Is your Voice over business still in standard def?

 

I was watching TV the other day and still marvelling at how great high definition content looks, even when compressed by the cable company. The picture is crystal clear and vibrant, and the sound is in true 5.1 surround. 

I was even impressed with the commercials and how the commercial makers have really learned to take advantage of the improved color, clarity and sound.

That is, until I saw one in standard def. There it was. A dull, pixellated non-widescreen commercial with muffled sound. I don’t even know what they were advertising. Beside all of those glossy, flashy high definition ads, this one just looked sad and antiquated. It made me wonder what the marketing team was thinking? This is a hi-def channel so it isn’t like the had to worry about people watching in standard def. Only people with HDTVs would be seeing this ad. And here they were putting a cruddy ad on the air that they knew would be shown up against the new flashy HD ads. 

Why would you use standard definition marketing on a medium designed for high definition?

So of course, this got me thinking. Is my voice over business in HD or am I still marketing in standard? What do I mean by this? Here are some examples of standard def things you might be doing and the High def things you could be doing:

Standard Definition	High Definition
Do-it yourself business cards	Professionally printed, inexpensive cards via Vistaprint, Kinkos or even Costco
Do-it yourself  logo and website	Be honest with yourself and hire a pro, if you don’t have the skillz. Not cheap, but this is often the first (and only) thing your clients see.
Free web hosting for your site	Get your own domain and a web host. If your site says “hosted for free by xxxxxhost.com. Get yours now!” not only do you seem very amateur, but alsotemporary. And don’t even get me started on Myspace “hosting”…
Old scripts for your demo	Get new ones, better yet, use real spots that you’ve recorded professionally. Haven’t recorded any? Well, proof positive that your standard def approach isn’t working so far, hmmm?
Cheesy music in your demo that may not match the spot.	Either don’t use music, or pay for some good stuff. Use your ears and get some royalty-free music that sounds good for the spot.  A simple web search will yield a ton of results.
Impressions on your demo	Dump them! Look, no one cares if you can do a flawless Bugs Bunny or Marvin the Martian. Someone else already has that gig and he’s better than you. Original characters only.
<embed>	OK, this one might be controversial, but the problems with this is that everyone has a different app associated with MP3 files so you have no control over the experience. With the abundance of web-based Flash players, embedding your demos in your site is so 2001.
Stick-on CD labels	If you still use CDs, then a printer that prints directly on printable CDs. No labels to warp, no sticky residue, much more professional looking.
A tagline	Unless you have a cool one like “The hip Chick Voice” and can build a brand around it, then dump it. Having a tagline with rhyming words like “Voice” and “choice” are silly and don’t do anything for your brand (EDIT: and Peter o’Connell thought of it before you did). You’re not selling shoes or perfume. You’re selling yourself. Let your demos do the talking.
Standard sized postcards	Big ones.

I’m sure there are many more examples, and I’d love to see them in the comments. But the point is that the industry is more crowded than ever. And like ads on TV, you’ve got to keep up with those people using flashy high definition tactics to draw in customers. Old standard def techniques won’t stand out when surrounded by high definition flash.

Marketing changes and you’ve got to change with it.

5 things that Voice-over is NOT about

1. Your voice.

The biggest misconception people have about voice over is that it’s about your voice. It isn’t. It’s about your ability to use the voice you have to convey the emotion and message that your clients want. Ex-radio people, listen up. Take off your headphones! Seriously. If you have a home studio, you don’t need the cans! Can’t you hear your own voice when you talk? Do you wear headphones out on the town when you talk to people?  And if you wear them when recording, then you’re concentrating on the sound of your voice too much and not the message you’re delivering.

2. The Script

This one will be met with confusion. Isn’t the script what you’re being paid to read? Yes, but while the client is paying you to read the words, they hired you to deliver the message. Focus on the message of the script and and deliver that. If you simply deliver the script, the message will be lost and you will not have done your job. 

3. The Money

But I have bills to pay! Not while you’re in the booth. Worry about the accounting later. Your job as a voice talent is to deliver the message. Deal with the finances later.

4. Your equipment

I always get amused by people who proudly list their studio and equipment front and center on their website. It really doesn’t matter if you use a TLM103 or a Neumann XYZ followed by a Digidesign whatever running Pro Tools 8. Your equipment is simply a means to get your voice in. Obviously you want pro level equipment and if something makes your voice sound how you want it, then by all means use it. but I don’t think any clients care about what kind of equipment you have. They care about the end result and your ability to deliver their message. If you give Itzhak Perlman a $200 violin, I guarantee you, he’ll make it sound like a Stradivarius.

5. You

I mean this in the nicest possible way, but you are a tool. You are a means to an end. The client has hired you to deliver a message. The client is paying you so the client and their message are what’s important. The client doesn’t care that you’re ill or hungover. The client doesn’t care why you can’t meet their deadline. So when you’re dealing with clients you need to make sure that you are speaking in their interests. There’s nothing wrong with getting what you need, but to quote one of Dale Carnegie’s golden rules, “Always speak in terms of the other person’s interests.” Voice over is about them, not you. At least it is if you want them to return.

So those are 5 things that voice over is not. Agree or disagree? Comment! Want to add to the list? Comment!

Is your Voice over business part of a flea market?

This holiday I took a cruise to Mexico with my family. Of course, we stopped at all the usual spots like Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo. And of course, once you get off the ship, there are hordes of shops for you to patronize.

And as everyone knows, the price on the item you want to buy is not the price you have to pay. You can haggle with them and usually get a few bucks off, depending on what it is.

At the ship terminal, there are large warehouses where people have set up shop. Rows and rows of vendors offering mostly the same stuff: fake Rolex watches, fake Oakley’s, Cuban (maybe) cigars, trinkets, clothes, and the like. Basically, they all offer the same thing, and if you want a particular item, you wander around and haggle to the price you want. And of course, the shop owners will try to pull you in telling you they have the best prices.

After a while, I felt bad. Here I was trying to talk some guy down to 5 dollars on handmade thread bracelets with my kids’ names on them that he originally wanted 12 dollars for. I finally got him down to both bracelets for 8 bucks. But I knew that he was willing to drastically reduce his prices for the sale. He knew he was being taken advantage of and he let me, just to seal the deal. I didn’t really have any respect for him as a business owner.

Then I went into another shop for a cigar to enjoy later. The woman was pleasant and I pointed to the cigar that I wanted, priced at 8 dollars. I said, “how about $5.” I knew that $8 was a fair price for this, but you can always haggle, right?

“no, 8 dollars. I don’t change my prices.”

I replied, “I saw this elsewhere for 6. “

She smiled and lifted her hand toward the door. “Then you may go buy it there.”

I was taken aback. She was willing to lose a sale over $3?

No, she was willing to lose the sale because she had enough respect for herself not to lower herself. She had already done her research, knew her prices were competitive, and set them accordingly. I knew that buying the cigar from her, I was getting a good deal and her prices weren’t inflated in anticipation of a haggling American.

Needless to say, I bought the cigar from her for full price. And I was happy to do it. I respected this woman.

So what does this mean for the VO business owner? Respect your business. Do your research. Know what the going rate for comparable services are. Know what the value of YOUR services are. Set your prices accordingly. Offer your clients a fair rate from the beginning and make it clear to them that these are your rates and here’s why they’re a good value for them. And don’t be afraid  to show the customer the door if they don’t value your services. 

The good customers, the customers you want, will respect you for it.

Voices.com presents the State of the Voice over Industry paper

David Ciccarelli of Voices.com alerted me this morning of the availability of his newest version of his annual State of the Industry paper. It’s a good overview, with some interesting highlights. While it makes some sweeping predictions about several different industries without much supporting evidence, I think the paper is pretty accurate and I commend David for writing this up in a way that isn’t just a marketing device for Voices.com.

New Voice over Instant Rate Request available

As I promised in my last post, I’ve removed a barrier to client entry by making my rates available online. This isn’t just a standard rate sheet in .pdf form, this is a tool that asks you no more than 3 questions and tailors the quote to your project. Why did I do this? Because I believe that most people shopping for VO don’t want to wait for their question of “How much will this cost me?” even if the wait is less than 15 minutes to get an email reply. Instant gratification.

It’s also another way of filtering out lowballers and those who are not serious. When someone realizes that a 9000 word narration can’t be done for $50, then neither my time nor that person’s time is wasted by a back and forth exchange.

There’s another benefit. In order to get the rate quote, the requester is asked for their mailing address. Now, certainly I expect that a good portion will give bogus info. But there’s the chance that someone will give me their real info and I can add them to my list of contacts for promotional mailings. Leads, baby.

I’m happy with how the tool turned out. I’m hesitant to encourage readers to try it out, because I get an email everytime someone does, but if you really are curious, then stop by http://JeffreyKafer.com and click the Rate Request form. Put something in the script field indicating you’re just a looky-loo so I don’t follow up with you.

Unless, of course, you really want to hire me. In that case, you know how much your project will be!

Is your Voice over business a corn maze?

I meant to write this post a month ago, but I didn’t know exactly how to formulate my thoughts. But since it’s still fall, then it still applies. Because fall is the time of the year for corn mazes. Why in the world anyone would pay money to get lost is beyond me. And that’s when I realized the same idea could be applied to your business.

Are your customers paying you to get lost? If so, then they won’t come back again. Or they won’t hire you in the first place.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. This year, when we got to the corn maze, we paid our money, went in and got supremely lost. We absolutely could not find our way out. So we backtracked to the beginning to get out. This wasn’t much fun for us, so we went to the place where we paid our money and asked if they had a map. She said no. Did we go back in? Heck no! We also didn’t get our money back and we felt a little disappointed by the experience. 

So what does this have to do with your business? You may be inadvertently throwing up barriers for your customers, much like a corn maze blocks people from progressing to the end. And if you’re throwing them up before they become your customers, they may go elsewhere.

I had a client recently hire me and they were fairly new to using VO. So once we agreed on the rate and such, she said “OK, so how do we do this?” There’s never a reason the client should ask that. If they are, then I’m not doing my job. I’ve not given them all the facts they need to know if it’s something they want. I’ve not given them a map to my corn maze.

Here’s an example: What is the first thing clients want to know? How much it’s going to cost. And yet, we rarely post our rates on our websites. Sure, we have all kinds of reasons for not doing so, and most of them are kind of silly. Worried about a competitor undercutting you? Don’t be, unless your business model is to be the discount VO. if that’s the case, then someone will always be priced lower. Another reason for not posting rates is so that the client has to tell you their budget so you can base your rate accordingly. It becomes a game of who mentions price first. If you have fixed rates, all of that doesn’t matter. Your rate is your rate and these games become yet another corn maze barrier.

Remove the barriers to entry! Do not give your client a reason to go elsewhere!

While I’m guilty of not posting my rates, that’s something I’m working on changing. I expect my rate request tool to be working and live in a few weeks. My rates will be available on my website.

Some other corn maze barriers:

• Delivery method and timeframe: Are you sure your potential clients know what FTP is?
• Pickups: Do you offer unlimited pickups? how do you charge for script edits?
• Editing: is that included in your studio rate? Do you charge extra? Will your client get dry voice, mistakes and all?
• payment terms: Are you net 30, net 15? Paypal and check?

If you think the client doesn’t need to know all of this until they hire you, you may be wrong, especially clients who may not be that experienced. If the client has all the information in front of them to make an educated decision, then they’re more likely to choose that talent.

While part of the fun of a corn maze is the satisfaction you get from finding your way out, your clients won’t get the same sense of satisfaction if they have to figure your business out.

Agree or disagree? Discuss!

Agents, Managers, and You

Interesting read for those seeking managers or agents:

DO YOU NEED AN AGENT? (Or A Manager?)

By Bob Fraser

I recently got an email asking me, “which would be
better to get my acting career going – an agent or
a manager?”

Here’s my answer: Neither an agent or a manager can
“get your acting career going” for you.

The concept that a powerful man or woman can step in
and help you skip all the hard work involved in starting
your acting career – is a fairy tale.

There is no short-cut to the top of show business (or
even to the middle). There’s also no Tooth Fairy, Easter
Bunny or Great Pumpkin.

If it could be done that way, then agents and managers
would simply pick out any actors – from the thousands of
headshots they get every week – and turn them into stars.

These people are pros – and they’re not going to waste
their valuable time, trying to accomplish what they know
cannot be done.

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

Now, there ARE differences between agents and managers:

An agent is a sales person for the product known as YOU.

Sales people (agents) judge how well their business is
doing by how much money they make. A good sales pro likes
to make lots of money. If people aren’t ready to buy your
product (you) then a sales person won’t make a lot of
money selling it.

Not surprisingly, agents are coldly business-like about
this part. Until you’ve managed to get your career going
yourself (making money as an actor) – don’t expect any
professional sales people to be very interested.

Managers are just what the word implies. The manage things.
Mailings, bookings, transportation, job offers, publicity -
the day to day business of YOU.

Keep in mind that in most markets, they are precluded, by
law, from seeking work for you.

The top managers are usually the top managers because they
manage very successful careers. The big boys (and girls) in
the management game, are just like agents when it comes to
money. They want to manage a going concern.

Believe me, If you have what they want – if you are a
going concern with a name that you’ve made for yourself -
they KNOW their managing skills will take you to a whole
new level (making LOTS of money) and since they get a big
chunk of a LOT, believe me – they WILL find you.

IF IT IS TO BE, IT’S UP TO ME

Here’s the point I want you to keep in mind: As long as
you continue to believe that your main job is looking for
someone else to help you get your career going – you won’t
spend nearly enough time doing the crucial things you need
to do … to get your career going YOURSELF.

Looking for someone else to get your acting career going
is a very bad tactic which always results in frustration,
wasted years and, ultimately, failure to achieve what you
want.

If you don’t concentrate on doing your part, now – it’s
quite unlikely you will build your business into something
big enough to be noticed by a good agent or a good manager.

In other words, by all means keep looking for a sales staff
and a management team – but don’t neglect your business while
you’re looking.

And remember to keep “the store” open late.

 
Reprinted from THE ACTOR’S TOOL KIT, the email course for subscribers of Show Biz How-To -The Free Actor’s Newsletter.

Get your subscription here: http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=LpES7&m=1nbSN9Mz.sKb8X&b=YhJ6UgaY.BN5zXkSeAHw4A

Copyright © 2008 Bob Fraser Productions All Rights Reserved

When a client doesn’t like your work

We’ve all had some instances, hopefully rare, where a client is less than thrilled with the work we’ve done. Perhaps they had a different voice on thier head or wanted an altogether different mood. Getting to the core of the matter and figuring out how to satisfy the client to get past their disappointment is where the service of our business comes in.

The always excellent Freelance Folder has a blog post about this today written by Kristen Fischer. While most of this caters toward writers and designers, most of the points also apply to the business or Voice-over.

Simpsons cast Gets a raise

The cast of the Simpson’s recently settled a new 4 year contract that will earn each of the major actors $400,000 per episode.

Read about it here.

Kudos to you! Some may balk at that (“they’re just talking into a mic!”), but I think they deserve every cent. Even ignoring those who don’t understand the sheer work that goes into creating these characters, from a financial standpoint, it makes sense. These voices ARE the characters and are what allow Fox to make money hand over fist on things such as merchandising, DVD sales, and re-runs. Fox makes gobs of money from the work of these actors and they deserve to see a good portion of it.

Balancing a 9-5 with your VO career

If you’re like me, you have the joy (sarcasm) of balancing your day job with your ever-growing voice over career. As you get more gigs, this can be a challenging proposition. You want to give time to your VO since that’s what you love doing, but you owe it to your company to give them your best as well, since they’re currently paying the mortgage.

Freelance folder has some great tips on striking the right balance. The takeaway:

Get help from others

Calculate your total work and billable hours

Become an efficiency ninja

Take care of yourself

Write blog posts in advance

Keep your two jobs separated

Take mini vacations

Head over to Freelance Folder to read the rest!