Awareness days can be of great benefit to your VA business. Not only do they give you valuable content to share with your audience, they’re a great way to raise visibility to causes and niches, as well as serving to highlight issues and showcase available support. But with so many awareness days in the calendar, you need to be selective about which ones you use. 

One of the days of note to Virtual Assistants is International Virtual Assistant Day and in this blog, we’re giving you a quick rundown on what it is and when it’s celebrated. There’s also some more general advice on how to use awareness days in your business, as well as other events you’ll want to know about – particularly if you want to build your credibility.

So when is International Virtual Assistant Day?

Held annually on the third Friday in May, International VA Day is a celebration of the VA industry as a whole and is recognised and celebrated globally. It is a time to recognise, honour and celebrate industry leaders, as well as those VAs who are being recognised for their dedication and commitment to the industry.  

History of International VA Day

International VA Day, better known by its acronym IVAD, gives us all a day to acknowledge the dedication, determination, effort and expertise of our VA community. Observed since 2006 the IVAD was created to help raise awareness of the important role VAs play in the business community and the vital services they can offer to a wide variety of on and offline businesses. 

The awareness day is held on the closing day of (and sponsored by) the annual Online International Virtual Assistants Convention (OIVAC). OIVAC is an educational and networking platform, founded by Sharon Williams, president of The 24 Hour Secretary. It gives VAs an opportunity to attend seminars, training and networking events, to further enhance and grow their VA businesses. [To find out more about the OIVAC, head over to their website, here.]

if you are putting content out about IVAD, be sure to use the #IVAD and feel free to tag me into any posts, it would be great to share your messages with others.

How awareness days can help your business 

Celebrating the different awareness days can really benefit your VA Business. Days such as IVAD not only help raise awareness of the VA industry as a whole, but they can also help promote your values and engage more with your audience. You can use them to help raise awareness of your business branding, use them to network with other business owners and potential clients, and start conversations. 

Of course, they can give you some awesome content for your marketing calendar too! You can create content that helps promote the awareness day, as well as your involvement in it and your intention to attend. You can also use them as a basis for inspirational and creative content, and to showcase what you consider to be of value to your business and your clients. The key here though, is to ensure you’re only showcasing the awareness days that are congruent with your business.

Build your credibility with awareness days and VA events

Entering and winning VA awards is a great way to boost your confidence and increase your credibility. IVAD may be an awareness day, but it also has VA industry awards attached to it too.

Regardless of whether you’re a new or established VA, awards are one of the top ways you can build your credibility. Other valuable credibility building options include

All of these will enable you to showcase your expertise and enhance your commitment to having an awesome VA business.

Awareness days – a tool in your VA business arsenal

Awareness days such as IVAD can be of great benefit to your VA business. Not only do they give you valuable content to share with your audience, they’re a great way to raise visibility to causes and niches dear to you. 

When used in conjunction with other VA events they can serve as a great way to boost your confidence and increase your visibility online – so why not set an intention to use more awareness days and events in your annual calendar!

And if you’re looking for help raising your credibility and boosting your VA business generally, why not take advantage of joining our CPD accredited VA Membership? Our monthly membership will give you access to the training and resources you need to grow your VA business, and as a part of our community, you’ll also be the first to know about awareness days and VA events of interest to your business.  Why not join our monthly VA Membership today? It’ll give you the training and resources you need, to grow your confidence and your business, as well as marketing tips and access to a supportive community. You’ll find all the information on the VA Membership here.  The best bit is, you can join us on an annual membership and save money or pay monthly on a recurring payment, cancel anytime basis.