If you’ve ever thought, “I wish someone could help me run my business, manage my team, build marketing campaigns, analyze data and metrics, look at the day-to-day operations so I can focus on being the BOSS” then you’re asking for an Online Business Manager (OBM).
But what does an online business manager do? Is there an online business manager job description that you can look at? What are the services offered by an online business manager?
In this blog, I am going to answer all these questions so you can decide if you need to hire an online business manager or not.
What is an Online Business Manager (OBM)?
In short, an online business manager is responsible for business growth.
There are many terms to describe an OBM, such as an online project manager, virtual manager, business operations manager, brand strategist, growth strategist, or Chief Operating Officer (or COO).
These titles may vary, but the key role of an OBM is consistent: to support sustainable business growth.
OBMs manage daily projects, operations, metrics, teams, systems, processes, marketing, and launches.
You are the ship's captain, and the OBM, the ship’s pilot, ensures we are moving steadily in the right direction without hitting an iceberg!
What does an Online Business Manager (OBM) do?
If you’re wondering, “I know I need help in my business, but what exactly does an OBM do?” Let’s break down the online business manager services for you:
Online Business Manager Services:
1. Project Management
An Online Business Manager (OBM) helps businesses manage their projects.
They use tools like ClickUp, Asana, and Trello to keep everything organized.
The OBM plans what needs to be done, sets deadlines, and makes sure everyone knows their tasks.
They assign jobs to team members based on what each person is good at and check in regularly to see how things are going. If there are any problems, the OBM helps find solutions.
They also use tools like Dropbox, Airtable, Notion, and Google Drive to share important files with the team.
Good communication is important, so the OBM keeps everyone updated on any changes.
Overall, an OBM ensures projects run smoothly and are finished on time by helping the team work together effectively.
Here are some of my go-to project management tools as a Certified OBM:
- Asana
- Trello
- ClickUp
- Monday.com
- Airtable
- Notion
- Google Workspace
- Slack
- Dropbox
- Miro
Check out all my favourite tools as an OBM for online businesses.
2. Digital Marketing
An Online Business Manager (OBM) plays an important role in overseeing digital marketing efforts.
Here’s how they help:
The OBM works closely with the team to manage paid marketing efforts, such as Facebook ads and Google ads, ensuring that these campaigns align with the business’s goals.
OBMs bring structure to social media marketing by creating a social media calendar and processes for repurposing existing content. This helps the team consistently produce new content for platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
The OBM can wear the hat of an SEO strategist to promote long-term growth. They ensure that the right keywords are targeted, fix any error pages on the website, and optimize blogs for search engines. This helps more people find the business online.
Your business growth is directly proportional to your email list.
An OBM generates ideas to grow and engage the email list. They might suggest new lead magnets (like free downloads) and create email sequences to keep customers interested.
Furthermore, OBMs also work on designing sales funnels for new and existing offers, including upsells and add-ons.
Another key responsibility is curating evergreen webinar/sales funnels, which help bring in consistent leads over time.
The OBM collaborates with graphic designers to ensure that images and videos for social media campaigns, newsletters, and emails are created on schedule.
Here are some of my go-to digital marketing platforms as a Certified OBM:
- All social media channels (paid and free)
- SEO platforms like Google Search Console, Google Trends
- UberSuggest, Keywords Everywhere, Google Keyword Tool for keywords
- Spyfu for competitor analysis
- MailChimp, Mailerlite, ActiveCampaign for email marketing
- WordPress, Medium, Substack and LinkedIn articles for blogs
- FindThatLead and Apollo.io for cold outreach
- Canva for graphic designing
- Vidyo.Ai for video editing
- Everwebinar, ClickFunnels, Kartra for running evergreen webinar funnels
3. Setting Goals
An Online Business Manager (OBM) helps business owners set important goals for scaling their businesses.
Many business owners who earn over six figures get so busy with day-to-day tasks that they can’t see the big picture. It’s like being lost among the trees and not realizing there’s a whole forest around them!
To help them see the bigger picture, the OBM organizes annual and 90-day meetings with the business owner.
During these meetings, they talk about what really matters for the business, identify the top priorities, talk about the gaps in the business, set SMART goals, challenges and the next steps.
In these goal-setting sessions, the OBM encourages the business owner to brainstorm ideas on how to achieve these important goals.
After the meeting, the OBM creates specific tasks for the team based on what they discussed. They make sure everyone understands their responsibilities and is on board with the plan.
Tools:
- Meetings held on Zoom
- Transcription using Otter
- PM tools for assigning tasks
- Google Sheets, Notion or Google Docs for recording the minutes of the meeting
4. Metrics Tracking
An OBM can help you understand how well is your business actually doing.
They keep an eye on important numbers, called metrics, to see if the company is meeting its goals.
The OBM tracks different types of metrics, like social media performance, revenue (how much money the business makes), leads (potential customers), website visitors, and budget and expenses.
To make this easier, the OBM leads meetings every month, quarter, and year. During these meetings, they share the metrics with the team so everyone knows how the business is performing.
Are the efforts we putting into, actually growing the business?
By tracking these metrics, the OBM helps the team make better decisions about how to improve their work and reach their goals.
Overall, an OBM plays a key role in helping a business understand its performance through careful monitoring of important numbers.
My metrics tracking tools are:
- Google Analytics
- Inbuilt insights on platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn etc
- Google Sheets
- Google Ads Platform
- Google Search Console
- Supermetrics (paid)
- Looker Studio for data visualization
5. Operations Management
Operations is hands down the most crucial part of running a business. It does not directly bring in revenue, but if a business is not efficient in its operations, it’s not a business - it’s just a daily hustle to put out fires!
An OBM has an important role to play in the business operations management.
Tell me how many of these are true?
As a business owner, you are:
- Always answering ALL the emails
- You’re the first person to fix any client problems, even if it’s something simple like a login issue.
- Getting hold of the website guy because there’s ‘some error on the website’
- Setting up team meetings and defining agendas
- Chasing your VA because they haven’t done something they were supposed to do a week ago
- Cleaning and updating the customer relationship management (CRM) on a regular basis
- Researching the perfect Learning Management System (LMS) platform for your new course
...And the list is endless.
Breathe, and let your Certified OBM take operations off your plate!
Did you know that one of the main jobs of an OBM is to oversee the daily operations of the business?
Workflows, SOPs and Systems - these are my jams - let me handle them while you focus only on the 20% of the tasks that bring in 80% of the revenue. I wasn’t great at math, to be honest, but I understand profits! ;)
Operations management tools:
- Asana
- Slack
- Zapier
- Zendesk
- ZohoDesk
- Notion
- Dropbox
- Airtable
6. Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs)
An Online Business Manager helps businesses create Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
SOPs are important documents that outline step-by-step how to do specific tasks. They help everyone know exactly what to do, which makes things run more smoothly.
If all the important knowledge about how to run a process is known only to one person, it creates a big problem.
This is like having a secret map to treasure that only one person knows about. If that person gets too busy or leaves, the business could struggle because no one else knows how to find the treasure!
For example, if there’s an event happening every month and no written steps on how to set it up and promote it, that’s not very efficient.
The OBM helps by writing down all the necessary steps so that everyone can access them. This way, if someone needs to manage the event, they can follow the SOP instead of guessing what to do.
SOPs are time-saving recipes. Not many business owners are keen on having their team spend time on creating SOPs but they’re the key that ensures everyone knows what to do and how to do it (even if they are brand new into the team!).
For me, I like to create a mix of text, images and videos for my SOPs.
I use Chrome extensions such as:
- Loom
- Chrome Capture
- Screen Recorder
- GoFullPage
- Awesome Screenshot
For documentation, I use Google docs or notion
For storage, I use Google Drive or Dropbox
7. Team Management
An Online Business Manager (OBM) plays a big role in team management and recruiting. After bringing an OBM on board, the team organization becomes much clearer.
The OBM helps set up a structure where everyone knows their roles and responsibilities. This makes it easier for the team to work together and get things done efficiently.
When it’s time to hire new team members, the OBM uses their connections and experience to find the right people. They can reach out to their community of certified OBMs, use their own networks, or look on websites like Upwork and Fiverr to find talented workers.
As I have been a Top-Rated Plus Freelancer on Upwork, I know how to find the best people for the job.
The OBM also looks out for existing team members to make sure they feel valued and engaged in their work. They check that everyone is given tasks that match their skills and availability.
If someone isn’t performing well, the OBM handles it gently, helping them improve or even making the tough decision to let them go (lovingly) if necessary.
As an OBM, here are the tools I like using for Team Management:
- Asana
- Slack
- Miro
- Upwork
- Certified OBM Community
- Facebook Group
- LinkedIn Network
8. Systems Building
An Online Business Manager (OBM) is great at "Systems Building," which means they help create and organize the systems that keep a business running smoothly.
As someone who has been a Tech Virtual Assistant (VA) for several years, this is one of my favorite services to offer!
Consider these situations:
- When someone signs up on your website for a freebie, you want to send it to them automatically.
- If you want to offer on-demand webinars, having a system helps set that up easily.
- You might want to send an email sequence to people who signed up for a free eBook.
- If you have podcast listeners who should sign up for a new offer, systems can help with that too.
- Running a conference and needing to set up discount coupons? Systems make it simpler!
- Somebody commented on your IG reel? Send them an automatic reply!
Systems automate tasks so that we don’t have to do everything manually.
Systems that OBMs must know and love are!
- Zapier
- APIs
- Integrations
- ManyChat
- CRMs like HubSpot, Zoho, Dubsado, Notion
- Dropbox
- Airtable
- Google Drive
- Kajabi
- WordPress
- ManageWP
- LastPass
9. Launch Management
An Online Business Manager (OBM) is the key executer to managing both product launches and sales funnels, especially for business owners who earn six figures.
These owners often have several launches throughout the year to meet their revenue goals, whether it’s a live course where they interact with clients or a self-paced program that people can take anytime.
When a launch is coming up, the OBM helps create a detailed launch plan. Here's a snapshot of a detailed launch plan:
This includes deciding on the launch date, setting up the right platform, and figuring out all the tasks that need to be done.
They also make a list of everything that could go wrong before, during, or after the launch and come up with backup plans to handle those issues. This way, the business owner can feel confident that they are prepared for anything.
OBMs also set up automation to make things easier, like sending welcome emails or reminders to participants. OBM also creates the structure of the sales funnel.
They are responsible for ensuring that each step in the funnel is set up correctly, whether it’s creating landing pages or sending follow-up emails.
After the launch is complete, the OBM analyzes the results to see how well everything went.
They look at important numbers to understand if it’s worth doing another launch or if changes need to be made to improve future efforts.
Having an OBM take care of product launches and sales funnels means everything is organized and running smoothly.
This allows the business owner to focus on creating great content and connecting with their clients, knowing that all the details are being handled by their OBM!
Let’s look at some of the platforms or tools required for managing a successful launch:
- Project Management tools like Asana, ClickUp or Trello
- Dropbox or Google Drive for storing email copies, important files, graphics
- Airtable for CRM - client onboarding forms, number of participants, calendar
- Google Workspace - Gmail, Calendar
- Kajabi, Kartra or any LMS software for hosting the online course
- Zoom for meetings
- Canva for graphic designing
10. Growth Strategy
Last but definitely not least, an OBM acts as a growth strategist for a business.
They help organize everything so that the business runs smoothly, kind of like a well-oiled machine. When all the parts of the business work well together, it can move forward easily and at a steady pace.
One way an OBM helps is by having one-on-one meetings with the business owner. In these meetings, we talk about the owner’s goals and what they want to achieve. This helps them create a clear plan for how to get there.
The OBM also comes up with new ideas and suggests tools that can help the business grow. For example, they might recommend new software for marketing or managing projects that make things easier.
By taking care of projects, teams, and daily operations, the OBM frees up the business owner's time. This means the owner can focus on important things, like speaking at conferences or being on podcasts to promote their business.
When all the pieces of the online business manager services are tied together, a business is able to scale sustainably.
Conclusion: Should You Hire An Online Business Manager (OBM)?
Hiring an Online Business Manager (OBM) can move the needle for business growth in a significant manner.
With their skills in organizing tasks, managing teams, and creating growth strategies, an OBM allows owners to focus on what matters most—growing their business and connecting with customers!
If you want to take your business to the next level, an OBM might be just what you need.