Know-How Exchange : Taglines/Names

Frankly speaking, this is the first time i come across with a this type of business.

After reading your posting, and further studying on Virtual Assistant concept, I would suggest you to develop a "Personality brand" for your business.

What I mean by a persenality Brand is;

A kind of a Persons Name. You attribute, all the charactoristics of your business to that "Personality", and register it in your target customer as a "Persons name". A good example is www.ananova.com.

When Ananova was first invented in later 90's, there was a Female charactor (Developed by 3d graphics) named Ananova, who played a role of a "Virtual news caster"
(Now I dont see that image on their site anayway)

Why I suggest you a "Personality Brand"

You describe your service as a "Virtual off-site employee". So why dont you build a personality for this "Virtual employee" (A face, smile, attitude, etc) and give him a name, which ultimately become your company name. (Imagine Ask Jeeves)

As for an example, if you decided to have your own name for this, it would be..

Angie.com (With an image of the developed personality)
Your virutual assistant online!

Well, this is my opinion. Dont know how far it fits you.

Good luck, let me know once you finalised things.

ASA

I personally like the name, I understand what you do from what you are called, and I think that creatitively, it offers some good opportunities for you.

STICK WITH IT :-)

"I Virtual Assistant" sounds like Tarzan talking to Jane. I'm waiting for Jane to answer, "Me Jane."

If it were up to me, I'd look for a name that communicates the most important BENEFIT your clients will receive (and value), not simply a description of what YOU do. If you take over messy tasks that they don't like to do, you could call yourself "Dirty Works" (or something like that). If you save them time, you could be "Time Saver." Etc.

I'm not suggesting specific names here because I don't yet understand the key benefit you're promising. What I am saying is that a descriptive name (like General Motors or iVirtualAssistant) is not nearly as powerful and memorable as a benefit name (Spic 'n Span, Top Job, etc.).

If you decide to stick with IVA, though, you probably need to come up with a tagline that hits the benefit pretty hard. Most people won't really know why they should hire an IVA. It's not exactly the most common listing in the Yellow Pages.

The idea of branding/naming your biz with a personality is intriguing. Think of AskJeeves.com, for example. Or my favorite example -- myEmma.com. That one doesn't convey an immediate sense of purpose in the name (like Jeeves the butler does, anyway), but the way EVERYTHING is written on their site makes you want to enroll.

So, who or what personifies a terrific assistant or an efficient office helper or a secret resource or someone's right hand? That's the trick. All I can think of is Girl Friday.

And Michael, I don't think "Dirty Works" is going to bring her the kind of customer she's hoping to attract. ;]

I was just thinking of Virtual Alter Ego though it might need a tagline to make it 100% clear.

Rgds

Adam