Voice-overs for Radio Stations?
August 26, 2008
Have you ever had a voice-over recorded for a broadcast radio commercial?
Perhaps you work at a radio station and are responsible for hiring freelance voice talent to record your advertisers commercials, for station identifications, promotions, advisories, weather reports, and other purposes.
Over the years, many things have changed including the way that radio stations acquire their voice-overs.
Voice-over projects are managed online now making it easier, more organized, cost-effective, and efficient to find the perfect voice to meet your needs.
Finding the best voice talent for your radio station can be achieved in 3 simple steps:
1. Sign-up for a free client account
2. Post your voice-over job
3. Get responses from pro voice talent in minutes
To post a job right away, let us know what you need online, or, give us a call toll-free by dialing 1-888-359-3472 and post your job with us over the phone.
Looking forward to serving you.
Cheers,
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Voice Overs: The Secret Sauce for Good Branding
August 25, 2008
When you’re in business, your brand image, and most importantly, how people perceive it, is everything.
A brand encompasses all that you (and those who represent or work for you) do from PR to customer service. An effective brand has incalculable wealth to be sure, but just how does your brand assume a life of its own in the image you desire?
Before the rubber hits the road, a brand must first be developed and represent something of use that has value or you’ll have nothing to promote, minus the shell of a product.
To set the stage for success, you’ll need to consider the kind of language used when describing the brand, names, ad copy, imagery, iconography and the mission of the brand (why it exists and how it can benefit people).
Good marketers know that they need to build trust and shape perception through public relations. Usually, a marketer finds ways to develop, promote and maintain a brand through mediums such as broadcast, print and in recent years, the Internet and mobile devices.
It goes without saying, but businesses have budgets that are set aside for marketing including commercials to be aired on television and radio, publicity campaigns, and advertisements with creative photography and ad copy that circulate industry trade magazines, infiltrate pop culture, and begin their journey to the center of the consumer’s mind.
How does a brand stand out? Each person see thousands of advertisements every day and it can be very difficult to cut through the clutter of commercial media to drive your message home.
One way to stake your ground and deliver your message in a unique, persuasive manner is to include the use of voice overs, one of the most underrated marketing techniques.
Although a voice over comprises of only one element in post-production, you’d be surprised just how amazingly effective a good voice over is when it comes to shaping perception, communicating directly to the potential buyer, and building trust on an intimate level.
Referred to by those in the know as “the secret ingredient” for effective branding, voice overs are able to get inside the head of their listener to present relatable concepts, situations, and resonate with their needs and wants in a friendly yet authoritative way.
Without realizing it, the listener receives the endorsement as if the message were being delivered from a friend, not the marketing department, and acts accordingly.
One of the styles that is very popular right now for voice overs is the “Real Person”, essentially, the voice of an ordinary guy or gal that you might meet at your church, work or in your neighborhood.
The Real Person can be portrayed as your best friend, the smart aleck in history class, or the omnipresent voice of reason. Real Person voice overs can also employ situational copy, for example, voice over is able to present the feelings of someone who is going through a universal experience that we can all relate to such as buying a home for the first time, back to school shopping, or visiting the dentist.
Voice over, when done well by a professional voice actor, can do all of these things and more for your branding and communications efforts. You can find voice actors online by visiting sites such as Voices.com to start your branding journey with voice.
What Does Your Company Sound Like?
August 22, 2008
Everyday major marketing campaigns are developed around a celebrity voice. Commercial ads for vehicles are particularly fond of using celebrity voice overs.
Donald Sutherland voiced commercials for Volvo and, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, Kiefer Sutherland signed on as spokesperson for Ford Canada. Other popular voices used in vehicle commercials are Kelsey Grammer and Jeff Bridges for Hyundai, Demi Moore for Chevy Malibu, John Cusack for Volkswagen, and Kevin Spacey for Honda – just to name a few.
Vehicles are not the only products voiced by celebrities. Most notable is the commanding baritone of James Earl Jones for CNN, Queen Latifah delivers a hip, young style for Pizza Hut, Sean Connery projects an intrigue for Level 3 Communications, and Julia Roberts is the good natured voice of AOL.
Do you need a celebrity to speak for your product?
Certainly not, nor the hefty price tag! You need a voice synonymous with your brand. When searching for a voice to characterize your company there are a few things you should consider. Is your company’s image warm, friendly, silly or funny? Is it serious, professional or hip, cool? Maybe you’re after a more seductive, alluring voice to represent your company.
Another thing to take a look at is your target group. Take a moment to think about your demographic; who will your audience be? Children, young adults, middle aged, senior, men, women, couples, singles, and so on.
When you request an online audition from a voice actor, they need to know a few key points first in order to give you the type of performance you need:
1. Tell them a little bit about your company. Who will be the final audience for this voice over? By knowing who they are representing and who they are speaking to, talent will be able to provide you with a better audition.
2. Provide them with a sample of your script. Your script will reflect on the subject matter and style of read required. By providing a sample of your script you’ll receive custom auditions from the talent.
3. Provide some vocal direction on what type of read you are looking for. The more detailed you are about the type of voice you’re seeking, the better your responses will be.
So, now that you’ve narrowed down your criteria, it’s time to find the perfect voice!
Thanking Business Voice Talent for Auditions
August 21, 2008
After you’ve selected a voice talent to work with, do you thank the other voice talents who applied for your voice-over job?
Sending a quick email to voice talent who were not selected for your project is a considerate gesture that helps build relationships and a qualified network of skilled professionals.
It also lets the talent know that you reviewed their submission and appreciated their efforts.
Here’s a sample template that you can work from for thanking voice talents:
Dear (Voice Talent Name),
Thank you for responding to my job posting “Name of Project”.
Although we selected another professional for this particular job, our team is interested in your voice and will keep you in mind for future projects.
Thank you again for your audition.
Sincerely,
(Your name and company name)
A simple yet grateful message will go a long way and build a good rapport with voice talent for future endeavors.
Post a Job Quickly & Find the Right Voice
August 20, 2008
I thought I’d take a minute to talk about the secrets of attracting the right voice talents to your job postings.
They aren’t so much secrets as they are valuable insights that will save you time, money, and precious key strokes.
Here are some ideas on how to simplify your experience and get exactly what you want at the same time:
* Be completely open with the voice talents and let them know your full requirements and vision for your project
* Highlight qualities of the kind of voice that you want to represent your organization, i.e. friendly, middle age, creamy, robust, techie, motherly, confident etc.
* Give a sample of your script for talent to evaluate and record custom demos if applicable
* Include the full word count, how your audio will be implemented, and how long it will be used
* Keep an open mind regarding the scale of your budget range
* Be appreciative and recognize quality when you hear it
* Arrange to thank talent for applying for your job after the fact or simply thank them in advance for applying for your job posting
The online job posting form at InteractiveVoices is easy to use and provides you with helpful suggestions similar to what you’ve just read above.
The insights we’ve explored are not just about filling out details in a job posting, but are the finer points of how to conduct business online.
Clarity is king and Transparency is queen.
If a talent does not feel comfortable applying for a job either due to lack of details, an unrealistic budget, or insufficient information about a given project, they will not take the time to submit a reply and the right voice may pass you by.
Job postings act as your first impression in many cases to professionals whom you are considering to employ.
A detailed job posting, a friendly and sincere tone, and a realistic budget will bring the right voices to you like bees to honey.
Just as they are presenting themselves to you for employment, you are also presenting yourself and your company to them as potential employers.
There is nothing more appealing to any job seeker than ample insight about a company and details about the job they are applying for.
Any thoughts on this?
Take Your Next Project to A Higher Level With Professional Voice Talent
August 19, 2008
Graydon Smith of Redhead Media Solutions agreed to answer a few questions about his experience at Voices.com and how he used the service to find, select and hire talent. Recently Graydon completed a couple of projects at Voices.com and most recently hired Tom Pagnotti. Read more on his hiring experience.
How has Voices.com helped you with your project needs?
Being fairly new to the production industry, I didn’t have any names in mind when looking for a voice that would fit with my client and the script; however, the level of quality responses I received upon posting the job was phenomenal.
Our clients are looking for more than generic demos, they want custom reads and almost every talent at Voices.com gives you one right out of the gate. For us, it makes it easy to prep a rough cut for the client that allows them to make a sound (pardon the pun) decision on who they want to move forward with, and there are no surprises.
Having used Voices.com exclusively for our talent, I can’t say we’ve ever suffered from too few responses for our projects.
How did you select the talent?
I had so many great voices to choose from the client could not believe my company hadn’t been in the business for years due to the quality we voices we could deliver. I also made a list of favorites for next time to keep track of the truly exceptional voices I want to remember
What challenges did you face using the Voices.com system to find talent?
The script was a 30 second radio spot for an insurance company, and the voice needed to emote and connect with the audience right away to create many mental images of happy times and security.
We had well over 100 responses, many of them exactly what we were looking for but then the client had some other issues to deal with, and the deadlines for the spot fell to the backburner. 3 months later, with the client back on board the talent we selected was as keen and ready to go as if there’d been no delay at all.
To top it off, the Surepay system worked flawlessly, and suddenly after such a long delay, within 24 hours everything was completed perfectly.
How would you describe your overall experience with the site?
I couldn’t ask for a better outcome on this project. The client, the talent (Tom Pagnotti) and Redhead Media Solutions all benefited from a streamlined, easy process. In fact, it was so successful from the client perspective that they immediately wanted to produce anther spot with a female voice for their sister company knowing that they’ll get a level of talent that will impress them, and their clients. They’ve become believers in using professional voice talent from http://www.voices.com, and won’t be going back to the “free local radio station spots” ever again.
About the Client
Redhead Media Solutions Inc. specializes in marketing and communications consulting for small and medium sized businesses, along with an in-house creative department handling all types of audio and graphic based creative. From creating full campaigns, to one-offs, or guiding an internal strategic planning exercise, we help businesses achieve their goals.
Project Details
Project ID: 7228
Project Title: Shier’s Insurance
Category: Radio Commercials
Language: English (North American)
Project Close Date: December 14, 2008
Selected Talent: Tom Pagnotti
Monthly Service Options for Clients
August 18, 2008
As of January 1st 2007, Voices.com introduced monthly billing options for clients who need to hire voice over talents throughout the year to complete their projects.
There are two new monthly billing service offerings that you can choose from, starting as low as $19.00 per month to access premium services provided by Voices.com and our team of professional voice over talents.
The Enterprise Edition, priced at $99 per month, is the perfect solution for world-class organizations with a high volume of activity, multiple users and the need to manage unlimited projects each year.
The Business Edition, offered at $19 per month, is appropriate for small and medium-sized businesses that need to efficiently manage unlimited voiceover projects each year.
When chatting with Voices CEO David Ciccarelli, he mentioned that “These new options provide more flexibility and choice to companies needing to hire voice talents for their projects online.”
If you’re interested, compare service options here or contact Jay Kowlessar for more information by dialing toll-free 1-888-359-3472 or by emailing him here: jay (at) voices.com.
Cheers,
Stephanie
Why More Companies Are Choosing Business Voice Talent
August 15, 2008
From our research, here are the main reasons we’ve discovered why so many business are incorporating voice-overs as a part of their marketing strategy.
Top 5 Reasons Companies Choose Voice Talent to Represent Their Businesses
1. Increased reach into the global community
2. Improved sales and conversion rates with the use of audio
3. Consistent communication with prospective clients or existing customers
4. Positioned and recognized as a market leader
5. Achieved higher levels of customer satisfaction
If you’ve ever hired a professional voice talent to provide audio recordings for your business, share your experience below.
Why did you decide to work with a pro? Let us know!
Stephanie
Business Voice-overs and Your Company
August 14, 2008
Welcome to the “Business Voice Talent” blog, your premiere destination and proverbial ear to the ground regarding the use of voice-overs in the business world.
Everyday, we’ll discuss how voice-overs impact customer behavior, purchasing patterns, and loyalty to products and organizations.
We’ll also talk about what’s in, what’s out, and of course, the next BIG thing for business voice-overs and how YOU can take advantage of this crucial information.
Since this is one of the first posts of many, you are welcome to send me any ideas that you may have for this blog and what you would like to see covered.
How To Set Up a Voice Over Business
As leaders in the voice-over marketplace, we’re well equipped to answer your questions about voice-overs and business voice talent, so don’t be shy 
Looking forward to speaking with you!
Cheers,
Stephanie
Voicemail for Businesses using Business Voice Talent
August 13, 2008
Voicemail… the last link in the telephone voice recording chain. Organizations have been known to have general mailboxes, and separate voice mailboxes for employees and management.
A voicemail prompt invites your customers to leave a message so that you can get back to them during regular business hours.
Voicemail is helpful to have because it act as a personal secretary, recording your customers name, phone number and the reason why they called. With this information, you can follow up with an interested person and meet their needs appropriately.
Here’s an example of a General Voicemail Script:
Thank you for calling XYZ Company. We are unable to take your call at this time. Please leave a detailed message including your name, phone number, and the reason you called and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can. Looking forward to serving you!
Here’s an example of a Personal Voicemail Script:
Thank you for calling the office of Jane Doe, Principal of Groversfield Elementary. I am on the other line or am presently out of the office. Please leave your contact details, and I’ll return your call as soon as I get back. Thank you, and have a nice day.
To recap, a professional telephone system consists of:
If you are looking to find the ideal voice to represent your business and make a good first impression for your organization, post your job requirements at Voices.com.
Best wishes,
Stephanie
