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MARKETING Here's Why You Don't Want Voice Over Jobs ... What ??? November 11, 2015  By William WilliamsVoice Actor & Coach What? Are you crazy? Of course I want jobs! Whaddayatalkinabout? Well, in most voice over jobs you work as a private contractor. So unlike in a job job, you may have several different employers each week. And several different bosses. A steady stream of these jobs is the life blood of a voice over career. So jobs is a good thing, right? But if you are just chasing jobs, you need to change your focus. Here’s what wrong with jobs. FOR EACH SINGLE JOB ... Besides doing the actual voice over performance, each job has a certain amount of overhead. You have to communicate with the client, determine their direction, file formats, delivery requirements, input their company in your accounting, invoice them and keep track of payments. Oh, and did I mention 20, 30 40 auditions you did to land that job? Then the next gig comes along and it’s the same routine. FOCUS ON CLIENTS So how do you improve on this situation? You don’t want jobs, you want clients. Always strive toward turning a job into an ongoing client. Here are some benefits to clients:
He sends a script, I quote the job, he pays with PayPal in advance, I know what he wants so I nail it in one take and upload the file. Back comes an email: Great! Thanks! WHERE TO FIND CLIENTS So how do you find this Methuselah guy? Find clients with direct marketing. You should be using direct marketing to build your career anyway. But the key is to look for ongoing media production companies. I use yp.com and search for two categories:
AT ONLINE CASTING SITES To find potential clients on online casting sites voices.com and voice123.com, try sniffing around at the bottom of the job postings. Look for companies that are producing many projects. It’s easy on voice123.com. But it’s a bit trickier with voices.com. Look if they have feedback or not. If they have feedback, you can click on the name to see how many jobs they’ve produced. If you have limited time to audition, consider auditioning for these repeat clients first. Once you catch them, don’t let them get away! STAY IN TOUCH So you do some work for a company, then what? I suggest dropping their name, company and email into a mailing list service like AWeber, Constant Contact or Mailchimp. Then send an occasional update "newsletter” to these clients. Keep it short. List a few recent jobs and include a link to your web page and demos. A picture or logo helps to jog their memory. Of course you’ll always have one-off jobs in the voice over trade. But work toward building a clientele that provides a steady stream of work. You'll find it much more efficient and less stressful. An added bonus is the joy of building relationships with creative people all over the country and around the world. Turn jobs into clients. You’ll be glad you did! -------------------------- ABOUT WILLIAM William Williams has worked for the last quarter century as owner of Aliso Creek Productions. As a voice talent, he has voiced national, regional and local commercials for AT&T, Apple Computer, Radio Shack, Princess Cruises, Chicago Tribune and many more. He has directed Nancy Cartwright, Michael York, Yakov Smirnoff, Jack Mayberry and other top voice talent. And he teaches commercial and animation voice over, offers private coaching and demo production in his studio in Burbank, CA and online. Email: william@alisocreek.net Web: http://alisocreek.net |
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Excellent tips! I have myself listed on YP.com. and that has really led to nothing at all... but I never thought to use it to search for clients myself. Thanks!