Introduction
In this episode of Pathmonk Presents, Ernesto chats with Deanna Reed, CMO of Virtual Coworker, a company connecting businesses in Australia and the U.S. with skilled remote staff from the Philippines. Deanna shares how Virtual Coworker simplifies hiring by managing vetting, onboarding, payroll, and client success, enabling companies to grow while saving on costs. She also dives into their marketing strategies, website redesign, and future plans for brand exposure. Tune in to gain actionable insights into outsourcing, client acquisition, and building effective remote teams.
Ernesto: Pathmonk is the intelligent tool for website lead generation. With increasing online competition, over 98 percent of website visitors don’t convert. The ability to successfully show your value proposition and support visitors in their buying journey separates you from the competition online. Pathmonk qualifies and converts leads on your website by figuring out where they are in the buying journey and influencing them in key decision moments with relevant micro experiences. Like case studies, intro videos, and much more stay relevant to your visitors and increase conversions by 50 percent at PathMonk to your website in seconds. Let the AI do all the work and get access to 50 percent more qualified leads while you keep doing marketing and sales as usual. Check us on PathMonk. com. Welcome to today’s episode. Let’s talk about today’s guest. We have Deanna Reed from virtual coworkers and will recently promoted to CMO. How are you doing today? Deanna.
Deanna Read: I’m wonderful. Thank you so much.
Ernesto: It’s great to have you on. And I’m sure our listeners are wondering, virtual coworker, what is it all about? So let’s kick it off with that. In your own words, can you tell us a little bit more?
Deanna Read: Sure. So virtual coworker works as a conduit. We help businesses in Australia and the U. S. connect with qualified, staff, remote staff in the Philippines. And so we help, we do the background. searches on them to make sure that they are who they say they are and they can do what they say they can do.
Then we help facilitate the interviews and go through the hiring process with you and then we’ll oversee the payroll and the timesheets. And we even have a client success manager that will work with you and your new staff in the first month to make sure that your first month goes smoothly. We also have a client success team that works with you beyond that if you rise any issues.
Ernesto: Okay, awesome. Great. So then, so that way our listeners could get a good understanding. So then what would you say is the key problem that you saw for clients?
Deanna Read: A lot of businesses can use additional employees. There’s always a department that needs a little bit of extra staff, but they may not have it really in their budget for a full, time, employee from the U.S. or Australia. The salaries are a little bit higher here.
We’re able to help offset that, employment through the Philippines. We can get better pricing, better costs. It allows you to help your business grow and utilize that experience, those skills, without breaking your budget.
Ernesto: Definitely. That’s important. And so what would you say would be your main, your clients? Is there a vertical segment that you guys like to focus on?
Deanna Read: Some of our top clients are accounting, finance, firms. We have marketing businesses that’ll use digital marketing managers or social media managers. But really, our service can help most companies and industries. I can’t really think of a business that wouldn’t benefit from qualified staff working at an affordable rate.
Ernesto: Okay, awesome. Great. Great to hear that. And so how does someone typically find out about you guys? What would you say is your top client acquisition channel there for virtual coworkers?
Deanna Read: Currently, it’s been, paid ads mostly through Google. However, in 2024, we’re creating, revamping everything. So we’re looking at increasing our media exposure, including like LinkedIn articles, sponsorships with publications and partnering with publications, we’re going to be doing a lot more organic marketing, and we’ve completely changed all of our social media. So we’ve optimized that whole strategy as well.
Ernesto: That’s, important. And while I am here on the website, virtual coworker. com. What role does a website play for your client acquisition?
Deanna Read: Oh, it’s pivotal. It’s the primary source for information. So it’s where our prospects and our clients are going to learn who we are and how we can help meet their needs. It’s going to tell them the different roles that we can fill for them. And it’s going to help explain the benefits of hiring a remote staff from the Philippines. So it’s, we would not be successful without it.
Ernesto: Awesome. Great. Great to hear that. Let’s switch gears a little bit, Deanna, and let’s talk about you as a leader, you being the chief marketing officer there for Virtual Coworker. What is your day look like? What are some key tasks you focus on your day to day?
Deanna Read: Currently it’s been optimizing our social media strategy. We’ve been redesigning our website and looking for different ways to increase brand awareness. In broad terms, it’s identify and develop opportunities to expose our target audience to Virtual Coworker and what our services and benefits are.
It’s varied in how that presents itself, but overall it’s looking at different ways to get our name out there and to make leads for our sales team, better quality and more quantity.
Ernesto: Okay. Awesome. Great to hear that. And let’s jump into this is our section, which is a rapid fire question rounds. Are you ready for them? All right. First off, Deanna, what is the last book that you read?
Deanna Read: So I’m. Just recently graduated my marketing with my master’s in digital marketing, and I’m now back in school for my doctorate in business administration. So a lot of what I read is textbooks and research papers, but in 2024, I decided I’m going to start doing more recreational reading as well. So I’m currently listening to Small is the New Big by Seth Godin.
Ernesto: Okay, great. They’re great. Great. Now, what is one single thing that your company’s focused on at the moment the most?
Deanna Read: That’s a great question. Right now, at least on my side, it’s exposure. It’s getting people to know Virtual Coworker. We’ve been around for over 12 years. We’re in a very saturated industry. And I want to make sure that people know who we are, how we can benefit them. And better understand, what remote staff from the Philippines, what it looks like and how it would suit their business.
Ernesto: Definitely that’s good to hear. Now, if there would be no boundaries in technology, what would be that one thing that you want to have fixed for your role as a marketer today?
Deanna Read: It’s a great question. There’s so many tools out there right now, technology wise, we have AI now, there’s so many different video tools and CRM tools, I really feel like any kind of marketer wish list has already been created, I really wouldn’t be able to think of something that hasn’t been touched, and if it’s not readily available, I know that there’s a lot of betas that I’ve participated in that would be solving those needs as well.
At the moment, I really feel like a lot of technology has helped my role.
Ernesto: Definitely, that, that’s important. And what, finally, Deanna, I know you have a lot of experience, more than 15 years in marketing, but what is one piece of advice that you would give yourself if you were to restart your journey as a marketer today?
Deanna Read: And, it’s advice that I would give, not just myself, but anybody that I now know that like I’m trying to help mentor, it’s trust your skills, trust your experience and knowledge, stand up for what you know, and build your marketing network. Learn from others, help mentor and support the next generation of marketers. I do it now, but I really wish that I had done it sooner in my journey. It just helps you grow as a marketer.
Ernesto: Definitely some great advice. Thank you so much for that, Deanna. Deanna, thanks a lot for being on the show with us today. I do want to give you the last word. If someone forgets everything about the interview today, what is that one thing they should remember about your company?
Deanna Read: About our company, ooh, it’s a good, there’s so much, we help you grow. We help you grow by, providing you access to expand your team.
Ernesto: All right. Awesome. Great. Thank you so much for that. So for our listeners, thank you so much for tuning in. You can always check them out at virtualcoworker. com. Hire amazing virtual assistants. They’ll be there for you. Diana, thank you so much for being on with us to our listeners. Thank you so much for tuning in and looking forward to our next episode at PathMonk Presents. Thanks a lot, Diana.
Deanna Read: Thank you.