My most Important voice over revelation
By Susan Berkley
At last week’s “6 Figure Shortcut Event” I walked participants through my exclusive “Monetize Your Voice System” and shared the key distinctions that have allowed the great voices who follow my roadmap to enjoy massive voice over success year after year after year.
The foundation of my Monetize Your Voice system is a big counter-intuitive revelation that I’ll share with you today. Ready? Here it is.
The who is more important than the what.
In voice over your “what” is your demo, your voice type, your studio capabilities. It’s also your website, your logo, your branding, your turnaround time, your price sheet and even your swag-gimmicks and giveaways like t-shirts, mouse pads, coffee mugs.
Many beginning and experienced talents spend years honing their “what” in hopes of giving themselves a competitive edge only to end up bitterly disappointed. They spend countless hours polishing their demos, agonizing over the copy, the background music and every nuance and inflection of their voice.
Then they move on to their home studio tweaking and upgrading, buying every new piece of shiny new gear their budget will allow. And they’re not done yet!
Their website is next on the list. They spend countless hours choosing the right URL, finding the perfect web designer, selecting colors, logos, players and maybe even adding some fancy animation to catch the eye.
When done, they stand back and admire their handiwork and wait for the phone to ring. And wait. And wait. And wait.
The problem? Lots of great what but no who.
The who are your potential customers, your prospects. You can’t be right for everyone, although many voice talents think they are. They try to show a lot of range on their demos and include a little something for everyone. But until you figure out exactly who you’re best for you are right for no one in particular. You’ll be seen as nothing more than just another generic voice-one of thousands in the voice talent shopping malls, a commodity like a tube of toothpaste or a jar of spaghetti sauce. Sure, the flavor is a little different, but to the voice buyer each one is pretty much the same as the next.
The first step in my Monetize Your Voice Formula™ is to find your best who, or your ideal voice over niche as I call it and then become a specialist in that niche. By going deep in one particular market, you might repel some people but your marketing will become focused, allowing you to attract the very best customers you’re right for and keep them coming back to you again and again.
In my “6 Figure Short Cut” home study program I identify 14 voice over niches and 5 niche-finder questions to help you determine if a group of voice buyers is right for you.
Here’ are the first two questions to help you find your ideal voice over niche.
1. What is my voice type?
Each one of us has a unique voice print, a voice quality that makes us just right for some types of customers and dead wrong for others. For example, some men naturally have a deep, resonant voice known as VOG or voice of god. Think James Earl Jones. This type of deep, authoritative voice is perfect for the movie trailer niche and some types of TV promos, narrations and commercials. But these voice actors would not be right for niches with customers whose products require a warm, friendly, nurturing sound.
2. How are my reading skills?
Are you a fluid reader or do you easily get tongue-tied? Can you comfortably read pages of text without breaking down and having to pause every few sentences for retakes? Can you easily handle complicated technical jargon or complex medical terminology, disease names and body parts? Can you easily and properly pronounce words in foreign languages? If so, a niche like medical and technical narrations would be right for you. You’ll also thrive serving customers with long-form narrations. By the way, fluid reading is not one of your strengths, you’ll be a lot more comfortable working in niches with shorter, more conversational scripts like commercials, animation and video games.
The goal is to get your voice over prospects to self- select, and to know your voice over services are exactly what they need. This has been monumental in my own business and in my students’ businesses as well. If it works for all of us, I think it may work for you too!
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Susan Berkley is a top voice over artist and founder of The Great Voice Company, a company devoted to teaching great voices around the world how to become successful voice over actors. The Great Voice Company is an international leader in voice over training and in providing top quality voice over recordings in all languages to discerning businesses and marketers. For additional information visit www.greatvoice.com.
Copyright 2011, The Great Voice Company. All Rights Reserved.
