How Virtual Assistants Can Help With Online Advertising

Online advertising is a powerful driver of growth for modern businesses – but it can also be overwhelming for entrepreneurs and executives wearing multiple hats. Between managing pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns on Google Ads and Facebook, crafting content for SEO and social media, and analyzing performance data, business owners often find themselves stretched thin. In fact, surveys show that entrepreneurs spend an average of 36% of their work week on routine administrative tasks, and nearly one-third spend up to half their week on such busywork. This leaves little time for strategic work. It’s no surprise that those who delegate effectively are far more likely to see revenue growth (82% vs 66% in one study) compared to those who try to do everything themselves. The good news is that virtual assistants – both human and AI-powered – can step in to help manage the load, especially when it comes to online advertising.

Small businesses often struggle with limited time and resources for marketing. A 2024 SMB report found 60% cite finding new customers as their top marketing challenge, followed by understanding what’s working (33%) and lack of resources (32%) – gaps that virtual assistant services can help fill.

The Dual Approach to Online Advertising: Paid Ads and Organic Promotion

Successful online advertising typically involves two complementary strategies: paid advertising (e.g., Google Ads, Facebook/Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads, TikTok Ads) and organic promotion (e.g., content marketing, SEO, and social media engagement). Both require consistent effort and specialized knowledge, which is exactly where virtual assistant services shine.

Paid Advertising Tasks Virtual Assistants Can Manage

For many startups and small businesses, managing paid ad campaigns across multiple platforms is a daunting task. A skilled marketing virtual assistant can handle a wide range of PPC activities, including:

• Keyword Research & Campaign Setup: Identifying high-performing keywords and audience demographics for Google Ads or LinkedIn, setting up ad groups, and configuring campaigns for optimal targeting.
  
  
• Ad Copywriting and Creative Coordination: Crafting compelling ad copy and coordinating with designers to produce eye-catching visuals or video for platforms like Facebook and TikTok. (Many VAs even utilize AI copywriting tools to generate ad variations quickly, then refine them for the human touch.)
  
  
• Budget Management and Bid Optimization: Monitoring daily ad spend, adjusting bids, and leveraging tools like Google’s automated bidding strategies to maximize ROI within your budget.
  
  
• A/B Testing and Experimentation: Running A/B tests on headlines, descriptions, or landing pages to improve click-through rates and conversion rates over time.
  
  
• Tracking and Analytics: Setting up conversion tracking (Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, etc.), and monitoring campaign performance. Your VA can analyze data on impressions, clicks, and conversions, then provide you with regular reports highlighting what’s working and what’s not.
  
  
• Campaign Tweaks and Optimization: Based on performance data, a virtual assistant will pause underperforming ads, allocate more budget to winners, tweak targeting criteria, and continuously optimize your campaigns so you get better results without having to micromanage every detail.
  
  

By outsourcing these top virtual assistant tasks in paid advertising, entrepreneurs free themselves from the minutiae of campaign management and ensure that no opportunity is missed for lack of attention. The benefits of virtual assistants here include having an expert eye on your campaigns every day, catching issues early, and responding to trends in real-time.

Organic Marketing Tasks for Virtual Assistants

Paid ads work best when complemented by strong organic marketing. Virtual assistants can dramatically expand your capacity for organic promotion through content and community-building activities:

• Content Creation and SEO: Hiring a virtual assistant for content creation means you have help developing blog posts, landing page copy, and even video scripts. A VA can perform SEO keyword research and optimize content to rank higher on search engines, boosting your organic visibility. (For example, they might update old blog posts, add meta tags, or format articles for readability and on-page SEO.)
  
  
• Social Media Management: Virtual assistants for social media management are a game-changer for busy founders. They can plan a content calendar, craft posts tailored to each platform (LinkedIn for professional updates, Instagram/TikTok for visual content, Twitter for quick news), and schedule posts at optimal times using tools like Buffer or Hootsuite. They’ll also engage with your audience by responding to comments and messages, and can perform community management to build your brand’s presence.
  
  
• Email Marketing & Lead Nurturing: A VA can manage your email newsletter schedule, segment contact lists, and draft email campaigns to nurture leads – whether it’s a product announcement via Mailchimp or a drip campaign in HubSpot. They ensure consistent communication with your audience, which is crucial for organic growth and repeat business.
  
  
• Online Community and PR Outreach: Need to promote a new feature or blog post? Virtual assistants can handle outreach to influencers or potential partners, arrange guest blogging opportunities, or manage affiliate marketing relationships. These organic efforts widen your reach without the direct costs of ads.
  
  
• Reporting on Organic Growth: Just as with ads, a VA can track metrics for organic channels – website traffic, search rankings, social follower growth, email open rates – and compile them into dashboards or summary reports. This helps you understand the ROI of your content marketing and social media efforts.
  
  

In short, virtual assistants act as force multipliers for digital marketing agencies and businesses alike, covering the countless little tasks that add up to a strong online presence. By delegating these tasks, you maintain a consistent marketing engine working in the background to attract and engage customers, while you focus on strategy and high-level decisions.

Human Virtual Assistants vs. AI-Powered Assistants: Finding the Right Balance

When discussing “virtual assistants,” it’s important to clarify the term. Virtual assistant services traditionally refer to human professionals who work remotely on administrative or specialist tasks. In recent years, however, AI-powered virtual assistants – from chatbots and voice assistants like Alexa to AI software that automates tasks – have also entered the scene. Each offers unique advantages in managing online advertising and marketing efforts. Rather than virtual assistant vs. executive assistant, the decision for many organizations is now virtual assistant vs. AI assistant, or more appropriately, how to leverage both. Let’s compare their strengths:

• Human Virtual Assistants (Remote Staff): Human VAs bring flexibility, judgment, and a personal touch to your marketing. They excel at tasks requiring creativity, critical thinking, and understanding context. For example, a human assistant can understand your brand voice and craft nuanced ad copy or social media replies accordingly. They offer the emotional intelligence to empathize with customer concerns and adapt to unexpected situations on the fly. Human VAs can also learn and grow with your business, providing strategic insights and industry-specific knowledge over time. In customer-facing roles, the human touch builds trust and handles complex queries that AI might misinterpret. However, people have limitations – they need sleep, they can typically handle one task stream at a time, and their services come at a higher initial cost for skilled expertise.
  
  
• AI-Powered Virtual Assistants (Automation Tools & Chatbots): AI assistants, on the other hand, offer speed, scalability, and consistency. They can work 24/7 without fatigue, handling large volumes of repetitive or data-intensive tasks with uniform accuracy. For instance, an AI chatbot on your website or Facebook page can instantly answer common customer questions at any hour, or an AI tool can automatically segment audiences and schedule posts across time zones. AI can crunch big data – processing ad metrics or customer behavior patterns – far faster than any human, surfacing insights that inform campaign optimizations. Notably, AI tools are becoming more cost-effective for routine tasks; once set up, a chatbot or automation workflow can serve thousands of customers concurrently at a fraction of the cost of a full team. The trade-off is that AI lacks true understanding and empathy – it follows patterns and programming. AI might not catch the subtle tone in a customer complaint or creatively tweak an ad strategy without human guidance.
  
  

So, which is better: human or AI? The reality is, they work best hand-in-hand. Human virtual assistants versus AI is not an either/or battle but a partnership. As one industry article put it, AI and human virtual assistants work best when used together – AI accelerates repetitive processes and handles volume, while humans focus on personalization, creativity, and complex problem-solving. Smart entrepreneurs leverage AI tools to support their human teams. For example, your VA might use an AI-powered analytics dashboard to flag unusual drops in ad performance, then use their human judgment to investigate and adjust the campaign. Or you might employ a virtual assistant chatbot vs. human assistant model for customer service: let a chatbot answer FAQs, but have a human VA ready to step in for escalations or high-value client inquiries. This balanced approach gives you the best of both worlds – efficiency at scale without sacrificing the human touch in marketing and customer service.

Interestingly, even the role of the executive assistant has evolved in this landscape. Many companies now hire a remote executive assistant who is supported by AI-driven systems. The virtual assistant vs. full-time employee debate often comes down to cost and flexibility. A full-time, in-house marketing assistant or executive assistant might work 40 hours a week with a fixed salary (plus overhead like office space and benefits), whereas a virtual assistant can be hired part-time or on-demand, and often at a lower hourly rate especially if working remotely from regions with lower costs. For instance, hiring offshore assistants from countries known for virtual staffing (the Philippines, India, etc.) can significantly reduce costs while still offering college-educated, English-proficient talent. Many best virtual assistant companies provide trained offshore VAs who can handle tasks at a fraction of the cost of a local hire. Typical virtual assistant rates range widely – from around $10–$20 per hour for general administrative work according to freelance platforms, to $30–$60+ per hour for specialized or U.S.-based assistants. By comparison, a full-time employee in an executive assistant role might cost $50k–$70k/year (or more with benefits), making virtual assistants an attractive remote staffing solution for startups mindful of budget. The cost of hiring a virtual assistant can thus be substantially lower, and you gain the ability to scale the hours up or down as your needs change.

Key Benefits of Virtual Assistants for Business Owners

Let’s drill down into why hiring a virtual assistant is such a high-impact decision for entrepreneurs, startup founders, and executives looking to scale their advertising and marketing:

• Time Savings and Better Focus: Every hour you spend fiddling with Facebook Ad settings or scheduling tweets is an hour not spent on high-level strategy or product development. Virtual assistants take over these time-consuming tasks. This time management for executives benefit cannot be overstated – by outsourcing work that isn’t the best use of your time, you free up your schedule for decision-making and innovation. Research shows that effective delegation directly correlates with business growth. With a VA handling your campaign execution and reporting, you can focus on the big picture.
  
  
• Cost Efficiency and Flexibility: As discussed, a VA (especially an offshore or freelance virtual assistant) often costs far less than a full-time hire or an in-house marketing team. You can hire a virtual assistant for the exact number of hours or specific projects you need, which is ideal for startups that experience ebb and flow in workload. Moreover, you save on overhead – no need for extra office space, equipment, or benefits. Many entrepreneurs also leverage remote staffing solutions like agencies that handle HR, training, and payroll for the VAs, so you get the help minus the administrative burden. If your needs grow, it’s easy to scale with remote teams – you can quickly add another assistant with a different skill set (say, one VA specialized in PPC and another in content) without the lengthy hiring process traditional employees require.
  
  
• Access to Specialized Skills: Top virtual assistant tasks are not limited to admin chores. Today’s virtual assistants can be highly specialized – you can find VAs experienced in social media marketing, SEO, graphic design, video editing, Amazon e-commerce management, you name it. This means you can plug skill gaps in your team instantly. For example, if you’re launching an online course and need to ramp up social media promotion, you might bring on a freelance virtual assistant who’s an expert in Instagram and TikTok campaigns. Once the launch is over, you can scale back. This on-demand expertise is incredibly valuable for growing companies. It’s like having a swiss-army knife team member who can step in for the exact tasks you need help with.
  
  
• Increased Productivity and Scaling Up: A dedicated VA (or team of VAs) can significantly boost your productivity. Tasks that might linger on your to-do list for weeks get handled promptly. With someone tracking campaign metrics daily, opportunities for improvement are caught sooner, yielding better results. Entrepreneurs often find that with a VA’s support, they can run more campaigns or explore new marketing channels that they previously didn’t have bandwidth for. In essence, virtual assistants let you scale your startup operations faster and more smoothly. You can target aggressive growth knowing that the operational workload (from content creation to campaign monitoring) can be handled by your remote team. Many founders credit their ability to scale with remote workers as a key to their success – you’re effectively extending your capabilities without overextending yourself.
  
  
• Improved Work-Life Balance: Handing off routine tasks to a virtual assistant isn’t just good for your business – it’s good for you. Entrepreneurs and executives often burn the candle at both ends. By delegating, you reduce the risk of burnout and can reclaim some personal time. As one delegation guide notes, doing everything yourself carries a “mental load…that is unsustainable”, and even a single reliable assistant can dramatically lighten that load. Imagine ending your day knowing that your VA has handled the campaign reports and tomorrow’s social media posts are ready to go. You might actually get to eat dinner with your family or take a weekend off, confident that your marketing won’t grind to a halt. This balance is crucial for long-term success; a rested, focused leader will make better decisions and sustain their company’s growth longer.
  
  

Internal collaboration and oversight are also benefits that come with some virtual assistant arrangements. For instance, MySigrid’s remote executive assistant service provides not just a dedicated assistant but also a Customer Success Manager and a backup team to guarantee continuity. This means even if your primary VA is sick or on leave, your work doesn’t stop. Their approach leverages a centralized platform and even AI tools to ensure quality control and efficiency. When evaluating the best virtual assistant companies, look for those that offer such support structures – they act as a force multiplier, combining human talent with AI-driven project management to deliver reliable results.

How to Leverage Virtual Assistant Services and Remote Staffing Solutions

Implementing a virtual assistant into your online advertising efforts requires some strategy. Here are best practices and tips to get the most out of your outsourcing and remote collaboration:

Finding and Hiring the Right Virtual Assistant

Start by identifying the tasks that consume your time or require expertise you lack – these are prime to outsource. Common areas include social media management, ad campaign management, content writing, and administrative support. Next, decide whether to hire an individual freelance virtual assistant or go through a virtual assistant company. Freelancers from platforms like Upwork can be cost-effective for one-off tasks or very flexible, but if you want a reliable long-term partnership, the best virtual assistant companies (like MySigrid, Time etc, Boldly, and others) can match you with vetted, trained assistants and even handle the project management for startups new to delegation. These services often let you hire a virtual assistant with a specific background (for example, a VA who has managed Google Ads for e-commerce brands, or a remote executive assistant with experience supporting C-level executives). Interview your VA or service provider just as you would a full-time hire: look for good communication skills, proactivity, and understanding of your industry. Also clarify time zone expectations – hiring offshore assistants can provide extended coverage (e.g., your VA in the Philippines can monitor your overnight ad campaigns and have a report ready by your morning), but you’ll want some overlapping hours for meetings and check-ins.

When you’ve selected a VA, start with clear training and standard operating procedures (SOPs). Invest time in the first few weeks to get your assistant up to speed on your branding, preferred tools, and goals. Many entrepreneurs find it useful to create a shared document or use video calls to walk through tasks initially. The effort you put into onboarding will pay off in smoother delegation down the line. Remember, effective outsourcing is a two-way street: provide feedback regularly and encourage your VA to ask questions or even bring new ideas to the table – you may find they have suggestions for improving your workflows or campaign strategies.

Tools and Processes for Managing Remote Teams

Leveraging technology is essential when working with remote talent. Luckily, today we have an abundance of remote work tools that make collaboration across continents feel seamless. Here are some of the best remote work tools for working with virtual assistants and remote teams:

• Communication: Keep in touch via Slack or Microsoft Teams for real-time messaging. Create dedicated channels (e.g., #marketing or #ads-reporting) to keep conversations organized. For more formal discussions or brainstorming, schedule regular video meetings on Zoom or Google Meet. Clear communication is the backbone of a successful remote staffing solution.
  
  
• Project Management: Use tools like Trello, Asana, or Monday.com to assign tasks, set deadlines, and track progress. For example, you might have a project board for your “Online Advertising Campaigns” where the VA moves tasks (like “Design new ad creative” or “Write Facebook ad copy”) from To-Do to Doing to Done. This gives you visibility into work status at a glance, which is key for outsourcing administrative support and marketing tasks alike. As a startup, implementing project management for startups via these tools helps maintain organization as your remote team grows.
  
  
• File Sharing and Documentation: Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Drive) or Microsoft 365 allow you to collaborate on documents and spreadsheets in real-time. Your VA can draft content or reports in a shared Google Doc for you to review and comment. Maintain a central folder for assets like images, logos, brand guidelines, and past campaign data so your assistant always has the resources they need. Consider using a knowledge base tool like Notion or Confluence to document processes and tips – for instance, a page outlining “How to upload a blog post to our website” can save time in training and ensure consistency.
  
  
• Password Management: Security is important when you outsource work. Use a password manager like LastPass or 1Password to share login credentials with your VA without exposing the passwords directly. This way they can access your social media accounts or ad platforms securely. Many password managers let you revoke access in one click if needed, giving peace of mind when working with remote staff.
  
  
• Marketing-Specific Tools: Take advantage of specialized tools that can amplify your VA’s efficiency. For social media, scheduling tools like Buffer or Hootsuite were already mentioned, but also consider Canva for design (so your VA can quickly create visuals without a graphic designer) and Grammarly for writing assistance. If you’re focusing on SEO, tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs can be used by your assistant to identify keywords and track rankings. For email marketing, your VA can leverage templates and automation in platforms like Mailchimp or Sendinblue. Many of these tools have team collaboration features, so you can monitor activity and results. In some cases, AI-powered virtual assistants (the software kind) are built into these platforms – e.g., Mailchimp’s smart recommendations or Canva’s AI design suggestions – which your VA can use to work smarter. Encourage your assistant to explore these features; continuous improvement is a hallmark of the best virtual assistants.
  
  

By establishing a robust toolkit and clear processes, you create a framework where your remote staffing team can operate almost autonomously, with you only needing to check in periodically. As one internal guide from MySigrid emphasizes, the optimal support system for a solopreneur or entrepreneur combines a skilled human assistant, specialized contractors, and AI tools working together. Using the right tools ensures this combo functions smoothly. You’ll be able to maintain control and oversight of your online advertising campaigns without having to execute each step yourself.

Combining Human and AI Resources for Maximum Impact

Finally, take a proactive approach in blending your human and AI assistants. We’ve touched on this earlier, but here are a few practical ways to do it in the context of online advertising:

• Content Generation and Curation: Use AI writing tools (like ChatGPT or Jasper) to generate initial drafts of ad copy, social posts, or blog outlines. Then have your human virtual assistant edit and polish the content to align with your brand voice and add a personal touch. This can significantly speed up content production while ensuring quality. It’s the perfect example of AI and automation in remote staffing – the AI does the heavy lifting of drafting, and the human VA refines the output.
  
  
• Data Analysis and Decision Support: Leverage analytics AI. For instance, Google Ads offers automated insights and optimization suggestions; your VA can review those AI-driven recommendations and decide which to implement. There are also AI analytics platforms that might flag anomalies (like a sudden drop in conversion rate) – your VA can set those up and let the AI monitor continuously. When an alert comes, the VA investigates and takes action. According to Mailchimp, 88% of marketers say they need to increase their use of automation and AI to meet customer expectations and stay competitive, so integrating these tools is increasingly a must for efficiency. Your VA essentially becomes the pilot, and the AI is the co-pilot crunching the numbers in the background.
  
  
• Customer Service and Lead Qualification: Deploy a chatbot on your site or Facebook page to handle initial customer queries. Program it with common FAQs about your product or services. Meanwhile, train your virtual assistant on managing the chatbot’s handoff – e.g., if a question is too complex or the user asks for a human, the VA can step in live or follow up via email. This hybrid approach keeps customers satisfied (quick answers 24/7 from the bot, and personalized help when needed). It also optimizes your sales funnel: an AI-driven remote staffing solution might capture basic lead info via a chatbot, then your human assistant follows up to schedule a sales call with qualified leads. You’re effectively automating the top of the funnel and humanizing the bottom of the funnel.
  
  
• Continuous Improvement: Encourage your virtual assistant to stay updated on both marketing trends and new AI tools. The landscape of online advertising changes fast – today it might be TikTok ads and Instagram Reels, tomorrow it could be some new platform or algorithm. Similarly, new AI tools for outsourcing and productivity emerge regularly. A top VA will proactively bring new ideas to you: perhaps suggesting a tool like Trello’s automation (Butler) to automate task workflows, or experimenting with an AI-based A/B testing tool for ads. This mindset of continuous improvement, leveraging the latest tech, keeps your business ahead of the curve. It’s also a hallmark of the human touch vs. AI in customer service debate – while AI evolves, the human ability to strategize and innovate remains vital. The best outcomes happen when your team isn’t static but constantly learning and adapting.
  
  

By combining human creativity and oversight with AI’s brute-force capabilities, even a small startup team can punch above its weight in the online advertising arena. You can maintain a human-centric customer experience while benefitting from machine efficiency behind the scenes.

Conclusion: Scale Your Advertising with Smart Outsourcing

Online advertising and marketing don’t have to be a headache for the busy entrepreneur or executive. With the right mix of virtual assistant services and AI tools, you can run sophisticated paid ad campaigns and vibrant organic marketing without burning out or breaking the bank. A virtual assistant (human or AI) can support every stage of your advertising efforts – from campaign planning and execution to monitoring, optimization, and reporting. The key is to outsource work strategically: delegate the repeatable tasks, augment your team’s capacity with specialized skills, and use automation where it makes sense. This frees you to concentrate on leadership and growth, knowing that the day-to-day marketing operations are in good hands.

As you consider the next steps, remember that effective delegation is an investment in your business’s scalability. Whether you choose to hire a virtual assistant directly or partner with a remote staffing agency, ensuring that you have the support you need is crucial to staying competitive in today’s fast-paced digital market. Don’t wait until you’re overwhelmed – even a few hours a week of a VA’s help can create immediate relief and momentum.

Ready to supercharge your online advertising with virtual assistance? Take action now: Book a free consultation with MySigrid to discuss your needs and see how a remote executive assistant could transform your business. You can also connect with MySigrid co-founder Paul Østergaard on LinkedIn for insights on scaling with remote teams, or visit our site to book a consultation now and get started. Empower your business with the combined force of human talent and AI efficiency – and watch your online advertising results reach new heights.