Working virtually can often be wracked with miss communication and sometimes misunderstanding. Have you ever had a long dissertation of back and forth emails between a person about a certain project? It can be tricky to communicate your ideas and thoughts via email. Effectively communicating as a Virtual Assistant allows the client/VA relationship to grow so you may want investigate the option of adding video and screen shots to your communication methods.

You’ve probably heard of Jing and if you have downloaded it before, you recognize the yellow sun icon that sits on the corner of your browser window. I have often just used it for the occasional screen cast and never thought about the potential of Jing as a powerful communication tool between Virtual Assistant and client.

“Jing is free software that adds visuals to your online communication – instead of typing at people at people, show them what you’re talking about..pronto!”

1. Harness the Power of Video: Jing allows you to make quick 5 minute videos. Let’s say you are working on a sales page for your client but you need to talk to them about the layout, send a quick video to show the page and discuss the options. Jing allows you to save your video to screencast.com and immediately receive a link that you can paste into your email. It’s simple and effective.
2. Screenshots for Visual Effect: Have you ever tried to explain how to understand Google Analytics in an email, I have and it just didn’t work. I should have taken a screenshot or 2 of the various components of Google Analytics, added visual comments and arrows to direct the client’s attention and viola:.a much better idea.

Applications for Jing:

Take it one step further and create a training center for virtual assistant associates or for future clients. Create ongoing videos or screen casts of tasks that are carried out on a regular basis and share them with new clients or associates to help train them. For eg. I always recommend Hootsuite as a Twitter Manager for my clients so upon setting up Hootsuite for them, I send a quick video showing them around the various components of the program.

Further Applications:

E-Commerce:

• How to add a product to a shopping cart
• show a client how to set up a stored search within their shopping cart
• create a bundle offer with the cart

E-mail Marketing:

• formatting an ezine in their email marketing system
• checking on delivery rates

WordPress:

• How to add a thumbnail image to wordpress
• How to add a plugin
• How to upload images to the image library

:..and more and more. The uses for Jing are unlimited and highly effective.

Can you envision the possibilities?

Partnering with a VA who expands the boundaries of email opens up new communication and hopefully, leads to a long-term relationship.

PS.. Jing is owned by the same company that brings you Snagit and Camtasia.