Should You Do Your Own Voice Over
or Hire a Professional?
Determining the best voice to represent your business or product(s) might be a no-brainer. If you are the owner or partner or producer of a product or product line, you might be the best one to speak about what you have to offer. After all, you know all the details about what’s going on, and you have the passion and commitment. But is your voice THE voice that will grab attention and drive sales or, if a campaign, garner votes?
One way of making this decision is to record your own voice reading a script (ad copy) about your business, etc., and dare to be critical about the sound of your voice. Another way is to ask your partner(s), staff or co-workers what they think of your recorded voice (although they might say you’re awesome and amazing just to butter you up). Do you already do a lot of public speaking, or speaking at staff meetings? Have you ever had any public speaking training? You may think your voice is THE voice, and perhaps it is, but, if you are honest, you may already know that you need a professional voice over talent to be THE voice for your business or campaign.
If your business is a law firm, specializing in personal injury, or family law, etc., you probably don’t want a fast-paced, urban youth style of voice. You want a voice talent who sounds commanding, serious, professional, reaching your specific demographics.
If your business sells household furniture, and your demographics emphasize young families, you might want your voice talent to be young and energetic, but, obviously, not too youthful, or overly serious.
If your campaign (regardless of party) is presenting what you will do better and differently than your opponent(s), your voice over talent needs to sound mature and convincing.
If you head up a non-profit organization for troubled youth, or disabled vets, what kind of voice would best characterize your enterprise?
Get the idea? There are many voice talents available, so you need to think about your audience and seek out THE voice to represent you.
Considering Demographics When Selecting a Voice Over Talent
There are many voice talents available, so you need to think about your audience and seek out THE best voice to represent your business, product(s) or campaign.
Male or female? Do you want an authoritative voice or a compassionate voice? Age? Do you want a mature or serious voice or a youthful, energetic voice?
Demographics are so important when selecting the voice over talent to best fit your needs. Do you need a funny voice? Sexy? Strong and assertive? Hard sell? Soft sell? Fatherly? Motherly? Upbeat and perky? Who are you targeting?
To answer, “Everybody” is simply too vague. It’s best to clearly define your demographics. Men or women? Both? Teens? College students? Home owners? 25 to 40? 40 to 60? 60 and up?
Obviously, if you are running a political campaign, your demographic is 18 and up, men and women. But you may want to target a specific economic range such as workers or small business owners who make less than 100k annually, or business owners who make 100k and up, or maybe put a focus on retirees.
Here are a few more considerations:
Two selling styles: soft sell and hard sell
Soft Sell
Generally, soft sell is warm and attractive, and not too assertive or bossy. If your style leans more towards soft sell, then a friendly, pleasant voice will be your best choice.
Hard Sell
Hard sell is more aggressive and more serious. A more powerful voice is designed to get your customer to buy a product or service right away. If you require a hard sell, you will want to find a voice artist with a deep, “announcer” style voice.
Professional voice overs are important to make your content captivating. The variation in expressions, accent, and style of a voice over actor can make your ad more appealing.
Some benefits of using professional voice over talent:
– Voice overs for commercials are a proven solution to make your content more alive and real.
– A great voice over can help to elevate your business (or campaign) above your competition.
– Voice overs help to tell your story in a way that is understandable and engaging.
Can you do your own voice overs? Sure, there is an element of trust that happens when you are the owner and the face of your company. The stars must align though. You must have a clear voice, that is pitched well and you must enunciate!
If you have THE best voice for your situation, awesome. But if you don’t, start looking into getting a professional voice over talent.
If you are unsure if your voice would work for an ad, give us a call to find out if your pipes ROCK! We have our resident voice over pro available. Either way, we want to help you make the best ad possible.
You don’t want people to roll their eyes when they hear your ad. You want people to LISTEN and ACT.
Professional voice over talents are trained, and have practiced reading scripts for innumerable hours. Most professionals these days have home studios and either produce their ads themselves or have connections to producers to add music and sound effects so your ad is top notch and EXACTLY what you are looking for!
You might be surprised at how affordable it can be and once you have found THE voice (or perhaps maybe more than one voice) and you can be confident that your very important concern is being presented in a professional, memorable manner, not “cheesy.”
Questions? Call us. 800-208-7154 or fill out the contact form.
Pete Miller and Sean Pearce
