Hi all

I've just written a press release and would love some feedback before I send it out.

Cheers
Karen

Virtual Assistance – an inspired choice in a recession

Behind every successful manager or entrepreneur there’s a well organised Personal Assistant (PA) making sure their day runs smoothly. Unfortunately it’s not always feasible for a small business to hire a full-time permanent PA, whether it’s financial constraints or there’s just no office space. Karen James, owner of PA/SS, a Virtual Assistance company, believes everyone should be able to take advantage of the benefits a great PA brings.

“A Virtual Assistant (VA) is someone who runs their own company providing secretarial and admin services to other businesses and busy people,” says Karen. “They work from their own office and you only pay for the time they work on your tasks, be it a one-off half an hour or a regular 10 hours per week. This means you get all the advantages of your own PA without having to pay an annual salary, holiday pay, NI contributions or provide an office and equipment.”

A VA can provide most of the services an onsite PA does, such as copy typing, audio transcription, travel, accommodation and meeting arrangements, call handling and event organising, and with internet technology they can also provide you with diary and email management.

In America and in London virtual assistance is a well known service that many businesses are taking advantage of. “Sadly many companies in the north east of England don’t know we exist! Tell someone you’re a Virtual Assistant and they’ll reply ‘What’s that?’ adds Karen. “Virtual assistance is a fast-growing industry and the more information that’s available about the service, the more choice it gives businesses on a tight budget.”

If you’d like more information on how a Virtual Assistant can help you, please contact Karen James on 0795 267 1189 or go to www.pa-secretarialservices.co.uk today.

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Karen James
Cloud VA

I would personally recommend you only use Virtual Assistant (VA) or Personal Assistant (PA). I think people might be confused when you mix the two phrases. I think up to paragraph 3 it runs pretty smooth. When you get to "A VA can provide most of the service an onsite PA does" I get confused. Is she a VA or a PA? What was the difference again?

Just my 2 cents. Thanks for asking!

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Lisa Olinda of Olinda Services
Keeping you on the path to success!
www.olindaservices.com

I agree with Lisa about PA / VA. I would just use one or the other. In terms of content, I think it reads very well - love the opening sentence. Good headline, too. Be sure to put it into the correct press release format, though, and add your boilerplate at the end.

Hello Karen,

If I were to receive this to put in the magazine the above mentioned items would be on my list of things to fix as well as the misspelled words. This is a great start. I have put my two cents in the below for your editing review.

Sincerely,
Andrea~

Country - Date

Virtual Assistance – an inspired choice in a recession

Behind every successful manager or entrepreneur there’s a well organised Personal Assistant (PA) making sure their day runs smoothly. Unfortunately it’s not always feasible for a small business to hire a full-time permanent PA, whether it’s financial constraints or there’s just no office space. Karen James, owner of PA/SS, a Virtual Assistance company, believes everyone should be able to take advantage of the benefits a great PA brings.

“A Virtual Assistant (VA) is someone who runs their own company providing secretarial and admin services to other businesses and busy people,” says Karen. “They work from their own office and you only pay for the time they work on your tasks, be it a one-off half an hour or a regular 10 hours per week. This means you get all the advantages of your own PA without having to pay an annual salary, holiday pay, NI contributions or provide an office and equipment.”

A VA can provide most of the services an onsite PA does, such as copy typing, audio transcription, travel, accommodation and meeting arrangements, call handling and event organising, and with internet technology they can also provide you with diary and email management.

In America and in London virtual assistance is a well known service that many businesses are taking advantage of. “Sadly many companies in the north east of England don’t know we exist! Tell someone you’re a Virtual Assistant and they’ll reply ‘What’s that?’ adds Karen. “Virtual assistance is a fast-growing industry and the more information that’s available about the service, the more choice it gives businesses on a tight budget.”
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If you’d like more information on how a Virtual Assistant can help you, please contact Karen James on 0795 267 1189 or go to www.pa-secretarialservices.co.uk today.

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Action Jackson Virtual Assistant|

Thanks for the feedback, it's much appreciated. Just one point Andrea, we spell organise with an 's' in the UK and not a 'z'.

Cheers all

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Karen James
Cloud VA

Hello Karen,

I know they spell it differently in the UK, but I thought you were looking to promote this to everyone not just the UK. I didn't realize you would not be promoting it in the US. If you want to promote it in the US as well you may want to change it for US readers and possibly have two versions one for the US and one for the UK.

Andrea

Originally Posted by pass audio

Thanks for the feedback, it's much appreciated. Just one point Andrea, we spell organise with an 's' in the UK and not a 'z'. Cheers all

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Action Jackson Virtual Assistant|

Karen,

I think because you are from the UK a PA is a much more common term over there than it is here in the States. That might be what was confusing. Regarding the spelling, that got me to thinking...you are a VA in the UK, I think your site should be wrote with the "Queens" English. Not to knock my own country and language but I will freely admit we are very lazy with our words and speech when put up against a Brit. (No offense intended) Obviously, if I had a US client I would use their common spelling.

Kathy