| TL;DR: Your marketing goes dark the moment you get busy, because it’s one more thing on a plate that’s already full. A marketing virtual assistant takes the repeatable work, the content, the posting, and the newsletter, so it keeps moving without you. The trick is knowing whether you need a generalist to hold it all together or a specialist for the one channel that matters most. |
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What is the point of a good idea if no one hears about your business?
You have put time, money, and a whole lot of effort into getting your business off the ground. You're on top of your sales and have operations in a really good space. But when you’re lying down at 1 am, the cold sinking feeling enters your stomach. The blog's been dark for a month. The newsletter you meant to send went out never. Your last social post is sitting there from back in spring, telling anyone who visits that maybe you've gone quiet for good.
If you’re ready for a solution, you could hire a marketing virtual assistant to let you get back to leading the company and get a decent night's sleep.
What is a Marketing Virtual Assistant?
A virtual marketing assistant is a remote professional who helps you run your marketing. They do the daily routine tasks that are too time-consuming for the founder to do well when they have so many other things to do.
Not an AI tool
If AI can replace anyone, it has got to be the marketing copywriter, right? Everyone from highly specific Jasper down to generic ChatGPT can create marketing copy faster than any one VA could. After all, writing human-like speech is the baseline of what generative AI is supposed to do.
But AI is just a tool. A human is still needed to fix AI hallucinations, take out all the em dashes, and rework all those slightly “off” phrases. A good digital marketing virtual assistant will be well-versed in how to use these AI tools to the fullest while staying accountable for the work.
Not an in-house hire
You are not in a marketing backlog because you don’t know how to get something done; you are here because you have so many other demands on your time. And while delegating to an in-house hire might pay off in the long run, in the meantime you are sifting through resumes, conducting daily training, checking output, formalizing processes, and dealing with sick days.
Depending on the virtual assistant service you are going through, this whole hiring process can go from months to weeks. A fully managed VA service will be coordinating and running QA on your marketing VA, saving you a huge amount of time and effort.
Not a marketing agency
Agencies run on retainers that can climb to several thousand a month before setup fees. If you've tried one, you know that bill can land long before any results do.
Your business is the most important project you have. To an agency, you're account #79. Their roster of tricks and templates comes from years of experience, but it runs on their playbook, not yours, and it stays behind a curtain. You benefit from it while you're paying, but it never becomes yours to keep.
A marketing support VA works alongside you in the day-to-day instead. When you're comparing services, look for one that promises a dedicated assistant, meaning you're their only client, not one account among many.
Types of Virtual Marketing Assistants
Marketing is a hydra of a beast. It splinters off into heads like “content writing” and "social media." For every head you cut off, sub-heads and specializations grow.
Still, you don’t want to go backwards, hire for a role, and try to find work for them. You need to think about what is getting lost in the shuffle. Here are some areas you might need to fill up.
Content Writer & Copywriting Services
Your content calendar cannot depend on when you have the time. It needs one person dedicated to updating and maintaining it. A content writing VA can own a brief’s full life cycle, from conducting research on the topic through to editing and uploading approved posts. A VA content writer is trained to work with all generative AI to keep their work efficient and fast.
While this VA does not specifically focus on strategy, they are highly equipped to bring your strategy to life.
Social Media Manager Virtual Assistant
They keep your posts on a schedule, make sure all comments and DMs are replied to on time, and check in with reports and insights. If you live in fear of ending up on r/LinkedInLunatics after what you thought was a motivational post, a social media VA can keep your brand voice smooth and on point.
The aim of the game here is to keep your posting consistent and clean; they are not trying to figure out the next viral sensation.
Email Marketing Assistant
You are racking your brain every month trying to figure out what goes into a monthly newsletter, even though in the back of your mind you know you should really be keeping up to date with a weekly one instead. But an email marketing assistant is going to do more for you than just the content in the emails; they can also clean up your contact lists, manage the flow, and keep track of performance.
They are not doing the fun stuff of setting the funnel strategy, but they are in customer.io or outreach getting the work done and off your plate.
SEO Marketing Virtual Assistant
Keep your expectations managed here because if marketing is a hydra, SEO is the largest head with the longest neck. You want to make sure you know what you want here. An SEO virtual assistant could just be in a support role, updating and maintaining your site. But it is also possible to get a full SEO specialist through a VA service, in which case they are also responsible for research, technical support, and analytics.
How to Get Started with a Virtual Assistant for Marketing
You don’t need everything in order before getting help; all you really need is a list. A full brand doc, documented SOPs, and a content calendar mapped out for the quarter are all great, but getting it ready is its own job.
A good managed service builds the documentation as they go. You talk through how you work, and it gets written down on their side: your brand voice, your guidelines, and what good looks like. That's part of what you're handing off, not a prerequisite for handing off.
So you don't go hunting for work to delegate. You start with whatever went dark first when you got busy. The blog that's been quiet for a month. The newsletter you keep meaning to send. That's your starting point; it picked itself up the night you were lying awake at 1 am.
You start messy. It gets organized in the doing.
Wing: Everything a Marketing Virtual Assistant Should Be
Wing Assistant is a managed virtual assistant company that matches, trains, and manages your VAs. Wing assistants are vetted and trained before they ever reach you, so you're not taking on someone new to manage. You have one quick call to map out what's slipping, and most clients are up and running within 72 hours. They’re dedicated, trained, and best of all, managed by Wing.
If an assistant ever moves on or has a sick day, your context stays with Wing, and the next VA picks up where the last left off.
And don't just take our word for it. European Leather Works handed their marketing to a dedicated Wing graphic designer and social media VA and saw 70% year-over-year growth.
Whatever's slipping, there's a role for it. Wing covers over 150 of them, including the 13 specialized roles in digital marketing alone, starting at $1,299/mo for part-time (80 hr/mnt) and $1,999 for full-time (160 hr/mnt)
Ready to get consistent marketing output without hiring a full team? Book a free consultation and see what's possible.
FAQ
Is my data safe with a marketing virtual assistant?
Yes. Wing is ISO 27001 compliant and SOC 2 certified, so an independent audit backs the claim. The work also lives in Wing Workspace, a virtual working environment, not on a personal laptop.
Do I get to meet my marketing VA before they start?
Yes. You're matched, not handed a stranger. Wing does the vetting and shortlisting, and you can connect with your marketing VA before they start, so you get a say in the fit.
How long until my marketing VA is fully onboarded?
Most clients are up and running within 72 hours of the first call. Being live isn't the same as hands-off, though. Week one, you give a little direction, and by week two most people have stepped back.
How much does a marketing virtual assistant cost?
Less than an agency retainer and far less than a full-time hire. With Wing, a Digital Marketing Assistant starts at $1,299/mo for part-time (80 hours a month), and $1,999 for full-time (160 hours a month) with no recruiting cost, benefits, or long contract attached.
We tried a virtual assistant before and it didn't work. Why would this be different?
Usually the problem is the model, not the person. With a freelancer or unmanaged VA, all the oversight is on you. A managed service keeps a CSM and QA on the account, with backup built in.
