It is guest post day here at Duct Tape Marketing and today’s guest is Amy Metherell – Enjoy!

If you’re running a business, there’s no doubt that you have a lot of marketing tasks on your plate.  Yes, there are some things that only you can do, but there are also many marketing tasks you can delegate to an assistant. Yes, you really can!

Here are 10 Marketing Tasks You Should Be Delegating

1.     Blog Management

Have you ever wanted to start guest blogging to get your name/site out there but don’t have the time to implement it? Have someone else do it.  Someone else can easily do things like research blog topics, find images for your posts, find contributors for your blog, or even write posts if you are finding yourself short on time or really don’t like writing.

Do you find it a hassle to manage your editorial calendar? Don’t even have an editorial calendar?  Have someone create one for you and then manage it.

2.     Social Media

Is there a Twitter party you think would be good to participate in but don’t have the time?  Let your assistant do it.  He or she can also create a social media strategy and track and report on the progress.

An assistant can easily post and engage with your audience on any and all social media outlets on your behalf.

3.     Event Coordination

Do you have an idea for a live or online event but no time to make it happen?  Delegate it!  An assistant can secure venues, food, speakers, sponsors, and all the logistics that come with live events such as securing sponsors, bloggers, and prizes for online events.  An assistant can also handle the marketing for that event as well as reporting after the event.

4.     Prospecting

An assistant can easily make calls to qualified leads to weed out anyone who isn’t really going to make a purchase.  This way, you only spend time talking to true leads that are more likely to lead to a sale.  An assistant can schedule those interested prospects on your calendar so all you have to do is make the calls.

5.     Market Research

An assistant can create surveys, send them out, and organize the results into usable data.  He/she can also create and manage focus groups and conduct research about your competitors and your target market.

6.     Follow Up Calls

Follow up calls can mean the difference between accomplishing a sale or not, which means they’re really important but they also take time.  Why not have an assistant do this?  He or she can remind the lead of your initial call and feel out whether it’s worth pursuing.

7.     Newsletters

Communication is core in building up a business relationship and newsletters help with this.  An assistant can create, edit, and send email newsletters for you.  Just provide an example or your ideas and let the assistant take over.  No need to spend hours of your own time on this task.

8.     Send Thank You Notes

Handwritten thank you notes tell your customers that you really care.  Have your assistant organize thank you notes to each new customer and any customers who have referred others to you.  Your customers will appreciate the thought.

9.     Email List Management

You know that huge email list you have?  It’s great that you have it, but what do you really do with it?  Have an assistant manage the list (remove bad emails, etc.) so it’s always in top shape.  He/she can also create auto-responders so you’re always in touch with your subscribers, and track and report the statistics of these campaigns.

10.    Networking

Networking is about making connections that lead to mutually beneficial relationships.  Yes, some networking you really do have to do yourself, but not all of it.  Your assistant can comment blog posts, monitor and comment on your social sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, twitter, etc.   An assistant can also research online communities for you to join as well as networking conferences to attend.

Now you know 10 marketing tasks you can delegate, so why not try it out?  Try delegating 1 task and see how it goes.  All you have to lose is that huge to-do list!

Amy is a Virtual Assistant who started in early 2013 by attempting to get one client on the side of her full-time job just to see if she could.  She got three at once and didn’t know whether to cry or do a happy dance.  She did the dance and “stumbled” on several more clients after that and her business has been growing steadily ever since.  Her alter ego is the ringleader of a circus (otherwise known as her family) consisting of a husband who DJs weddings, 2 rowdy kids, and a little dog, too.