I have little to no money to advertise, any ideas on what I can do?

So many things you can do that will not cost you anything. Creating your presence on the social media sites, Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin. Vistaprint offers wonderful specials for printing needs, including brochures and postcards. Attend networking events in your area and follow up. Word of mouth advertising - what we all want!

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Classic Exec
Your Virtual Administrative Consultantwww.classicexec.com

I think you'd be surprised as to what you can accomplish marketing-wise without having to spend any money. A lot of getting clients is about marketing. Tell everyone you know what it is that you do.

My first client came about in a completely surprising manner. I knit, and belong to a large knitting forum. A knit designer was looking for test knitters, and I applied to do that for her. In my signature line of my email, I have that I'm a virtual assistant. It's not a huge thing, but it's there. She emailed me a few days later asking what, exactly, a VA does/can do, and I explained it to her. Not long after, she sent me a couple of hour long projects to test the waters. Then when those were successful, she signed on for 20 hours a month!

With no cost at all to me, and in a way that was completely unexpected, I got my first client. It was just a matter of getting the word out there, and that's what you have to do. Network. Tell everyone, even if you don't think they'd need a VA, because they might just know someone who would!

I've been in business for a year and a half and the only advertising dollars I've spent thus far have been on business cards. I've worked with high-profile clients and had a full practice within 6 months. Everything I have I owe to Twitter!

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indulging entrepreneurs with the gift of time & money via nonpareil support.

It's all about being creative with few resources. Certainly get an active presence on the major social networks and microblogging websites.

You may wish to take a look at this great article from Entrepreneur.com about doing creative marketing on a shoestring:

http://www.entrepreneur.com/magazine...ril/50342.html

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"Making The Human Connection Count"
http://www.joshchandlerva.com

I'd say to look around the forum more and in particular this whole section where you posted this thread. The whole General Marketing and Networking section is devoted to all the ways you can market and network and many of them don't include spending money.

Take some time to look around this section and ask questions in other Marketing and Networking threads that have already been started as a way to revive the section and get some more specific feedback on that particular topic.

You've received some good responses but asking a general question like this one probably won't be much help since so many have already contributed to the larger Marketing section where you can find better answers. Read over this section, pick out the threads that interest you and take some notes. Tons of great information is already here, you just need to take the time to go through it.

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Kimberly
Facebook Marketing Magic!

I'm sure that most of the VAs I know didn't have a large budget when starting out and many of us have used the Power of Free

The “Power of Free” is all about knowing the who, what, where, and how of marketing your business on the web.

Who is your target market?
What is your plan of action?
How do you plan to execute your plan?

First, you should get clear about your target market. If you say "everyone," then try again. You need to whittle it down so that you are targeting a very specific group.

The next step is to determine what makes you different from the rest. In other words, what is your competitive advantage or USP?

To find out, ask yourself the following questions:
• Why should customers choose me?
• What do I offer that is distinctly different?
• How can I improve my current offerings?

What are some of the free outlets you plan to take advantage of in order to create awareness about your business?

Some ideas include:
 Blog Posts
 Podcast
 Articles
 Videos
 Press Releases

Once you spend the initial money for hosting and domain name, you can add blogs, write articles, create videos, submit press releases, etc. all for free.

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Lisa Wells~Online Biz Manager
Free Marketing Tips, Resources, and Reports for your VA Biz

Jennifer,
You will get lots of great advice here. My advice, begin to create a presence and use Social Media....especially Linked In/Facebook/Twitter.
Here are my tips:
- Create complete profiles on each site
- Post daily valuable information on Twitter/Facebook
- Join Groups on LinkedIn (Groups where your target audience hangs out)
- Ask Questions and Answer Questions on Linked In
- Write an article a week and post it to FREE Article sites
- Begin your own Blog on your site and write & post there weekly
- Hold FREE Teleseminars on a specific topic
- Join Local MEET UP Groups (FREE to join, but the event may have a cost)
- Subscribe to HARO (Help A Reporter Out) there are free opportunities to write articles for reporters, and authors etc.

Hope this helps out a little and gives you a few ideas.

Carlene/All Season Virtual Assistant

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Carlene/All Season VA, LLC
http://www.allseasonva.com

Thank you for the information, these Ideas will help me get started.

Get out there and shake some hands!!

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Pam
www.adminetcetera.com