Being human means that we sometimes get solicited for products we don’t want. We might not want another credit card. We might not need a new pizza restaurant even though one opened up a mile away and will deliver to our doorstep. “Junk mail” that we physically receive is similar to Internet advertisements that we rarely click. In both cases, somebody is trying to market a product to us. In both cases, we usually don’t buy the product. We are inundated with offers that we are unwilling, unable, or uninterested in spending money on.
Having a career as a voice-over talent, even a very successful one, involves living a reality where many potential customers do not buy your product. It’s the wrong product, the wrong time, or the perfect product that is late in line to meet the need. This can be one experience of auditioning for voice-over jobs. But it’s not an experience that needs to lead to discouragement.
Not every voice-over opportunity has an active job listing: some clients might have seasonal or transient needs for voice-over talent. A person who never casts voice-over talent may be acquainted with someone who does. Someone who is planning a conference, celebration, kiosk, presentation, training, or passion-project might not have planned to incorporate voice-over talent, but starts to consider the investment when learning about opportunities. I call this the “happy accident” market. The “happy accident” market is the client economy of unseen opportunity which prepared voice-over talents can benefit from.
Two broad marketing terms are impressions and conversions. Impressions describe the number of potential customers who are exposed to your voice-over services. Conversions describe the number of those customers who invest in those services. With practice, it’s possible to optimize these to give you the best chance to reach and develop new clients. Below are three key areas to optimize your presentation as a voice-talent for the best impressions and conversions, including in the “happy accident” marketplace.
Strategize Google Results
The cliche “it’s all in a name” takes on new meaning in the world of digital discovery. If your voice-over business name is not discoverable on Google, it can be more challenging to convert potential clients from seeing your name mentioned in conversation or promotion to actually learning about your voice-over business. A website is a good-start, possibly with similar branding on social media platforms. Unique naming faces less search competition, so “Pumpernickel Voice-over” or some other unique take might gain search prominence faster than “John Doe Voice-over.”
Declare Capability
Clients may search for voice-over talents who have specific capabilities. They may desire voice-over talent who can use particular software, like Pro Tools, IPDTL or SourceConnect. They may want voice-over talent who can commute to a metropolitan region, like Los Angeles, New York or London. They may desire voice-over talent who can deliver quick-turnaround reads on short-notice. Declaring in-demand capabilities in your marketing may separate you from the pack when clients have specific needs.
Invest in Customer Relationship Management
Networking in voice-over can involve an endless stream of calls, e-mails, and phone numbers. Some voice talents build e-mail lists and/or publish newsletters to stay in touch with potential leads. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) services take this further and allow client correspondence to be tracked with individualized timing. They remind you to follow-up at set intervals (like every three months) and can also help deploy sets of pre-written e-mails that are sometimes called sales funnels. Popular CRM services include Zoho, Zendesk, and Hubspot.
WIth smart strategizing, voice-over talents can increase the likelihood of chance-encounters that can help to grow their business.
Check out our free PDF with pro-tips from real working voice-over actors here!
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