You know what I hate watching? Business owners hiring a virtual assistant for marketing and then… nothing happens. Crickets. The person sits there, getting paid, doing absolutely zilch. Why? Because they can’t log into the stupid CRM. Or they make this beautiful Canva graphic but have no clue how to get it into HubSpot. Or they build some Zapier thing that breaks your whole email list because nobody showed them the ropes first.
It drives me nuts. And honestly? It’s usually the boss’s fault, not the VA’s. Sorry, but it’s true.
You can’t just throw money at a virtual assistant for marketing, dump them into your messy tech pile, and expect magic unicorns to appear. Doesn’t work like that. You gotta build the playground first. Set up the tools. Connect the dots. Then your VA can actually make you money instead of just burning it.
Here’s the real deal on what needs to be ready before day one. Not after. Before. Let’s go.
The Big Three (Don’t Overcomplicate This)
Everyone wants to use fifty different tools. Stop it. For a virtual assistant for marketing, you need three things talking to each other. That’s it. The CRM, the automation glue, and the design thing. Everything else is just noise.
HubSpot (Or Something That Actually Works)
First things first. If you’re still using spreadsheets to track leads, we need to talk. Seriously. In 2026? Come on. If your VA is manually copying emails into a Google Sheet, you’re stuck in 2010. Get HubSpot. Free version works for most people. Paid version if you’ve got the cash.
But here’s the key – set it up BEFORE the VA starts. I mean actually set it up. Build the pipelines. “New Lead,” “Contacted,” “Proposal Sent,” “Closed Won,” “Closed Lost.” Make it pretty. Make it visual. Your VA should be able to drag deals around like cards on a table. They need to see the whole customer journey without clicking through ten tabs.
And forms. You need forms on your site that dump straight into HubSpot. When someone asks for a free consultation, that info should fly into your CRM automatically. Not get copied and pasted by a human who will definitely spell the email wrong. That’s just dumb work that wastes brain power.
Give your VA full admin access on day one. Not “let me think about it” access. Full access. If you don’t trust them with your CRM, why’d you hire them? Think about that.
Zapier (Because Your Apps Need to Talk)
This is where everyone screws up. They’ve got HubSpot. They’ve got Mailchimp. They’ve got Facebook ads. But nothing connects. So your virtual assistant for marketing spends literally half their day logging into different apps, copying stuff, switching tabs, getting confused, messing up.
Zapier fixes this mess. It’s like the translator between apps. Lead comes in from Facebook? Zapier grabs it, puts it in HubSpot, triggers a welcome email, pings your VA on Slack, adds a task to your project board. Your VA does nothing. It just… happens.
Set up the Zaps before your VA shows up. Test them. Make sure they actually work. Don’t make your VA troubleshoot your broken stuff on their first day. That’s like hiring a chef and asking them to fix your busted oven before they can cook. Not their job, buddy.
Start with these five. Trust me:
- New Facebook Lead magically appears in HubSpot
- New HubSpot contact gets a welcome email sequence
- New email subscriber gets tagged properly
- Someone books a call via Calendly → HubSpot makes a deal automatically
- Payment comes through Stripe → HubSpot updates the customer record
Those five right there will save your VA probably ten hours a week. Write down how they work. Put it in your instructions folder. When something breaks (and it will), your VA needs to know how to fix it without calling you at midnight.
Canva (Design Shouldn’t Be Hard)
Your virtual assistant for marketing needs to make stuff look good. Social posts. Email headers. PDF guides. They can’t wait for a graphic designer every time they need an Instagram square. Get Canva Pro. It’s like $15 a month. Stop being cheap about it.
But here’s the thing – set up the Brand Kit first. Before the VA starts. Your colors. Your fonts. Your logo. Your “voice” guide. Make templates for everything. Instagram posts. Stories. Email banners. Your VA should never start from a blank page. That’s how you get ugly stuff that doesn’t match your brand.
Make folders. Organize it. “January Instagram Posts.” “Email Headers.” “Lead Magnets.” When your VA logs in, they should know exactly where everything lives without sending you a bunch of “where is the…” messages.
The Communication Stuff (Super Important)
Your VA is remote. They can’t tap your shoulder when they have a question. So you need to set up communication that actually works, or you’ll both go crazy.
Slack
Make channels before they start. Don’t just dump everything in one messy general channel. “Marketing-chat.” “Content-ideas.” “Emergency-stuff.” Organized. Your VA needs to know where to ask what without thinking too hard.
Set rules. “Check Slack three times a day.” “If it’s urgent, tag me.” “If I don’t answer in 4 hours, shoot me an email.” Write it down. Don’t make them guess your communication style. That’s annoying for everyone.
Loom
This is the secret weapon nobody talks about enough. Instead of typing long, confusing instructions, just record your screen. Show your VA exactly what you want. They watch it twice, do it perfectly. Saves you both hours of back-and-forth “wait, what did you mean?” nonsense.
Make your VA use Loom too. When they hit a problem, they record their screen, show you exactly what’s broken. Two minute video explains what ten confusing emails never could. Game changer.
Project Management (Pick One, Seriously)
You need somewhere to track work. Asana, Trello, Monday, ClickUp – pick your poison. Just pick ONE. Don’t use three different tools and wonder why everyone’s confused.
Set up the board before your VA arrives. Real structure. “Content Calendar.” “Campaign Ideas.” “Monthly Goals.” Not empty boards with nothing on them. Your VA should log in day one and see exactly what they’re supposed to work on this week.
And be specific with tasks. “Create Instagram post” is terrible. “Create 3 carousel posts for the January vitamin launch, schedule for Jan 15-17, use the template in the ‘Product Launch’ folder” – that’s good. Specific. No guessing games.
Passwords and Access (The Boring Part That Matters)
This is where businesses get stuck for days. The VA can’t work because you forgot to give them the Mailchimp password. Or the login needs your phone for two-factor auth and you’re asleep because they work different hours. Annoying.
Sort this out BEFORE day one. Use a password manager. LastPass, 1Password, whatever. Share access securely. Don’t text passwords like it’s 2015. That’s how you get hacked, friend.
Make a list. Every single tool they need. HubSpot. Canva. Zapier. Slack. Meta Business Manager. Google Analytics. Everything. Check that they can actually log in. Test it yourself. Fix the problems before their first day, not during. They shouldn’t spend their first week just trying to get into stuff.
Give them a company email too. Not their personal Gmail. Something @yourcompany.com. Professional. They represent your brand. Give them an email signature template too. Consistency matters.
The SOP Folder (So They Don’t Bug You Constantly)
Document everything. I know, I know. It’s boring. But do it anyway. How to post on Instagram. How to send a newsletter. How to update a lead in HubSpot. Step by step. Screenshots. Videos. Whatever it takes.
Your virtual assistant for marketing should be able to answer 80% of their own questions by reading your docs. Without this, they message you ten times a day. “How do I do this?” “What’s the password for that?” You get annoyed. They feel stupid. Nobody wins.
Make SOPs for:
- How to create a social post from idea to published
- How to set up an email campaign from brief to send button
- How to update the CRM (what, when, how)
- What metrics to track and where to find them
- What to do when Zapier breaks (and it will break)
Update these when things change. Old wrong instructions are worse than no instructions.
The Real Onboarding Checklist
Day one, your VA should have:
- Login details for everything (tested, actually working)
- Slack joined and notifications on
- HubSpot access with their own login (not sharing yours)
- Canva Pro seat ready to go
- Zapier connected to all the apps
- Project board invite accepted
- SOP folder bookmarked
- Loom downloaded
- First week’s tasks assigned with real due dates
If you don’t have this ready, don’t hire the VA yet. Seriously. Just wait. You’re wasting everyone’s time and money if they spend week one just trying to get into stuff.
Why This Actually Saves You Money
Look, setting all this up takes work. Maybe ten hours of your time before the VA starts. Boring work. Tedious. You want to skip it. Don’t.
Here’s why. A virtual assistant for marketing with proper tools and access can do literally three times more work than someone fighting broken systems. They’re not wasting an hour looking for a password. They’re not manually copying data because Zapier isn’t set up. They’re not starting designs from scratch because there’s no templates.
Your VA costs $25 an hour. If bad setup means they waste ten hours a week on friction and confusion, that’s $250 a week down the drain. $1,000 a month. Gone. For what? Because you were too lazy to set up HubSpot properly?
Spend ten hours now. Save $1,000 a month forever. That’s math that works.
The Bottom Line
Hiring a virtual assistant for marketing isn’t just about finding a good person. It’s about creating a space where they can actually win. You wouldn’t hire a race car driver and give them a bicycle. Don’t hire a marketing VA and give them a broken, messy tech stack.
Get HubSpot sorted. Connect your Zaps. Organize Canva. Document your stuff. Test the logins. Create the instructions. THEN bring in your VA.
They’ll start producing on day one. Not day ten. Not day thirty. Day one. That’s the difference between wasting money and actually making it back tenfold.
Get the stack right. Then hire. That’s the order.
P.S. – If your new VA spent their whole first week asking for passwords and waiting for access, that’s on you, not them. Fix your setup before you hire the next one.