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VOICE OVER MARKETING What Does Your Voice Over 'Brand' Say About YOU? How To Stand Out From Competition ...  By Natasha MarchewkaVoice Actor Standing out is important if you want to capture multiple gigs as a
voice over freelancer. One of the easiest ways to do this is through
your personal branding, because it helps clients and audiences to
remember you. Enhancing your personal branding can be easy, but requires consideration, contemplation and goal-setting. TELLING YOUR STORY I've always thought one of the very
best questions to get to know anyone is: "What's your story?" Even for
someone you know, asking them on any given day "what's your story?" will
fill you in on what's going on for them, what's real for them in the
moment. As a "singing server" back in the
'90's, I was often amused by how much more my customers respected me
when I opened my mouth to sing. Even more interesting to me was their
reaction when they found out more of my backstory – who I was and how I
came to serve them their dinner and sing them a song. Watching their
faces shift as they took in my singing voice, transforming people's
perception of me, was an interesting experiment in psychology. Turns out, telling your story is
really the best way to sell yourself, your product, your service.
Telling your story personalizes your brand and identifies how you, in
your unique way, can serve someone else. TO CREATE THE STORY ... Forbes suggests crafting a personal brand story by first determining your goals, passions, strengths, and weaknesses. Having a narrative also helps
possible employers see how your past fits into your present, and how you
are different from other voice over freelancers. Voice acting is rarely
a first career pursuit for many people – voice actors often come into
it from related fields such as acting, radio, or any number of
industries. One example is one of the lead cast members in the Disney
film Encanto, Stephanie Beatriz,
who started out in theater acting. Beatriz is known for her love for
animation, and has cited how the world of unfamiliar-looking heroes has
always felt most accessible to her. This allowed her to find an audience
in people with similar, deeply-resonating beliefs. Consider these storytelling axioms
as redefined by Michael Margolis, a business guru who has explored the
"frontiers of transformational storytelling" and author of "Believe Me: a
storytelling manifesto for change makers and innovators." (Download a
free copy here.)
HOW TO WRITE YOURS ... Can you write a compelling synopsis
of your story, or your business' story? There is great challenge in this
exercise – to simply tell the story…briefly. Michael Margolis offers
in-depth, thought-provoking questions and ideas to more than find our
own answers. Whether to sell oneself in business or to make new friends,
sharing our backstories helps to build a personal bond…among other
things! KNOW YOUR NICHE Knowing thyself, in the voice over business, is as important as anywhere else.
Never is that more true than when branding yourself. (See Celia Siegel's VoiceOverAchiever book for much more info on branding yourself as a voice talent.) It's easy to feel intimidated by
larger employers or projects as a freelancer. However, many successful
Hollywood voice actors started out as freelancers as well. Joe Zieja,
for example, is well-known for playing the voice of Claude in the video
game Fire Emblem, but actually came from a military background with no
formal acting training. Zieja did not have any personal
branding to begin with. He had to audition over 40,000 times in eight
years to cultivate his strengths, weaknesses, and passion before his
talents were finally recognized with persistence, practice, and patience
- the Three P's that are critical for a voice over career. Like Zieja, don't be afraid to really
put yourself out there. The learn-by-doing approach, which includes
failure, will allow you to thoroughly understand what you need to
enhance or improve on to succeed.
I attribute much of my success in my business to knowing who I am as a voice talent and therefore, where I fit in. MANY TYPES OF VOICE WORK Fortunately for this business, voice
over work is available in so many directions! Television, radio
and documentary films are where one traditionally might find voice
overs. However, voicemail has been around for decades now, and business
narration is absolutely exploding - not to mention overhead voices, tour
voices, video games, audiobooks. SO many directions!! But every voice is not meant for
every job, nor is every person and personality. When I began my
business, I figured out very quickly where my niche was, given my
strengths and abilities. As I gained experience, I figured out
even more about my voice style and was therefore able to audition for
suitable jobs, market myself appropriately, and look deeper for jobs
that would fit me. Further, knowing myself helps me face
competition. With thousands of other working voices out there,
competition is daunting. What saves me from serious self-doubt is
knowing what I am good at and remaining realistic about what I am not. LIST YOUR SELLING POINTS Creating a list of unique selling points is important to help you
stand out as an employee, an interviewee, a company. For instance, what makes me stand
out from any other female, middle-age voice talent?
It's taken me years to know why and
how I was in any way different from another. Standing out in a crowd of
other voice talent, voice actors, and radio announcers is no easy task.
In digging deep and truly thinking about what I uniquely offer, I came
up with a list of a dozen points that I can confidently state as my Unique Selling Points. I support anyone in creating a list
for themselves, whether for business or personal. We all have something
unique to give. While it can feel a little
uncomfortable and egotistical, the truth is that our gifts are meant to
be shared. As Marianne Williamson says,
"There is nothing
enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure
around you. We are all meant to shine…And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same." There's a good chance other talent and freelancers can match my unique selling points. That's okay! CREATE AN ONLINE PROFILE Once you've determined your personal brand story, it's time to figure how it can reach your audience. Out of high school, I was obsessed
with writing my resume: making it look and read not only professionally,
but also making it stand out. I would copy it on bright blue paper, or
add anything I could to make it shine. I think I probably spent more
time finessing my resume than looking for jobs. Now it's all about working on my bio
and online profiles. Have those in tip-top shape - that is, your work
experience, services, testimonials, client list. All those things that
used to fit on a one-page resume must now be elaborated upon,
streamlined, and optimized constantly. INCLUDE CAREER STORIES To convey your personal brand,
your story should include career stories that give your results and
achievements context, such as specific projects or data that covers the
impact of your work. For example, if your voice was previously in a
commercial, how well did that commercial do? Use percentages and
numbers, and always start each sentence with an action verb such as
"increased" or "created." This makes it easy to illustrate how you add
value while using relevant keywords for ranking higher in search
engines. Whether on your business website,
your company's About page, or on LinkedIn, it's super-important to be
up-to-date. The more remarkable, the more interesting, the more
engaging, the better. And use video! Voice actor / video expert John Kuehne advises,
Read more of what John has to say, here. LOOK THE PART! Do you look influential, capable, likeable? If you are building a career or a
business, you need headshots. Our online image is highly relevant in
expressing (and subjectively determining) our credibility. Yes, this is
unfortunate, but proven:
A professional headshot is key on LinkedIn
and on other mediums where you need a profile image. Even on personal
social media, we are (definitely) judged on how we look, and a competent
or decent photo can go a long way. Despite the fact that voice
talent are all about audio, having a professional headshot has always
been important to me because I've understood the psychology of
presenting a good first impression. (I've certainly experienced being
treated vastly differently because of how I looked.) TEST YOUR PHOTO ... I was tickled to find this really interesting website, Photofeeler,
to help decipher what makes a good photo for a social media profile,
especially in business. They have an amazing test feature! You submit
your photo(s) and can gain votes on whether or not you look "competent,"
"likeable," and/or "influential." Several years ago, I tested three
different photos for comparison (I've since updated all my branding on
my website!). All three photos were taken the same day, at the same
session. I wanted to use them all, but thought I would test them at
Photofeeler to find what might work best. Of course, we need to take
it all with a grain of salt. But I'd be lying if I didn't tell you I
became slightly obsessed with learning the results. Headshots can be a huge investment,
so you need to plan ahead to ensure success and, therefore, make use of
your photos for as long as possible. I can't tell you how many pics I
ended up not liking. That's why I put a lot of effort into preparing
for any photo shoot. I want to make sure I look and feel my best and
have all the elements in place for that very short hour. It honestly
takes me 2+ months to plan, and 2+ weeks to prepare. With a hair stylist on site and a
location with several options – lighting and background - you can create
many different scenes and receive A LOT of bang for your buck from
photos that will last a good long while. Interested in my tips for preparing for your headshots? Click here. WHAT'S YOUR BRANDING VIBE? Whew! There's lots to consider when heading down the path of personal branding.
I'd love to hear what you think about branding and if you've been through the process or are just considering it. No matter where you are in the undertaking of personal branding, remember: branding is the "Story of You." So, what's your vibe? For more to consider, check out the following:
------------------------- ABOUT NATASHA Natasha Marchewka is… only human – a fact she
fully embraces in her voice over work. She's authentic, down-to-earth and connects
with her audiences on a personal level. With a full-time VO business since
2006, Natasha has experience and business acumen to accompany her warm voice
excellence. She's worked with clients such as First Horizon Bank, Universal
Studios, Florida Tourism, and more. Natasha is a co-producer and co-host of the
"Speechless VO" webcast (@SpeechlessVO) and co-creator of V123Pros.com. Before
VO, Natasha earned a BAA in Radio and Television Arts from The Creative School
at the Toronto Metropolitan University. She spent several years singing in
clubs in New York City and paying her dues in many different media and
entertainment jobs. She has two teens, a rescue Dane, a miniature Poodle, and a
love of Yoga and meditation. Email: natasha@natashamarchewka.com Voice Over Web: www.natashamarchewka.com V123Pros.com web: https://www.v123pros.com Speechless VO webcast: https://www.speechlessvo.com Instagram: https://linktr.ee/ |
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Comments (1)
Memo Sauceda
6/13/2023 at 9:49 PM
Wow! So many tips, I´m going to save this on an email so I can go back to it, thank you!
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