Weekly Wednesday Online Resource: ORBTR

For today’s topic, I’d like to discuss a Wordpress plugin that I’m experienced with using. This plugin is the first Wordpress marketing automation plugin and it is a cost-efficient and effective tool to be used for your marketing efforts. The name of the plugin is ORBTR.  ORBTR separates itself from the pack of marketing automation solutions because most marketing automation software is a stand-alone solution. In order to access conventional marketing automation software, users typically have to go to their software’s website, log in, and then work in your marketing provider’s environment. ORBTR is different than those solutions because it allows you the convenience to work from your Wordpress dashboard. 

ORBTR offers the same features that conventional marketing automation solutions have. With ORBTR, entrepreneurs can track leads, display dynamic content depending on information generated from lead tracking, send auto-responder emails based on triggers, and integrate with Zapier for a streamlined workflow across your other solutions (Mailchimp, ZOHO, ConstantContact, etc.) You can also create custom landing pages, email blast campaigns, and direct 1:1 prospecting email. All of this is available with a dedicated support team and resource materials to train you and push you in the right direction!

One of the more attractive elements of ORBTR is its attractive pricing. ORBTR offers their solution in different tiers; ranging from free, mid-tier, and full service. For its free solution, ORBTR offers its’ “Ping” solution, which is a lead tracking plugin for Wordpress. Just take the ORBTR tracking code and input it in your Wordpress to get real time email alerts for new/returning leads, daily lead summary emails, real time leads/visitor dashboard, and integration with popular Contact Form plugins. For its’ mid-tier service, ORBTR offers  its’ “Torq” solution, which combines lead tracking with email marketing functionality.  And finally, ORBTR"Connect" is the highest level of service and includes lead generation, email marketing, auto-responders, and integration with popular software solutions such as Mailchimp,Woocomerce, and Zapier.

I’ve used ORBTR for marketing initiatives in the past and was very impressed with the features I was able to use for the price I paid. If you’re looking for marketing automation software and want to evaluate some options, I would recommend you take a look at ORBTR and watch the demonstrations. The most expensive tier of service comes out to under $1200 a year which may seem like a lot at first. However, popular marketing automation softwares such as Hubspot or Office Autopilot charge significantly more for the same service so in relative terms, ORBTR is very cost effective.

If you’re on the fence about marketing automation and what it can do for your business, don’t hesitate to reach out and schedule a 30 minute consultation with me. There’s no commitment and its free!

iVirtual Business Services is your Operational & Administrative Solution…because you deserve work/life balance.

Monday Marketing Blog: The Power of Email Marketing

Email is one of the most versatile tools in any entrepreneur’s tool kit. It gives you the ability to reach out to a customer, a supporter, or a prospect almost instantaneously . Effective use of email marketing begins with understanding its abilities beyond its most frequent uses. Most people think of email in the context of contacting another individual in an electronic format. As an individual, I use email to correspond with my team members in a direct 1:1 manner. However, email has a variety of uses cases that are more useful than its conventional usage. 

Before email, when business owners wanted to reach out to customers and prospects, they utilized direct mail to send flyers, proposals, and brochures. The cost of preparing marketing materials and sending them through the mail was expensive and it was incredibly difficult to ascertain the ROI (Return on Investment) for a specific campaign. If you sent a flyer for a Buy One Get One promo, you only really knew how effective the flyer was by how many people appeared at your store to take advantage of the promo. You had no way of knowing how many people discarded your flyer in the trash. You didn’t have a clue whether people actually received your flyer either. 

With email, when entrepreneurs want to reach out to customers and prospects, they are able to utilize email in a variety of use cases, all designed to engage with individuals on your email list. Relative to the cost of direct mail, email is an incredibly cheaper and more effective way of communicating. Email also allows you to track the journey of an email from when you send it to when they receive it. Business owners are now able to track the open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, un-deliverables, and the time spent on reading the email.  With this additional information, we are now able to pin point which of our prospects and customers are really interested, somewhat interested, or not interested at all. Through email, you can also send monthly newsletters that contain relevant industry updates or company news to your customer and prospect base. And you can also utilize email marketing software like Mailchimp to send out auto-responder emails and drip email campaigns.  Keep your eyes out for a blog post that delves into further details about auto-responder and drip email campaigns!

Email marketing is a tool that any business owner should use religiously. The example I provided above is only a sample of its capabilities. With iVirtual Business Services, we can create and implement email marketing strategies that are streamlined and simplified. Consult with me for 30 minutes and I can show you how iVBS can create value for you through a customized email marketing system. Schedule your appointment with my timetrade schedule!

iVirtual Business Services is your Operational & Administrative Solution…because you deserve work/life balance. 

What happened to Zirtual and how we are different.

Earlier this week, news broke that Virtual Assistant startup Zirtual was shutting down; canceling all of its current operations and firing almost 400 employees overnight. Zirtual had once been a shining star in the Virtual Assistant space and grew quickly in a span of 5 years. In that period, Zirtual grew from a concept to a company with offices in Las Vegas and the Bay Area, with employees numbering in the hundreds. In the end, Zirtual imploded from within due to the exorbitant amounts of money they had spent while transitioning their workers from independent contractor status to full time employees. Originally, Zirtual had classified their Virtual Assistants as independent contractors, which allowed them to pay close to 20% to 30% less than what they would have had to pay if they classified their workers as employees. On top of this unsustainable transition, Zirtual had acquired many clients by establishing an aggressive client acquisition initiative where they offered unlimited tasks for only $99 a month! While the strategy worked in getting dozens of clients quickly, it also meant that the company was spending money like crazy! Their unsustainable client acquisition strategy combined with the added cost of transitioning their employees from contractor status to full time employment caught them unawares and as a result, they “burned” through all the money they had in profit and all the money they had raised from investors.

Thankfully, iVirtual Business Services will not confront the same issues Zirtual experienced in the last month. While we somewhat operate in the same space, iVirtual Business Services offers more services than what a typical Virtual Assistant would be able to provide. The foundation of our business is our focus on slow, steady, and measured growth. Our goal is to provide exceptional service and support to our clients and we will never make promises and set expectations that we can not follow through on. Every one of our team members is vetted carefully to ensure that their character and quality of work meets or exceeds our expectations. And our clients realize that when they see the quality of our work.

To conclude, iVirtual Business Services is all about producing value for our clients and being properly compensated for that value. You will never see us offering unlimited tasks per month for x amount of dollars because we believe that the model is unsustainable and that it sets unreasonable standards to our clients about our service and its value. After all, do you prefer to eat at a buffet or a restaurant? Whatever your preference, iVBS creates unique proposals to solve your dynamic issues.

If you’d like to schedule a consultation to discuss the value of using iVBS, please don’t hesitate to schedule a meeting with me. Virtual Assistant services is just one facet of our iVBS suite of solutions and I would love to go into further detail about where and how we can produce value to your bottom line.

iVirtual Business Services is your Operational & Administrative Solution…because you deserve work/life balance.