Best Tools for a Successful Marketing VA in 2023

LOVE THEM, HATE THEM, BUT CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT THEM.
Yes, we’re talking TOOLS!

Knowing how to navigate certain tools in depth can skyrocket your Marketing VA career in no time. From advising your client which systems to pick to learning how to set them up and properly use functionalities – software knowledge will be one of the key factors for booking a client and delivering a quality service. This has become so important that more and more job adverts list the required experience of specific software. While most marketing tools have become very intuitive and easy to use, make sure not to skip this part of your Marketing VA journey.

Depending on your service niche, you’ll have many more tools than I lay down here, but these are my favourite and truly amazing tools moving to 2023!

Disclaimer: blog contains some affiliate links, opinion is my own, and I have not been asked to promote or compare any of the software listed below.

This project management tool goes on top of my list this year and has pushed loyal Trello out of the radar. Asana is a web and mobile “work management” platform designed to help teams organize, track, and manage their work. One of its strongest features is the Free Plan – you get multiple project views, lists, calendars, Kanbard boards, and so much more. Also, it makes your collaboration within the team super easy: you can chat in private messaging, allocate team members to tasks, set up deadlines, and attach files and videos. The free Basic plan supports team collaboration with up to 15 users. It does limit you to 1,000 tasks per group, but it’s more than enough for a small team.

I keep everything in Asana and Google Docs from now on. I even use Asana for content calendars, launch strategies, and my business records. I guess it’s time I become their ambassador?

Having worked with many coaches, from mindfulness and weight loss to creative industries, I have had a chance to use and try various teaching, membership platforms, and apps. And this year, my pick goes to KARTRA! They define themselves as ”all-in-one marketing platform to run your online business that cuts out daily work hours while earning you effortless money around the clock with advanced automations”.

For me, a crucial part of the membership platforms is email marketing. Often many platforms focus on course-building infrastructure overlooking email marketing automation, segmenting, and spam protection. Kartra, on the other hand, has strong GDPR and spam filtering. It’s also very easy to set up forms, checkout pages, and upload your course material. Also, a big plus is their huge community on Facebook where you can find an answer to pretty much any question. 

Small annoying things like not having a filing system for email marketing and no functionality for form integration onto emails are present, but the overall price and quality rate for me is reaching the top!

When I started freelancing, I felt like I got a secret cheat card because I could suddenly design professional-looking graphics, and people wouldn’t know how I did it.
”Canva”, I’d scream – ”it’s the best”! And this is how I still feel, even after the whole world started using it.

With their business success and Canva going mainstream, I thought there would soon be competitive alternatives, and we would lose ourselves trying to compare the best online design tool, but no, Canva is still keeping the front lines! Oh, and they recently introduced Documents! Check it out!

P.S. Invest in the paid plan as a Marketing VA – it’s worth it not only for helping your clients out, finding incredible layouts, elements, and even website templates, but also for creating your own marketing materials.

Email marketing is so NOT dead, my friends, and it’s the highest-converting marketing channel, so choosing the right one is crucial for your client’s business success. I have been trying various software for years (Active Campaign, Kajabi, Mailchimp, Pipeline Pro, Hubspot, Kartra..you name it). While this question requires further research, if you’re looking for unique designs and easy-to-use backed for your email marketing, Flodesk is one of the best choices! It’s not only easy to use and set up, but it also has incredible layouts and powerful spam control. It’s perfect if you’re a small business and don’t require tons of complicated automations. I love the mindfulness factor (little messages popping up asking ‘if you meditated today’) and the friendly Facebook community. Oh, and it’s also a start-up that is created by women! Listen to their story here .

Click here to get 50% off your first year with VA Boss Academy link.

Are you helping your client edit videos and looking for a subtitle generator? Veed.io has been a great discovery for me. While you can only access features and get their watermark removed on paid plans, their Basic plan is only $8 per month. I mainly used it for subtitle generation and recording audio – the quality is top-notch! (I had to leave my beloved Audacity for audio recording as veed.io audio quality proved to be much better). I’m only starting to play out with veed.io, but it’s been an excellent find so far. 

PlannThat is a user-friendly social media scheduling tool. I love the integration of Canva (nothing like marrying your two favorite tools)!

Also, you can upload your stories, reels and carousels, and they have a hashtag search base so Plann is it’s definitely worth trying out.

P.s. Don’t tell anyone I said so, but you can stay on an even cheaper plan if you try to leave them and subscribe again 🙂

“Notion is a note-taking software platform designed to help members of companies or organizations manage their knowledge for greater efficiency and productivity”, says Wikipedia. While it could be better on the project management side compared with Asana, you won’t find a better place to keep your notes organized. Being a creative person who comes up with ideas every day, I would not survive without it. In fact, I’m writing this on Notion right now.
I love the templates, use Notion to keep my Marketing Assitant portfolio (you can make links sharable), and I witness more and more start-ups using Notion for their records and sharing documents. I don’t choose it as a collaboration tool as it lacks sufficient comment and conversation features, but as note-taking – it’s perfect!

Having taken a break from website development, I returned to it with a bang! I learned the importance of integrating business strategy and copywriting into every step of your website. And although I had a chance to work with Showit, a very strong competitor, looking at feature/pricing balance, the Va Boss Academy award for the best website builder goes to WIX! It’s excellent and easy to use and has many useful apps as add-ons for various marketing needs. Check out their templates here!

No small or big business can do without a business domain, space to keep all the records and documents, calendars, emails, and Google Workspace is on my top list as a provider of all! I have been using it for years and saw clients shifting from other software to Google Workspace. With only 4. 60 per month for a business starter plan, you can have a business domain, storage of 30GB space, online documents, sheets, slides, forms, keep, calendar, and more! And as for such a monopoly, which is rare to receive good support, Google Workspace support team is available and provides a good service.

Are you looking for a place to host quizzes, client surveys, and questionnaires? Look no further. Typeform is so simple and effective! You can choose from various modules: long, short text, checkboxes, ratings, email, and even image upload. It’s not on a cheap end, but if your clients rely on gathering testimonials, it’s an investment that makes your money back.

Loom is free online software that provides:

• Screen and camera recording.
• Video editing.
• Transcription.
• The ability to share the recorded video link with others.

Although it is sometimes experiencing errors, it’s still a great tool if you’re looking to show your work or discuss something with your client and want to avoid organizing a meeting. I use it on daily basis for my Marketing VA work and also I recorded all VA MARKETING KICKSTARTER videos and will use it again for my next product launch. Highly recommend!

Last but not least – Grammarly – a cloud-based typing assistant. It’s like having your language and literature teacher sitting next to you.

It reviews spelling, grammar, punctuation, clarity, engagement, and delivery mistakes in English texts. Now, as we have moved to the content marketing era – having a good quality grammar checker is a must. From small typos to more complex sentence structures – Grammarly will be your friend. Of course, always use your judgement when proofreading or editing texts, but for quick checks and advice, Grammarly is truly remarkable.

Do you agree? Have I missed any other incredibly important tools? Let me know. And in the meantime, grab my FREE ULTIMATE MVA (MARKETING VA) SERVICES LIST. 

P.S. If you haven’t seen this insane ChatBox AI – check it out! It makes you wonder if we’ll become redundant…:)

From one Marketing VA to another,
Daiva xx