Hire a marketing virtual assistant one channel at a time.
A marketing virtual assistant is a remote assistant who keeps your marketing running between decisions: building the email in your platform, uploading and tidying the blog post, checking that campaign links work, updating the lead list and sending you the numbers every Monday. The plan, the offer and the budget stay with you or a marketer. The role fails when it is hired as "do our marketing", and works when you hand over one channel with a written routine and add the next one a month later.
Below: which channels and tools candidates list, why a skill tag is not proof and what to ask for instead, what to hand over on each channel, what 40 to 160 hours a month costs next to a Latin American staffing firm and a US provider, when a marketing VA is the wrong hire, paid trial tasks by channel, and how to share your email list, site and ad accounts safely.
10,184 DonutJobs profiles list a marketing skill: 59% name email marketing and 6% name SEO. 3,327 of them also carry internet, English and typing scores, as of Oct 2026.
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What is a marketing virtual assistant?
A marketing virtual assistant is a remote worker who carries out the recurring tasks behind a company's marketing, such as building email campaigns, publishing and updating web content, scheduling social posts and compiling the weekly numbers, from a plan somebody else sets.
Also called: virtual marketing assistant, marketing VA, digital marketing virtual assistant.
Key takeaways
- Operations, not strategy. The assistant builds, publishes, checks and reports. Positioning, offers, budgets and targeting stay with the owner or a marketer.
- Wider than social media. Email, the website, content, ads upkeep and reporting are all in scope. If you only need posts made and answered, a social media virtual assistant is the narrower hire.
- Channels candidates name: 65% of marketing profiles on DonutJobs name social media, 59% email marketing, 35% content writing and 6% SEO (Oct 2026).
- What it costs: recent candidates ask a median $5 an hour, so 80 hours a month is about $400 in wages and full time about $800 (1,566 recent profiles, all roles, Oct 2026).
- Supply: 10,184 DonutJobs profiles list a marketing skill, and 3,327 of them carry internet, English and typing scores (Oct 2026).
Which marketing channels do candidates name?
Social media and email lead by a distance: 65% of marketing profiles name social media and 59% name email marketing. Content writing or copywriting is named by 35%, SEO by 6% and paid ads by under 1%. One candidate often names three channels, so the bars overlap.
A marketing skill tag is not proof. Check the tool.
6,107 marketing profiles (59%) name email marketing, but only 554 (5%) list an email platform such as Mailchimp or Klaviyo. SEO shows the same gap on a smaller scale: 679 name it and 213 list an SEO tool. Paid ads run the other way. A tag costs one click, so ask for the tool and a piece of work done in it.
| Channel | Profiles that name the channel | Profiles that list a matching tool | What to ask a candidate for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Email marketing | 6,107 (59%) | 554 (5%) list an email platform; 862 (8%) list HubSpot | A campaign they built themselves: the platform, the list size, and the open and click rates |
| SEO | 679 (6%) | 213 (2%) list Semrush, Ahrefs, Moz, Search Console or Yoast | One page they worked on: what they changed and what happened to its clicks afterwards |
| Content writing | 3,666 (35%) | 1,459 (14%) list WordPress, Webflow, Wix or Squarespace | Two published pieces, and whether they uploaded and formatted them or only wrote the text |
| Social media | 6,708 (65%) | 5,478 (53%) list Canva; 1,640 (16%) list a scheduler | Links to accounts or posts they made, with dates. The social media guide covers this channel in full |
| Paid ads | 60 (under 1%) | 3,861 (37%) list Meta Business Suite or an ads manager | A campaign they set up from someone else’s plan: the naming, the tracking links and the weekly report. Knowing the screen is common; having managed a budget is rare |
| Reporting | No tag exists for it | 2,450 (24%) list Google Analytics; 1,486 (14%) list spreadsheets | A weekly report they produced, and one decision somebody made because of it |
Why the email gap is so wide. Almost every one of those profiles carries the identical tag "Email Marketing", which is what a one-click option at signup produces. A tool in the software list takes more thought to add, which is why it is the better filter.
Why ads look the opposite. The 37% includes Meta Business Suite, which is also where Facebook and Instagram posts are scheduled, so much of it is probably social media work. Treat it as a social tool unless the candidate can show a campaign.
How many marketing candidates have test scores?
3,327 of the 10,184 marketing profiles (32%) have finished the internet, English and typing checks, so you can sort them by score before reading a single application. For marketing work the English score matters most, because nearly everything the assistant produces is read by your customers.
10,184
profiles list a marketing skill
skill tags, headline or past job titles
3,327
have internet, English and typing scores
32% of the segment
80%
median English score in the segment
4,112 tests; whole pool 73%
69%
of those tests score 70% or more (C1 band or higher)
4,112 English tests
606
name marketing in their own headline or a job title
5% of the segment; the rest match on a skill tag
1,587
include a recorded voice sample
useful if they will join calls or record voiceovers
DonutJobs data, as of Oct 2026, from read-only aggregate queries on the app database. Checks are optional. The English score is the percent correct on an in-app multiple-choice test, and the bands are DonutJobs labels, not an official CEFR certificate. The segment's median typing speed is 32 WPM (4,668 tests).
A practical shortlist rule. Filter to an English score of 70% or more, then read headlines and job titles for marketing words. 606 profiles describe themselves that way in their own words, and those are the ones to read first.
Scores do not measure marketing skill. They tell you the candidate writes clear English, types at a working speed and has a connection that holds up on calls. Whether they can build a clean campaign is what the paid trial is for.
What to hand a marketing virtual assistant, channel by channel
On every channel the split is the same: the assistant takes the building, publishing, checking and counting; you keep the message, the audience and the money. Start with the channel where you already know what good looks like, because that is the one you can write a routine for.
| Channel | Hand over | Keep with you or a marketer | A good first task |
|---|---|---|---|
| Building campaigns in your platform from approved copy, list imports and clean-up, segments, test sends, scheduling, and the numbers after each send | The offer, the send calendar, who is allowed to receive what, and approval of every send in the first month | Rebuild your best email of last quarter as a reusable template | |
| Website and SEO upkeep | Uploading and formatting posts, titles and meta descriptions, image alt text, internal links, broken-link fixes, and a keyword sheet kept up to date | Which topics to go after, anything the site says about price or product, and technical changes | A sweep of your 20 most visited pages for missing titles and dead links |
| Content | Turning a call recording, webinar or long post into a draft article, a newsletter and a handful of captions; sourcing images; formatting and publishing | The opinions, the facts and the final edit | Repurpose one existing piece three ways and compare it with your own version |
| Social media | The content calendar, graphics, scheduling and replies | Brand voice and what the brand will not say | See the social media virtual assistant guide for the weekly task list |
| Paid ads upkeep | Building ad variants from approved copy, applying naming and tracking-link rules, a morning check of spend against your cap, and the weekly numbers | Targeting, budgets, bids, billing and the decision to pause or scale | A daily five-minute check: spend, broken links, disapproved ads |
| Reporting and lists | One weekly report from your analytics and each platform, CRM and lead-list hygiene, tagging new leads, collecting reviews and testimonials | What the numbers mean and what changes next week | A one-page Monday report with the same six numbers every week |
If the work is mostly prospect lists, outreach and follow-up rather than campaigns, read the sales virtual assistant guide instead: that role is tested differently.
Post your marketing role free and filter applicants by English score before you read a profile.
How much does a marketing virtual assistant cost?
Hired directly, expect about $5 an hour: that is the median asking rate of 1,566 recent DonutJobs candidates across all roles, and the 71 recent profiles with a marketing skill show the same median. At that rate 80 hours a month is about $400 in wages and full time about $800. Through the Latin American staffing firm Virtual Latinos, a full-time virtual marketing assistant is listed at $1,800 to $3,700 a month, and a US-based assistant from Time Etc costs $1,480 for 40 hours.
| Route | How the price works | 40 hours a month | 80 hours a month | 160 hours a month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct hire, lower quarter of asking rates | $3 an hour or less; you pay the assistant yourself | about $120/mo | about $240/mo | about $480/mo |
| Direct hire, median asking rate | $5 an hour; you pay the assistant yourself | about $200/mo | about $400/mo | about $800/mo |
| Direct hire, top tenth of asking rates | $8 an hour or more | about $320/mo | about $640/mo | about $1,280/mo |
| DonutJobs platform fee on a direct hire | Free plan (1 job, up to 10 applications), or $99/mo (from $55/mo on a 6-month term). Nothing is taken from the wage | $0 to $99/mo | $0 to $99/mo | $0 to $99/mo |
| DonutJobs managed assistant | One flat monthly fee; DonutJobs finds, contracts, pays and supervises the assistant | Not offered | $629/mo for 80 hours | $899/mo for 160 hours |
| Latin American staffing firm (Virtual Latinos) | Monthly price by experience tier for a virtual marketing assistant; part time from 20 hours a week is offered but not priced | Not published | Not published | Starter $1,800 to $2,100; Professional $2,400 to $2,900; Advanced $3,000 to $3,700 |
| US-based assistant (Time Etc) | Monthly hour plans at $36 to $39 an hour | $1,480/mo | Custom plan (60 hours is $2,160) | Custom plan |
What the higher prices buy. Virtual Latinos prices by experience: its Starter tier is described as two years of experience and its Advanced tier as seven to ten or more. Time Etc matches you with a US-based assistant and rolls unused hours over on its 20-hour plan and up. A direct hire costs the least per hour, and you do the screening, training and review yourself.
Software is a separate line. The email platform, the scheduler, the SEO tool and any ad spend are your accounts and your bills. Count seats before you hire: some tools charge per user.
Pay above the median for proof. A candidate who can show a campaign built in your email platform, or a site they kept up to date for a year, is worth more than $5 an hour. Say so in the post and you will get fewer, better applications.
When a marketing virtual assistant is the wrong hire
This role disappoints when an operations person is asked to do a strategist’s job. Check these four cases before you post.
- You have no plan yet. If nobody has decided who you sell to, on which channel and with what offer, an assistant has nothing to carry out. Book a few hours with a marketing consultant first, then hire.
- You want someone to own the ad budget. Deciding where money goes is a media buyer’s job, and only 60 of 10,184 marketing profiles in our pool name paid ads as their work. Hire a specialist for the decisions and let the assistant keep the account tidy.
- You need one channel done at expert depth. A technical SEO audit, a conversion study or a brand identity is project work for a specialist freelancer or an agency.
- Nothing is written down. If the routine lives in your head, the first two weeks will be spent guessing. Record yourself doing the task once and let the assistant turn the recording into the checklist.
If you would rather hand over the hiring and supervision as well, managed virtual assistants puts both with DonutJobs for a flat monthly fee.
How to hire a marketing virtual assistant in 5 steps
Pick one channel, write the routine, filter on writing, test in your real tools, then widen.
Hiring from the Philippines? The Filipino virtual assistant guide covers pay customs, holidays and time zone overlap.
Paid trial tasks for a marketing virtual assistant
A good trial takes two to four paid hours, uses your real tools and has a right answer you can check in ten minutes. Choose the one that matches the channel you are handing over.
Email: build one campaign from a brief
Give them the copy, two images and a segment rule. They build it in your platform, send a test and write down anything unclear. Check links, the preview text, the mobile layout and that the segment is the one you asked for.
Website: publish and tidy one post
Hand over a finished draft in a document. They upload it, set headings, the title and meta description, compress and caption the images, and add three internal links. Compare the result with a post you published yourself.
SEO upkeep: audit ten pages
Ask for a sheet listing each page’s title, description, main heading, word count and broken links, with one suggested fix per page. You are testing care and judgement, not keyword theory.
Content: repurpose one recording
Give them a 20-minute call or webinar. Ask for a 600-word draft article, a short newsletter version and three captions. Read for accuracy first: did they keep what was actually said?
Ads upkeep: find the mistakes
Share read-only access or screenshots of a campaign with three planted errors: a dead link, a missing tracking tag and an ad over its cap. See how many they find and how clearly they report them.
Reporting: one page from two sources
Give view access to your analytics and one platform. Ask for a one-page report of last month with six numbers and two sentences on what changed. Check every number against the source.
Give every finalist the same task and the same time limit, and pay all of them. The comparison is only fair when the brief is identical.
Give access by role, and protect the list and the budget
A marketing assistant works inside the systems that hold your customer list and your payment methods. Each of those tools has a role that lets someone do the work without being able to export the list or change the billing. Use it from day one.
- Email platform: a user seat that can build and schedule campaigns but cannot export contacts or edit billing. If the platform has an approval step, turn it on for the first month.
- Website: an Editor or Author role, not Administrator. They can publish and edit content without touching plugins, themes or users.
- Analytics and Search Console: view-only access is enough for reporting.
- Ad accounts: access to create and edit ads within an account spending limit you set. Billing, payment methods and admin rights stay with you.
- Logins: share through a password manager or each tool’s own invitations, never in a chat message, and keep a list of every seat you grant so you can remove them all on the last day.
Role names differ between tools and change over time; check each platform’s current help pages. General practice, not legal advice. If your list includes people in the EU or UK, your data protection duties apply to the assistant’s access as well.
Marketing virtual assistant FAQ
What does a marketing virtual assistant do?
A marketing virtual assistant does the recurring work that keeps campaigns moving: building emails in your platform, uploading and formatting blog posts, scheduling social content, checking links and tracking tags, keeping lead lists clean and sending a weekly report. They work from a plan you or a marketer set, and they flag problems instead of deciding strategy.
How much does a marketing virtual assistant cost?
Hired directly on DonutJobs, plan for about $5 an hour, the median asking rate of 1,566 recent candidates (Oct 2026), which is about $400 a month for 80 hours. Virtual Latinos lists a full-time virtual marketing assistant at $1,800 to $3,700 a month, and Time Etc charges $1,480 for 40 hours with a US-based assistant (both checked Oct 2026).
What is the difference between a marketing virtual assistant and a social media virtual assistant?
A social media virtual assistant works on one channel: making, scheduling and answering posts. A marketing virtual assistant covers the operations around several channels, such as email campaigns, website updates, content repurposing, ad account upkeep and reporting. If social posts are all you need, hire the narrower role. If email and the website are slipping too, hire for marketing.
Can a marketing virtual assistant do SEO?
They can do SEO upkeep: titles, meta descriptions, alt text, internal links, broken-link fixes and publishing. Topic strategy and technical audits need a specialist. On DonutJobs, 6% of marketing profiles name SEO and 2% list an SEO tool such as Semrush or Search Console (Oct 2026), so ask for a page they worked on and what changed.
Should a marketing virtual assistant run my ads?
Let them keep the account in order, not steer it. Building ad variants from approved copy, applying naming and tracking rules, checking spend against your cap every morning and pulling the weekly numbers are good assistant tasks. Targeting, budgets and bids are decisions for you or a media buyer, and billing access should stay with you.
How many hours a week does a marketing virtual assistant need?
One channel with a written routine usually fits in 10 hours a week: for example two email campaigns, the follow-up numbers and a list clean-up. Two or three channels with weekly reporting is closer to 20. Start with 10, track the hours per task for a month, and add time when you add a channel.
Is a marketing virtual assistant or a marketing agency the better choice?
Choose an agency when you need strategy, creative work and results owned by a team, and you have the budget for a monthly retainer. Choose a marketing virtual assistant when you already know what to do and need it done every week inside your own accounts. Many small businesses use both: an agency or consultant for the plan, an assistant for the upkeep.
Keep the campaigns going out
while you decide what is next.
Post the role free, filter applicants by English score and the tools they list, test your top picks on a paid task in your own accounts, and pay your assistant yourself. DonutJobs takes nothing from the wage.
Free plan: 1 active job, up to 10 applications, no credit card. Agency plan $99/month, no per-hire fees.Compare plans