We know it’s a new year and a new decade. So, is it time to re-evaluate and plot a new course as our industry evolves? In a word, YES, if you don’t want to get passed by.
Our VO industry is changing. Clients are finding voice “talents” that are willing to work with Fiverr standards. Well, ya get what you pay for. Right? I’ve heard from a variety of clients who say, out of the 100 auditions for a job, from one of the Pay-2-Play sites, 80% of the quality of the audio was frightfully bad. Out of the remaining 20%….10% had quality sound, but talent was below par and the last 10% were decent. However, when you’re going through 100 auditions and the quality is so shaky, you begin to lose the will to live. Aaaaggghh!
Over my adult career, commercial broadcast work was my bread and butter up until the late 90’s. Along came narrative projects, eLearning, movie trailers, video games, voices for toys, telephony, (IVR), etc. So many more items have needed our voiceover skills as each day passes. Many voice actors are now adding Audiobook work as part of their repertoire. Add in Messages-On-Hold, In-Store TV Networks, Training videos, cable TV programs, retail check-out scanning prompts, corporate training… the list goes on and on.
Seems like every day there is a new voice item being added to our ever-growing list of potential voice work. I am still supporting my regular clients that send me commercial broadcast and MOH projects, but I’m finding eLearning and Explainer videos have become my favorite forms of voice expression.
Our jobs, as the mouthpiece representing various clients with their variety of products, is an exciting and creative avenue to our ever-changing world, where a human voice is needed to communicate. True, artificial intelligence (AI) has raised its ugly head as an alternative to a live human voice, but a real human voice is still the de-facto majority.
What form of voiceover do you do best? What category excites you? Do your homework and find out who these clients are. LinkedIn is a great place to run category searches. (Thank you Tracy Lindley) Find out all you can about them. Their website, their latest news, their latest products that have gotten press. So many things you can learn about a potential client. Appeal to their love of their company and show genuine interest. That goes a long way if you are as excited about their news as they are.
As one of my favorite motivational people says, “GO GET IT!” (Thank you Corey Dissin)