Discard them and their value will never be known.
Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.
As a person with a passion for marketing and promotion, I constantly analyze all forms of advertising – broadcast commercials, billboards, magazines and even direct mail pieces -- to see what I can apply to my voice-over business. It’s especially beneficial to examine how competitors choose to hawk similar commodities in a full marketplace.
In this case, both jewelers both specialize in diamond wedding sets and are continuous radio advertisers. Both enterprises utilize the company owners as the voice talent in their ads. Both establishments sell upscale jewelry, and Jeweler B also sells Swiss watches. They are true to their brand in their advertising.
Beyond these similarities, though, they run very different types of ads. First, they appear to be targeting different market segments. Jeweler A seems intended for those who appreciate and are willing to pay for elegance, while Jeweler B seems to be directed at the price-conscious crowd.
Jeweler A has a distinctive nasal voice. He always talks about new or featured product lines, gift ideas, his money-back guarantee, etc. Sometimes he relates a story based in a testimonial. He quietly talks about the benefits and pleasures of shopping with him and consistently gives you reasons why you may want to do so.
The ads for Jeweler B often feature the 2 men who own and run the business. Sometimes they mention advantages of shopping with them, like the number of graduate gemologists on staff and their longevity in the market. They make jokes like they want to appear that they didn’t think about the spot in advance. I suppose they want to convey the ultra-casual atmosphere of their stores where the sales people wear jeans and t-shirts.
In other ads, Jeweler B airs fake game shows where one of the contestants is someone poorly imitating Jeweler A. The nasal voice is always accentuated, and the imitator is always made to sound stupid and bumbling.
When listening to the ads from Jeweler A, you would never think that another jewelry store even exists. You certainly wouldn’t think that the owner is worried about competition in a saturated market.
Since Jeweler B often mocks Jeweler A in their ads, it’s obvious that they are keenly aware and perhaps even afraid of their competition. In fact, many of their ads border on personal attacks although they are presumably meant to be humorous. On a personal level, I do not want to deal with anyone who makes themselves sound or feel better at the expense of other people.
Every marketing book will tell you to focus on the benefits for the target market in your communications with them. Jeweler A consistently highlights in his ads those things important to his target market, where Jeweler B concentrates on them only half of the time.
The lesson for voice-over artists is that we also need to continuously highlight the benefits of working with us.
If you can’t articulate attributes of value and service that your target market considers important, how would your prospective clients ever be able to discern that you are the best fit for their needs?
These benefits are also known as your competitive advantages. I have a few thoughts on that topic as well, but that sounds like another article for another day. :)
In the meantime, spend your spare moments improving your own skills rather than worrying about, or worse, maligning those of your competitors. Polishing your skills will enable you to sparkle like a brilliant diamond in your marketing efforts and will make your life as a voice talent all the more useful.
-- Don LaFontaine, Secrets of Voice-Over Success, p. 20
While I don’t pretend to have the stratospheric demand or accompanying financial blessings of Mr. LaFontaine, I disagree with his statements about thank-you gifts on several points. First, voice talent cannot compare themselves to postal workers. American postal workers are salaried employees of the US federal government who automatically earn a paycheck and benefits. As I worked for much of my life as a federal employee, I can also state that federal employees are prohibited by law from accepting gifts exceeding a very modest value, and all gifts received in a calendar year count toward that value.
Aside from these monetary issues, the bigger difference between voice-over artists and postal carriers is that the postal service has a monopoly. If you want to receive mail and have it delivered to your house each day, you know you must contact the postal service.
Someone choosing voice talent doesn’t have such a clear-cut decision. The decision-maker could search for the ideal voice-over specialist through millions of individual web sites of voice actors or on various on-line casting sites. The person looking for voice talent may decide to contact a talent agent to narrow the field, or they may be influenced by the marketing efforts of a particular voice talent. Perhaps the person asks someone in their industry for a recommendation.Regardless of the manner through which they decide to hire me, I am well aware that my clients had a choice. When they have another opportunity to contract voice talent, I want to do everything in my power to ensure they choose me again. My thank-you note may signal the end of the first job, but often, it is the bridge to a long-term relationship.
In the big picture, gratitude is a critical attribute for attracting prosperity and abundance. How can you expect to receive more of anything -- including voice-over jobs, wealth and prestige -- if you don’t convey constant gratitude for everything that you already have?
Showing gratitude today will not only set you apart from other voice talent, as noted by Jeffrey Kafer, but more importantly, you will put the right kind of energy out in the world. As I continue to read and learn from works based on the Law of Attraction, I understand more and more that what you put out in the world will come back to you and probably in ways that you didn’t expect.
Because of the energy that I am sending forth into the universe, I expect someday to achieve the level of success in voice-over currently enjoyed by Don LaFontaine. Even then, I would still send a personal thank-you note to each new client.
Their course includes private coaching (they only accept 15 students four times a year), full narration & full commercial demos, mixing & mastering a demo for me with music, editing & sound effects, a marketing plan, home studio manual, workbook, classes on every aspect of the business, my own website with the demo (lifetime hosting), support for ProTools, lifetime coaching support, plus my airfare & lodging while in Albany.
I can afford this, and love the idea of being able to work out of our RV during summers which he said I could (no soundproof studio....) I'd love your honest feedback before making a decision, which I need to do quickly if I am to enroll in the May class. Thanks so much! Carol
Carol, thanks so much for your nice comments about my web site. I'm glad if anything I have written is helpful to you. You asked for my opinion, so this is it: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. I would look elsewhere for my voice-over training.
I could have just left it at that, but I wanted to explain my reasons for disliking this package deal.
DISCLAIMER: Everything that follows is MY OPINION since I didn't delete the names of the people involved. I know nothing about them or their company and therefore reiterate that I am only offering an OPINION.
voice-over job, you don't take
anything away from me, my
accomplishments and my job
prospects."
2) Articulation and diction are essential to properly convey the message. A voice-over narration should be transparent to the listener. You want the audience to be concentrating on your message and not distracted by the manner in which you are presenting it. Over-enunciation can be as distracting as sloppy enunciation.
I’m sure this same kind of thought process goes through the minds of many people who suddenly decide to get into voice-over work.
Sometimes they see a celebrity on TV who gleefully recounts how voice-over jobs allow them to dress casually, go without make-up and pick up a massive check for an extremely small amount of time. Maybe newcomers read an interview about a voice talent talking about how great it is to do work in their pajamas from their home. In any case, so many starry-eyed newcomers seem to think, “I know how to talk. I’m going to be a voice-over star making millions of dollars while still in my pajamas!” I wish I had a dollar for every time someone approached me with the line: “People always say I have a nice voice and that I should work in voice-over.” I always advise that folks interested in learning any new skill start with a book because it requires a minimal investment of time and money to learn whether you want to pursue the topic. I direct people interested in voice-over to my recommended list of books and previous blog entries like this one. In my mild-mannered quest for Scrabble dominance, I didn’t take my own advice about getting a book, at least at first.you must travel outside your industry or your current business to look for the breakthroughs.
Abraham states that you've got to switch your thinking from tunnel vision -- which is the way that everyone does things within your own industry -- to funnel vision. Create a funnel of those success processes in other industries which you can pour into your own business.


Recent Comments
Karen on Audiobook Producer/Narrator Kate Fleming Passes Away: Hi, Christ
Christine Lankford on Audiobook Producer/Narrator Kate Fleming Passes Away: I went to
Carey Balistreri on A plan to break into voice-over: Karen, I s
Karen on 12 lessons from dancing with the stars: Hi, Bob an
Kitzie Stern on 12 lessons from dancing with the stars: Great post
Bob Souer on 12 lessons from dancing with the stars: Karen, Ve
Karen on Has your ship come in?: Hi, Katie.
Katie Shelton on Has your ship come in?: Karen, I
Karen on 12 lessons from dancing with the stars: Hi, Warren