Episode 2: The Power of Self and Marketing in VO: I know things, so many things!

I love this quote. Simple and to the point. The reality of the business side of any business. I'd venture to say that most of us don't truly realize the value our knowledge and experience carry, or at the very least, we don’t know how to properly market and capitalize on it. I’d also suggest that there are those who over value what they bring to the table. We all know someone who possesses mediocre skills, but works hard and excels at marketing themselves, thus achieving greater success than someone with perhaps more experience or talent. Of course, the best case scenario would be if you were extremely skilled with tons of experience, an admirable sense of humility and excellent marketing skills. In reality, there’s a whole lot of gray area here. We can’t simply label people that easily. Often times, skill can be quite subjective and most people only reach their true potential after years of practice. The point is, everyone’s situation is unique and today I’m going to speak to my experience as a voice actor.

It’s very different when you’re self-employed, even though it really shouldn’t be. There is an implied ego inherent in saying, “Hey, look how good I am, I know things, so many things, you should hire me!”

MARKETING

I’ve never been comfortable with marketing myself. Ahh, feels good to get that out there. It’s completely unnatural to me. I’ve certainly made a lot of progress over the years and have come to terms with the reality of it, but to me, it will always feel like that awkward cheek kiss you give to family you haven’t seen in years. I suppose if I owned a business with others, it would be much more natural to say, “Hey, this is what WE know and this is how WE can help you!” It’s the power of the team mentality. You’re not saying that YOU are amazing, you’re saying the team is great and you’re just happy and humbled to be a part of it. Easy, right? It’s very different when you’re self-employed, even though it really shouldn’t be. There is an implied ego inherent in saying, “Hey, look how good I am, I know things, so many things, you should hire me!” OK, admittedly, no one would say it like that, but essentially that’s what you’re saying. You need something and I can do that for you better than anyone else can. It reminds me of tennis, which is my favorite sport. In fact, the US Open is underway and here I am writing a blog in the studio, just a measure of my uncanny work ethic and resolve (not so subtle plug. See? I can do it, I’m the greatest marketer in all the land!). In tennis, players box aside, there is no team. It’s a solo sport. In defeat, there’s no one to blame and in victory, you’re free to take full credit if you so choose. Of course, no one would do that because you want to respect your opponent, thank those around you and show some humility, which will give you more fans. Roger Federer has arguably done this with greater success than anyone. His talent speaks for itself and his persona is all about being real, humble, willing to give credit to his opponents and never taking full credit for himself. This makes him highly likable in a sport that could be all ego. That said, there’s simply no way around it, putting yourself out there and marketing your business is something every self-employed person has to do. I’m not going to go into exactly how to market yourself because it’s complicated and to be honest, I’m still learning that myself. The more pressing question is… how do you value your time and talent so that you can market yourself effectively?

“Your voice and delivery is like a finger print, no one else can perform exactly the way you do because every time you speak it’s being informed by your life experiences, which are absolutely unique.”

FINDING YOUR VOICE

I’m a relatively humble person by nature, which is not always the easiest thing to be in an industry which demands you be confident and strokes your ego when you’re successful. However, this is the same industry that also demands you have a thick skin and learn to accept the inevitability of rejection. It’s a bit of a paradox. In voice acting, you’re trained to drop all pretenses and speak completely as yourself. It’s all too easy to get in front of the mic, especially with headphones on and begin to speak in a way that’s attempting to sound “perfect.” You may not even realize you’re doing it. Problem is, it may objectively sound nice, from a technical standpoint, but it’s entirely lacking when it comes to connecting to the material or the audience. Once you learn to simply drop all of that nonsense and speak as yourself, it helps you achieve the coveted “conversational” tone. It also helps distinguish you from others. Your voice and delivery is like a finger print, no one else can perform exactly the way you do because every time you speak it’s being informed by your life experiences, which are absolutely unique. This very real and conversational tone is what the vast majority of clients these days are looking for and it’s the cornerstone of becoming a great voice talent.

BREAKING DOWN COPY

Character work is a slightly different animal, but it still comes from the same place of truth. After all, that character is you! While your voice may be affected, it’s still coming from a very real place and you’re filling that character with nuance that you’ve learned in your own life. The foundation must be rooted in some form of truth within you to be believable. This is why you break down copy by beginning with the most fundamental questions. Who am I? Who am I speaking to? What do I want? Where is this taking place? … and the list goes on and on and on depending on the type of voice over you’re doing. It’s not at all unlike breaking down a script as an actor. The more truthful, the easier it is to convey emotions. When the intended audience begins to feel emotion, they are moved in some way to act. Perhaps it gives them a new perspective on an aspect of their life, maybe it drives them to buy that new car (mmm… pun), maybe it’s helped them learn a new skill. This is essentially the power of storytelling in it’s most basic form.

AWARENESS

All actors have what’s called a “director’s eye.” This is the awareness at any time of how you look and sound to the audience. A delicate balance has to be mastered as it can threaten to take you out of the moment, however, awareness is also a very important tool. Without awareness you may upstage yourself or walk off the front of the proscenium! I’ve done this. It wasn’t pretty and I don’t recommend it. I was young and I can’t even complain that it was dark on stage. I simply lacked awareness in that moment. A story for another time. As I was saying, everyone has this ability, as we use it consciously and subconsciously every day in our social interactions. Truthfulness and awareness are key components to any marketing strategy. You want to be honest about the services you provide while at the same time aware of what people are looking for and use that knowledge to help win their business.

“There are some, however, who recognize what you’re worth, understand the industry and are willing to pay for the quality and service you provide. These folks are the ones you want to be in business with and make the best repeat clients.”

PUT A VALUE ON IT

As far as actually finding out how to literally put a value on the services you provide, the market will ultimately do that for you. In voice over, we at least have industry rates as a guideline. You can also simply look up what other voice actors with your experience are charging for similar services, much like you would comps on a house. If someone is willing to pay you industry rates or close to, it stands to reason there are others that would pay the same. Know your worth and value your time. The more experience you have, the easier it will be to assess how long a project will take you and to charge accordingly. I would suggest aiming high though, regardless of your experience. The rub with giving away your services for free or next to nothing in order to gain experience is that you don’t want to brand yourself as the budget option. Budget or cheap are typically akin to poor quality or less than. That said, it’s a global game, so it’s far less likely that one client will find out what you charged another client. Enter what would be a long, exhaustive look at VO and freelance websites. If you begin fairly high, you can always negotiate down. It’s difficult to negotiate up. In fact, what ends up happening is you simply move on from the clients you have to a higher end clientele, given your new rates are worth it to them. Most people or production houses, whoever the client is, are looking to pay less. Why wouldn’t they be? We shop consumer products and services all the time trying to get the best “bang for the buck.” There are some, however, who recognize what you’re worth, understand the industry and are willing to pay for the quality and service you provide. These folks are the ones you want to be in business with and make the best repeat clients. A blog post for another time is the direct correlation between clients not willing to pay you what you’re worth, but wanting way more work from you. Never ceases to amaze me.

“Take this blog post. Surely, someone could write a blog post on the same topic with potentially more information and coherence that’s arguably better by almost every conceivable metric, but no one would write the exact same thing I did. Kinda cool when you think of it that way.”

SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE

As I look to further expand my digital footprint into podcasts, YouTube, etc., as a way to share my knowledge and gain more of a web presence for my business, it's interesting to find commonalities between all the people I follow online. Let me also just say, I Google and YouTube a lot! First, I love to learn new things and second, I’m curious by nature. Needless to say, I spend a fair amount of time researching things online. The way in which we freely and openly share knowledge is incredible and there's literally no limit to what you can learn. Of course, the point is not to emulate others, but to simply extract and employ the strategies and principles that contribute to others success. Those who do well seem to be true to themselves and therefore offer a unique perspective on the information they’re sharing. Makes sense, people relate more to honesty and authenticity. The point is, we all have a voice and a unique experience in this life, and if you’re speaking from a place of truth, you are assured to be different from anyone else. Take this blog post. Surely, someone could write a blog post on the same topic with potentially more information and coherence that’s arguably better by almost every conceivable metric, but no one would write the exact same thing I did. Kinda cool when you think of it that way.

CONCLUSION

So, back to the quote and my takeaways. Simple, actually. I've observed that a genuine sense of honesty and humility are incredible assets. However, as I believe it's wise to admit what you don't know and always be willing to learn, I think what stumps most people is the ability to be confident in what you do know, value it accordingly and share your unique and honest perspective. All this without seeming arrogant or overstating your level of expertise. In essence, be yourself. I know, a long winding road to the same utterly basic advice you’ve heard your whole life. I never said this post was going to teach you something you don’t already know. ;)