5 Customer Retention Tips for your Voiceover Business

by Victoria DeAnda on May 19, 2017

Any business owner or freelancer knows one clear thing: it is the clients that drive a business or career. If you are in the industry of providing voiceover services, it is no different. Without your market and a solid customer base, you will not be able to translate your efforts into profits.

Nonetheless, there is more to effective marketing than just customer acquisition. You also have to be able to keep your clients. Remember, a returning customer is a customer that has chosen to trust in you and your voiceover work. This is already an opportunity for your voiceover business to maintain that customer and obtain other clients in the process.

When done right, the following customer retention strategies may improve your list of loyal clients for the long-term:

  1. Provide exemplary work.

Without top-notch services, it will be difficult for your other client retention strategies to work their charm. You have to focus on delivering stellar voiceover results every single time, from one project to another.

  1. Create loyalty programs.

Loyalty programs are good way to give back to your returning clients. Whether it’s by way of a discount or a freebie, these offers will surely build a stronger rapport between you and your clients.

  1. Ask for constructive feedback.

Clients appreciate it when their comments are also appreciated. They have listened to you voice; maybe this time you can also listen to what they have to say. The practice of soliciting feedback also helps in establishing you as a trustworthy, confident professional.

  1. Resolve issues quickly.

Prompt resolution of issues is clearly important in any business. Your customers are just as busy as you are, so they would appreciate it if you act on any concern as soon as possible.

  1. Reach out to your customers consistently.

You don’t have to wait for your customers to actually transact with you again before you resume communicating with them. Voiceover talents can have a lucrative career, but the degree of competition online can be overwhelming. By reaching out to your customers, through newsletters or even a simple birthday greeting, you are helping them remember you and your business.

In today’s business climate, where offers are available offline and over the Web, you need more than just making new customers. You have to be able to keep them from choosing the next voiceover talent. While there are many other ways for you to retain your loyal patrons, these above-mentioned tips will no doubt help your voice-over business be a top-of-mind choice.

 

 

How to Succeed in the Voiceover Industry

by Victoria DeAnda on May 4, 2017

It is no secret that the voiceover business can be intensely competitive, especially when just starting out and making a name for yourself. It takes practice and a serious investment of personal time to learn the skills needed to become established as a go to voiceover actor. So, what are some tips to succeed where others have failed in the voiceover industry? Below are some expert tips that have been tested and can help you on this journey to make it.

  • Read anything and everything you can find on voice over. For example, pick up a copy of “The Art of Voice Acting” written by James Alburger, a multiple Grammy winning voiceover artist. The wisdom of those who have succeeded in the path you are now on is worth the investment.
  • Get some professional training. This is not just limited to voiceover specific trainings either. Try some acting classes or even some production workshops. It will help to know what other performers are doing so you can use best practices across the board in your own work. This also can include finding local classes offered at a community center or adult learning center or, if you have the resources, hiring a private coach to mentor you.
  • Produce a killer demo. This is the first impression many companies will have of your talent. By putting in time and money to produce a great demo, you can save a lot of time and money down the line on networking and marketing for yourself. Bonus tip: do not rush into producing your demo and instead take your time to make sure it is ready to distribute.
  • Quality equipment is your best friend.  You can have the best voice in the world and immeasurable talent but that makes no difference if you are using an old and battered microphone to seize your voice. How and where you record your sound will play a huge part in how your final product comes out and DIY digital audio recording cannot replace recording done in a studio.

Finally, and most importantly, have fun with your craft. If you don’t love it, it will show and you can’t expect anyone to want to hire a passionless voiceover artist. Let your passion bleed into your work.

 

Guest Posting to Boost Your Voiceover Business

by Victoria DeAnda on July 29, 2016

Millions of professionals use the Internet every single day. Many of them are looking for voiceovers. Your marketing goal is to make yourself visible, so they find you when they need a voiceover.

One of the best ways to boost your visibility to grow your voiceover business is to guest post. Guest posting allows you to educate others on many different aspects of your work and tells professionals you are an authority in the voiceover industry.

How to Get Started with Guest Posting

Guest posting is writing an article and having it published on someone else’s site. For instance, a job site that often has visitors seeking voiceover artists has a blog. You write a blog post about the benefits of using a voiceover in commercials, and that post is published on the blog.

When the blog post is published on someone else’s blog, you reach that site’s visitors. Those readers may end up clicking on the link to your website in your bio to learn more about you and your services. Some of those readers may turn into clients!

Now that you understand how guest posting works, you’re probably wondering how you find sites to contribute articles. This is the tricky part.

Due to recent changes with Google, many websites do not accept guest posts from people who seem as though they are advertising their services. What this means is that any links in the bio may hurt the site, which can affect its traffic. Many website owners have decided not to accept guest posts anymore because of fear this will happen to them.

Does this mean you shouldn’t try to find website owners who are willing to post your well-written, informative content? No, but it does mean you’ll have to put a little more work into finding opportunities.

The easiest way to find guest blogging opportunities is to Google “voiceover guest blogger” “voiceover articles” “voiceover article contributor” or “voiceover blog.” You can come up with variations of these and other phrases that will produce websites that relate to your business that would enjoy having voiceover topics published on their blog.

Convincing People to Allow You to Be a Guest

The success of finding someone who will allow you to be a guest on a blog starts with showing the person you understand the topic you’re proposing. You can do this simply with an outline. This outline should be detailed and thorough, so the website owner can see exactly what he or she will be getting from you.

It’s useful to look through the site before coming up with content ideas. You’ll be able to get a feel for the style, tone, and some of the topics. It will save time when it comes to choosing a unique topic that will fit the needs of the site’s audience.

Once you have an outline, send the website’s contact an email. It might be useful to start a spreadsheet or another organization tool to keep track of the emails you’ve sent and the topics you’ve proposed. You can always recycle topics if you don’t receive a response, so keeping a record of responses is important to do as well.

Aim for sending about five emails a day. Don’t become discouraged if you don’t receive a response right away. Email responses are usually at a rate of 1% or less, so you’re lucky if you get one for every ten emails you send.

Take your time and send out proposals consistently. Before you know it, you’ll start receiving responses, so you can get your name in front of some of the best clients for boosting your business.

 

How to Create a Business Plan for Your Voiceover Business

by Victoria DeAnda on January 14, 2016

Do you want to achieve success in your voiceover business? If so, you’re in the right place. You cannot achieve success without a plan. It’s just like trying to reach a destination without a map. You’ll never get to where you want to go unless you have something that is going to direct you. That is what a business plan can do for you.

Getting Started with Your Business Plan

The first step in creating a business plan for your voiceover business is to visualize what success looks like to you. Everyone is different. Your idea of success can be entirely different from someone else’s view of it.

Close your eyes and imagine yourself successful. What does it feel like? What does it look like? What are you doing that shows you that you’re successful?

Write down everything you have just imagined and felt. Be as precise as possible because it matters as you go through your business plan.

What you have written down is your main goal for your voiceover business. This is what you’re aiming for, so the next step is to think of the goals that you will need to achieve to get to the main goal.

What do you have to do to achieve your main goal?

  • How much money do you have to make?
  • How many projects do you have to complete?
  • How much do you need to market?
  • How will you have to market?

Don’t set yourself up to fail. You need to give yourself smaller goals to keep you motivated to keep working towards success.

Let us say your vision of success is earning $75,000 a year. Instead of just working towards that amount, you should try to reach $35,000 first. When you reach that goal, you can start to work on getting up to $40,000, and so on and so forth.

Once you have your earning goals, you should figure out how many projects you would have to complete to make each goal. Those will also be goals, and should be broken up into smaller goals. Let us say, it takes you ten projects to make $35,000. First try to get two projects completed, and then five, eight, and finally ten. For every goal you reach, you can feel good that you’re working your way up to your earning goal.

Since marketing is how you’ll be able to gain more projects, you’ll need to set up goals for marketing. Figure out what works and then do more of it. For example, if you need to reach out to people, set a goal of reaching out to five people a day. Once you reach that, you can go up to the next one – ten people a day. You can also set up goals of trying different marketing tactics. Every time you try something new, you have achieved a new goal.

Keep It Flexible

As you are working towards your goals to get to your vision, you may need to change direction a little. That is okay. Business plans should be flexible. Simply make some changes to your plan, and then implement them.

Before you know it, you’ll see how productive you’re on your road to maximum success!

Should You Have a LLC for a Voiceover Business?

by Victoria DeAnda on January 8, 2016

Limited Liability Company (LLC) is a way to structure your business. It combines corporations with partnerships. However, you don’t have to have a company with employees and partnerships to LLC for a voiceover business.

LLC for a Voiceover Business

Every state has different stipulations for a LLC. You need to check with your local business administration to learn more about the laws in your state. Basically, you need to have a business that is separate from your personal life. You can’t just take your earnings from voiceover projects and place it in your pocket. You should have a separate business account, and then have a way to pay yourself. This way you truly have a business that pays someone (you).

A LLC protects your personal life. If your business were sued for some reason, your personal assets would be protected. Your business would be the only thing affected. You could end up losing your business if something were to happen, but your personal finances would remain intact.

Many people believe they don’t need business insurance if they have a LLC for a voiceover business. This is untrue. A LLC does not protect people when they are sued for:

  • Negligence or irresponsibility
  • Illegal matters such as copyright violations even when it is done without awareness
  • A guarantee is signed for a loan
  • Mixing personal expenses with business ones

A LLC for a voiceover business brings a level of prestige to a voiceover business, but it is not absolutely needed. Most people get it when they want to make their business seem bigger and better than the competition. It is when they want to grow their business to the next level in which they have a partner or they just want to separate their business from the rest of their life.

This means that you do not need or should have a LLC. Actually, you would be better off with business insurance first, and then get a LLC later if you still feel as though you want to make that as part of your brand. It does cost $200 a year to keep, so you will have to factor that into your business finances.

Getting the LLC

If you decide you do want to have a LLC for your business, you can do so easily online. It used to involve seeking an attorney’s assistance with the paperwork, but with the forms available on the Internet, there’s no reason to use one. They are simple to complete and submit. Most people can do it in a matter of minutes. It really is that simple.

Whether you decide to get a LLC, business insurance, or both, know that you are doing something good for your business and personal life. You are protecting yourself from being sued, which is becoming quite common in the United States. While you can take the chance, it’s not worth it when there are ways to protect yourself. Do what you need to do, so you can run your business wisely with confidence.

The Best Way to Grow Your Voiceover Business

by Victoria DeAnda on September 18, 2015

In order to expand your clientele, you need to learn the best way to grow your voiceover business, right? Right! There are several ways to achieve success. In fact, you probably already market every day without even thinking about it. Every time you mention your voiceover business, you are marketing. Let us get down to business with the following list of ways to market your brand. 

Online Marketing

Before beginning any real online marketing, it is necessary to have a professional website put together for potential clients. This is an excellent method to allow individuals to experience your talent and see that you are serious. Make sure that your demos are current. It would not hurt to build an email list, so you can send out newsletters once a month or bi-weekly. It keeps your name relevant amongst the competition. 

Build relationships on many social media platforms as you can manage. It is instrumental in getting your name out there. Join forums, ask questions, and participate in the ongoing conversations. Allow people to get to know you. Become an active presence in the major social media giants like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. 

Networking Events

Attend local networking events to reach out and meet others in the industry. Bring your business cards and demo CDs to hand out. Not only is this a great way to talk with people, but also it is an excellent way to get your name out among other professionals in the business. You can check with your local film and entertainment association for information on upcoming events. 

Build Relationships

If you already have an excellent relationship with a current client, then ask for referrals. Ask for testimonials and publish them on your business website. Stay in touch with your clients to remain relevant in their mind. This helps you build the relationship you already have with them. If you stay in touch, then they will most likely think of you first when a new job pops up. Also, respond quickly to emails from your clients. If you wait 24 hours to respond, then the job may already be gone.  

Cold-Calling Businesses

Even if you do all of the above, cold calling is one of the most effective ways to reach out to clients and find new contracts. Sure, cold calling seems daunting, but keep in mind that the worst anyone can tell you is, “No.”  

Listen to the radio and watch television. Local businesses that already use voice over services are potential clients. Make a list of these and other prospective clients. Start working down the list by calling at least a few of them every single day. It IS that easy. Write the details of every call next to the business name. This method is guaranteed to find you clients if you keep trying every day.  

It’s All About Patience

Be patient. It takes time for these methods to work. However, working to grow your voiceover business every day and learning to be flexible will certainly yield profitable results. The method that works best comes down to personal preference and what is most effective for you.