Voice over marketing? Say what?

Voice over marketing: a less sexy subject than TV commercials, dubbing stars or video games, I admit. But it is essential for any French voice actor (or any voice actor!) - and any craftsman, entrepreneur, business owner, etc. - who want to make a living, present and sell their work by connecting with their audience.

First of all, why this photo of a market stall? Because the word 'marketing' comes from market, the place where supply and demand meet. And also because a market is beautiful, isn't it?

But what is marketing today? Here is a dictionary definition: "All actions aimed at identifying, forecasting and, where appropriate, stimulating consumer needs for goods and services and adapting production and marketing to these needs.."

Henri Ford said"People can choose any colour for the Ford T, as long as it's black."Those days are gone - we're in Marketing 4.0, where the first step is listening to the market: understanding what your potential audience wants. Today, we have to go far beyond trying to sell our product to potential customers by email or telephone. What we offer has to be in line with what customers are looking for. That means listening to the market.

Everything evolves, and the voice-over profession is no exception: you can't work today in 2024 the way you did 20 years ago. So how do you stay current? By keeping abreast of trends and listening to the work of fellow voice-over actors. If you want to listen to mine, you'll find it on this site in the various sections, and at my Youtube channel. For the record, I work in French (obviously!) and also record voice overs in English with French accentbeing bilingual.

It goes without saying, but believe me, it sometimes sounds better when you say it: once you're in the studio, listening to directions is also essential. I covered this in my article A Matter of Organs.

Key word in modern marketing: connect

Secondly, connect with your audience. This is obvious, but obviously not for everyone: you can have the best, most up-to-date product in the world, meeting an existing demand, but if no one knows about your product, no one will buy it.

I've already talked about this subject in my article on voice overs and websites : a website is your shop window, and in the 21st century it's absolutely essential. And not just any website: a site that looks amateurish, ugly, difficult to navigate and poorly referenced is of little use. A subject I cover in The Haberdashery Shop Window.

For it to be effective, you need an excellent SEO , which can be achieved by entrusting it to people whose job it is, and by obtaining quality backlinks. The SEO references talk about this better than I can, so I invite you to read the articles by Semrush and Moz on this subject.

That said, a shop window is a way of presenting your product, but not a way of connecting with your audience, and with people who might recommend you. And for that, social networks are a godsend - if they're used properly. I've covered the subject in two articles: Voice over and Social Media and Pleasure Of Giving, Joy Of Receiving.

It's just as obvious to answer your emails as soon as possible, to behave professionally on social media, and to communicate in a way that's consistent with what you're offering: the website of a young girl with a fresh, bubbly voice shouldn't resemble that of a mature man with a deep, gravelly voice. Yes, I'm talking about me, for example.

So, yes, all that is obviously work, and like all work, it's energy-intensive and time-consuming. But let's not confuse hobby with work: trying to develop business and professional skills is part of the daily life of any business owner, so why should it be any different for voice over talent?

If you'd like to make a contribution, please feel free to comment on this article - if you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them! And if you feel like sharing this article, don't hold back!