This informal CPD article, ‘Marketing Moves for VAs Stepping Into the OBM Role’, was provided by OBM School, an online training academy that teaches you how to start & scale a thriving business as an Online Business Manager.
Making the shift from Virtual Assistant (VA) to Online Business Manager (OBM) is an exciting step—but it can also come with unexpected hurdles, especially when it comes to marketing yourself.
If you’ve ever thought, “I don’t want to sound salesy” or “Talking about myself feels awkward”, you’re not alone. Many service providers who “step up” into the OBM role struggle with promoting themselves, because marketing yourself in this new role may feel misaligned, ingenuine, or “impostery”. But here’s the truth: marketing doesn’t have to feel pushy and there are ways to start marketing your new services with confidence even if you don’t believe in yourself quite yet.
Why Marketing Feels So Uncomfortable—And How to Change That
As a VA, you may have built your career behind the scenes—making sure emails get sent, ensuring social media posts go out on time, etcetera. Marketing yourself as an OBM requires a mindset shift: from doing the work to showing others how you think and what kind of results you create when you’re given the chance to lead.
Marketing can feel “salesy” when it’s perceived as performative or self-promotional. But that perception shifts when we reframe marketing as:
- Helping people make informed decisions
- Solving real business challenges
- Demonstrating how your strengths meet their needs
The more grounded you are in why you’re offering OBM services and who you’re best positioned to support, the more natural your marketing will feel and sound.
Define What Makes You Valuable: Crafting Your Unique Value Proposition (UVP)
One of the most effective ways to build confidence in your marketing is to clarify your Unique Value Proposition—your UVP. This is the core message that communicates why a client should hire you.
Here’s how to craft it:
- Identify Your Strengths: What have clients consistently praised you for? Maybe you’re the go-to for new ideas, organization and systems development, communication and execution.
- Pinpoint Client Pain Points: What do your ideal clients struggle with? Are they overwhelmed by operations? Behind on systems setup? Spinning their wheels during launches? Behind on their finances?
- Connect the Dots: Your UVP lives at the intersection of your strengths and their struggles.
For example:
“I help coaches and course creators scale their businesses by managing operations and optimizing their team workflows.”
Use your UVP as the throughline in everything you share—your LinkedIn headline, Instagram bio, outreach messages, or even casual networking chats.
Simple Marketing Strategies That Don’t Feel Salesy
You don’t need to be a master marketer to show up with confidence. Here are five aligned strategies that can ease the discomfort, help you push past that imposter syndrome, and help you genuinely connect with potential clients:
- Start Where Your Clients Are: Pick one or two platforms (e.g., LinkedIn, Facebook groups) where your ideal clients spend time and then keep.showing.up.
- Educate Instead of Sell: Share tips, systems, or lessons learned—things that demonstrate your thought process and how you help businesses grow.
- Build Relationships with Referral Partners: Connect with service providers in adjacent roles (like copywriters or designers). A single well-placed referral can lead to a dream client.
- Gather and Share Testimonials: Ask past or current clients to describe the results they’ve experienced. Let others speak to your credibility.
- Polish Your Online Presence: Ensure your digital footprint tells a clear story. If someone lands on your profile (or your website), they should immediately understand how you can help.
Tackling the Fear of Visibility
Perhaps the biggest hurdle is the fear of being seen. When you’ve built your identity as a support professional, stepping into a leadership-facing role like OBM can feel scary.
But remember: visibility isn’t about being perfect. It’s about being present.
Start small:
- Post once a week on LinkedIn
- Comment with insight in a relevant Facebook group.
- Share a win or client story in your Instagram stories.
Over time, showing up becomes easier. You’re not “selling”—you’re sharing the impact you make and inviting the right clients to reach out.
A Final Thought: You’re Not Alone
Transitioning from VA to OBM is more than a job change—it’s an identity shift. And like any transformation, it can feel uncomfortable. But you don’t have to do it alone.
Most VAs stepping into the OBM role already have the experience. What’s missing isn’t skill—it’s clarity and confidence in how to communicate that value and position themselves in a new light.
We hope this article was helpful. For more information from OBM School, please visit their CPD Member Directory page. Alternatively, you can go to the CPD Industry Hubs for more articles, courses and events relevant to your Continuing Professional Development requirements.
