the limited time that you have.

[00:05:40] Andrea Elibero: And in addition to that, the fact that the relationship that you have with your clients is actually more intimate than a lot of other types of industries. They really need to trust you, right? They're giving you all their passwords, like you're going in, you're like being them. You're doing all of the things.

[00:05:55] Andrea Elibero: And so you need a community, a group of people that trust you. You don't need to [00:06:00] reach. Everybody in the world, you need the specific potential clients that you want to work with to trust you and want to work with you. And that's it. You don't necessarily need more than that, and you build that trust through a clear and simple structure and that consists of clear messaging being on the right platforms for you, and it's a little bit more, there's some nuance to that and an intentional approach, and that is the core of a marketing system that actually supports done for you service providers.

[00:06:27] Andrea Elibero: And we're going to get. Into that, right now, so you're like, okay, there's a system, what are you talking about? what does this look like? there are five parts to the system, and my most favorite and the most important one I think number one is messaging, clarity. This is the foundation.

[00:06:44] Andrea Elibero: And you might think like, okay, I know my messaging, but if somebody landed on your profile right now, what would they learn about what you do? And if you're gonna tell me that it says that I save them time, or I do the things that they don't want to do, or I build systems, or I manage [00:07:00] their backend, then I'm going to go and jump off my balcony because I cannot any longer.

[00:07:05] Andrea Elibero: If I'm calling you out, don't worry for getting there. So listen, these are all true, okay? And none of those statements are going to make the clients that you want to work with hire you. Now, and I'm saying this with all the love in my heart because. I am on a campaign to have to never have to see somebody say that I save somebody time ever again.

[00:07:27] Andrea Elibero: And I will tell you why. So if that's your brand messaging, number one is that you sound like the 10,000 other VAs and OBMs, And it's because you are leading with the tasks that you do. And. The surface level outcomes. Now what actually gets you clients is going deeper than that. What actually makes somebody stop and be like, oh, this person's interesting, is when they feel like you're reading their mind.

[00:07:58] Andrea Elibero: They need to feel seen [00:08:00] and. They, in addition to being, feeling seen, which is like, okay, listen, I know that, let's say I'm somebody who loves working with. I'll take me for instance, as an OBM I work with spiritual entrepreneurs, soulful entrepreneurs, and there's a purpose behind it. There's a reason behind it.

[00:08:18] Andrea Elibero: And when I talk about things like that, they're like, oh yes, like you're the one for me, Anybody can do anything, like any of these tasks for anybody, you know, but when they feel connected to you and they feel seen. That is it like game over and you have to call that out. And so in addition to that, what about going deeper into the results of what happens because you're saving them time because you're doing the operations.

[00:08:42] Andrea Elibero: It's the adding and thinking in your mind whenever you say something like that, the so that. So I save time so that maybe your type of person is somebody who has a family, maybe they're moms, so that you can have dinner with your family. You know? So that, or I do my, you know, like, I'm [00:09:00] fixing your client experience so that, what, if your person is like doing something like so amazing and like you want to help them because their client experience is fucked up and their clients are not gonna 

[00:09:11] Andrea Elibero: Stick around. So not only are you growing their business, but you're also helping them to help all of these people. And now their people are gonna refer more people, you know, to this like specific, let's say coach of whatever type and there's just gonna be so much more positivity and like they're gonna make such more of a difference in the world.

[00:09:26] Andrea Elibero: All because you're fixing their onboarding, you know? And people are not dropping off 'cause they don't feel like they're being taken care of. it goes so much deeper. There's a ripple effect in everything that you do. And so really. Getting to that, to the core of that, this helps so, so, so, so much 

[00:09:42] Andrea Elibero: For instance, instead of like, oh yeah, I support launches. You can say if your launch feels like you're the strategist, the project manager, or the executor all at once and you can't switch off, I'm stepping in. So you don't carry that alone. Like, oh, thank God, right? Like thank God she's here for me.

[00:09:56] Andrea Elibero: And so it's really cool 'cause I have two right now, one-on-one clients who are both [00:10:00] creating core offers that focus on systems. And you might think like, okay, yeah. Great. And their messaging could not be more opposite and it's really cool. And even like the way they set up their packages are very different.

[00:10:12] Andrea Elibero: So one of them is really focused on values. It's really focused on being human first. It's like being trauma informed. it, it feels really. held, and the other one is a more introverted person is more quieter and she wants to do her thing in the background and like they don't even know she's there, but like the people are seeing the effects.

[00:10:30] Andrea Elibero: So she's focused on like silence and on being this quiet engine that just keeps things running and having the business being the most peaceful part of their day and things like that. And so that messaging is so, so, so good. That now these people I promise you that each of them are going to immediately draw in their personal ideal clients because they stand out because they're speaking directly to the people they want to be speaking to.

[00:10:56] Andrea Elibero: And because they're going deeper in their messaging, the majority of other [00:11:00] systems people are going. And so that's the difference that having messaging can make. That one I talked about longer than I, we'll talk about the other ones 'cause I'm. I'm on a, my soapbox for that. So that's number one is messaging.

[00:11:10] Andrea Elibero: Number two is business season awareness. You have seasons in your business, and it's not like the spring and summer, it's capacity seasons. There are times in your business when you're super booked, you're super busy and you barely have time, for yourself. You don't have that much time, to focus on marketing and getting clients.

[00:11:28] Andrea Elibero: And there are times when you need clients like yesterday, right? And there are also times when you're coasting, Things are cool, like I could take on another client, but I'm okay. Each of these seasons, how you serve yourself in your business is knowing and planning ahead of time what your marketing looks like during each of these seasons, because yes, even in the times when you are super booked, you still need to be out there.

[00:11:51] Andrea Elibero: Not as much as. When you're like really need clients because there is no time where there is like zero marketing efforts. 'cause that [00:12:00] is how you keep your business afloat is the marketing that you do when you're super booked. And so for instance, maybe when you're really booked, you're focusing on just staying visible.

[00:12:10] Andrea Elibero: You know you're doing nurturing, keeping things a little bit warm. But when you need clients, you're in there having conversations, making offers, doing more of the things to move people forward. And so, you know, as I said at the beginning of this, most service providers market super inconsistently.

[00:12:25] Andrea Elibero: And they're either nowhere to be found from whatever, or they're posting like 12 rules in three days when it's like, I need a client right now. And that also is really dysregulating to your nervous system. And so the marketing that you do when you are booked is what is going to keep you booked next.

[00:12:41] Andrea Elibero: And again, nothing super major, but it has to be something. And The thing that makes a really big difference here is having a plan ahead of time so you can follow, so you're not wasting your brain space figuring out like, what do I do? So having this minimum marketing efforts for when you're booked and knowing what you're ramped up efforts are for when you are needing [00:13:00] clients.

[00:13:00] Andrea Elibero: So having that plan based on the season of market of business that you are in is number two. Number three of the five is platform strategy. 

[00:13:09] Andrea Elibero: Because what I see oftentimes are that people are, are kind of like randomly in a number of different places, and then this becomes more of a. Like, not a platform problem, but more of a like depth problem. So spreading yourself too thin. 'cause you feel like, oh, maybe my clients are here, they're there. I don't know.

[00:13:30] Andrea Elibero: so here is. What I teach, you need to be on two platforms. One is visibility. That's where new people find you. 

[00:13:39] Andrea Elibero: the second platform is your nurture platform, and that's where you deepen relationships. 

[00:13:44] Andrea Elibero: And at the stage later on, if you wanna expand, great, you can do other ones. But it the focus, if you only focus on one visibility, one nurture, then. That feels so much better. It's so much clearer and there is a strategy to where you are [00:14:00] showing up. So it can be Instagram and email, LinkedIn and dms, TikTok to a newsletter like whatever.

[00:14:06] Andrea Elibero: One, it doesn't matter. It's more about what aligns with you, what feels good, and what's going to, what you're gonna be able to maintain consistently. One platform by itself doesn't really work super well. Um, and then the depth of the two really creates a lot of traction, so you don't need to be everywhere, and hopefully that takes a load off again.

[00:14:25] Andrea Elibero: So it's about being intentional and choosing platforms that are aligned with your natural strengths and that you enjoy. and a lot of people are like, no, I'm so over Instagram. Like, I'm not, and like, fine. That doesn't have to be your place. I will say that having a presence online and having them be consistent across platforms and directing people in those other platforms to where you actually hang out, that's gonna help be helpful as well.

[00:14:49] Andrea Elibero: Uh, but you don't have to spend all of your time on Instagram if you don't want to. Right. So like, make sure that you enjoy where you are showing up and having the two visibility and the nurture. And then number [00:15:00] four is building trust and not just reach. And so, and this is in your content and where you're showing up and things like that.

[00:15:08] Andrea Elibero: 'cause you could even be in networking and be in these groups of like hundreds of people, but you're not actually connecting with anyone. for done for your service providers. We don't care so much about having like these gigantic audiences, You just need, again, like your people, you need your community where it's gonna build on itself when you have the right people and you know they're gonna be referring you, they're, you're gonna be like in this thing and that's what you're building, 

[00:15:32] Andrea Elibero: And so we don't need this kind of I would say like more generic and more like trendy type of reach content, um, where it's relatable, wide and engaging, whereas the trust content is content that's going to be like grounded, actionable, more specific, and. Not caring about who's commenting, who's liking, who's engaging, per se.

[00:15:56] Andrea Elibero: It's really about sharing your [00:16:00] opinion, your client work, addressing an objection, like these types of things. So when your clients go and they kind of look and, and potential clients go try to figure you out. They're like, oh, oh, here. Yes. that's amazing, right? And you're not going to get that same type of trust.

[00:16:16] Andrea Elibero: They're not gonna be like, Ooh, if you're just posting kind of like more generic things. And so we don't care as done for your service providers so much about engagement and the reach and things like that, right? It's really, really, again, more about. Building connection and showing people that they can trust you with their passwords, with their business.

[00:16:35] Andrea Elibero: You know, things like that. How you show up is a signal to them that they are going to again building. You know, it's just like, like no one trusting that you hear about in marketing. It's building that. And so you don't need to post more, show up more, but maybe shift what you're, how you're showing up and think about, okay, is this helping these potential clients to trust that?

[00:16:56] Andrea Elibero: They can rely on me to help with whatever that I help them [00:17:00] with. And then the last one, number five, is relationship marketing. This is from my experience, the highest converting thing that you can do. And a lot of people do it in a way that's a little bit like, I don't know, that is either Mm, surface level, or not enough of it.

[00:17:22] Andrea Elibero: So you can build relationships in many different ways, right? You can do it in networking groups, you can do it by engaging with people online. You can do it in person. You know, there's so many ways to build relationships. Do you have a system for it? So are you doing this strategically? Are you doing it in a way that you're not just like meeting people one time and then never reconnecting with them again?

[00:17:49] Andrea Elibero: And so having a system that's easy to follow for when you build relationships is really, really important. Because you know that like your best clients [00:18:00] don't necessarily come from strangers online. they often come from warm connections, referrals, conversations. Other people are like, oh, you need to talk to this person.

[00:18:07] Andrea Elibero: things like that. And I'm sure that you're already doing this, but it might be a little bit more like, let's say like raggedy. I dunno why that word came to mind, but that's not the word I want. But you know what I mean. Then just kind of like unintentional. Then how you could be doing it to really, really hone in on this.

[00:18:25] Andrea Elibero: And so if you think about, your clients, like how did they find you? And when I do my business audits, I'll dive into that. And a lot of times it's through referrals or you know, or things like that. And so that's relationship marketing. And again, you're probably already doing it, but just without a system behind it to just really drive that forward.

[00:18:44] Andrea Elibero: And so when it's intentional. It can be like relationships happen online too. It can be thoughtfully responding to somebody's content or sending a voice note when somebody reminds you of them following up and having a follow up system. So you're staying, in touch with people and just [00:19:00] paying attention and just being there.

[00:19:01] Andrea Elibero: So being a real person and. And being a human and just like really wanting to build relationships and focusing on that and not just focusing on like getting the sale. And if they don't buy from me right now, then forget them right then. we don't care, like things like that. so the five pieces to a really effective marketing system specifically for VAs OBMs, done for you.

[00:19:21] Andrea Elibero: Service providers are messaging, having planned for what season of business you are in. Having your two intentional platforms, making sure your content, what you're putting out there is building trust and focusing on human and relationship. Building, 

[00:19:36] Andrea Elibero: And all of that. Is the framework for Effortless Attraction, which is an eight week live group marketing system intensive for VAs and OBMs. And this is what we're building inside of it.

[00:19:49] Andrea Elibero: We are nailing down your messaging. You are choosing your platforms. We are going through how to set up your particular bespoke [00:20:00] system, and in the second half we're doing the implementation. And so you're building up the, hmm. Um, consistency with support, with somebody re reviewing your things with my input on all of this.

[00:20:14] Andrea Elibero: So your foundations are there and you're actually doing it. So now you have a system to really bring in these aligned clients, these premium clients, to an offer that you're Really excited about all these five pieces are working together and it's easy and you get to do it simply in like a couple of hours a week.

[00:20:31] Andrea Elibero: So that way you are not taking up so much of your client time to marketing. And so the cart, the cart, whatever, it's open now. I hate saying cart's so weird. It is open now. It is 4 97 or two payments of 2 47. There's a VIP option if you want to work one-on-one. 

[00:20:49] Andrea Elibero: And I'm really excited about this, program because The people who did it, this is the second round in the beta round, they actually.

[00:20:56] Andrea Elibero: Like in addition to nailing down their marketing strategies, [00:21:00] they also up leveled their offers and which was really, really cool. 

[00:21:05] Andrea Elibero: I really, really hope that this is useful for you.and that you really got something out of thishopefully some sort of inspiration, maybe some ideas for messaging upgrades or things like that.

[00:21:15] Andrea Elibero: That's a wrap on today's episode, and thank you so much for listening. If anything we talked about today made you think, okay, well, what does this actually look like in my business? That's exactly what a free business audit is for. In just 45 minutes, I'll help you identify your unstructured expertise, pinpoint what's keeping you capped, and map out what your signature method could look like.

[00:21:37] Andrea Elibero: There's a link in the show notes to grab your spot, and I will see you in the next episode.