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A Quick Tip For Marketing At Local Chamber of Commerce Event

When you live outside of a major market, it’s easy to think you can’t compete in the voice over industry. After all, that’s where all the money is, right? Well, no question there are big opportunities in big cities. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still build a nice little business for yourself at a local level.

It’s important to remember that local businesses are still businesses! They’re looking for ways to market themselves too. Sure, they may not have the budgets of major corporations, but that doesn’t mean opportunities don’t exist and there’s no money to be made.

Joining your local Chamber of Commerce, or at the very least, attending some of the events they sponsor, can be a great way to network locally and generate some solid leads and clients for yourself.

So Many Local Opportunities

Consider these…

  • Most local businesses will have a phone system of some kind. That offers message on hold opportunities.
  • Do you have a local radio station (or stations) in your town or city? Local businesses advertising on radio (or TV) could be looking for a unique, professional voice to deliver their message.
  • Small businesses use social media and the web the same way large corporations do. They may very well be producing videos for their home page or Facebook page that could use a voice over.
  • More and more companies are creating employee training videos.

Bottom line is, there are opportunities out there. You’ve just gotta go grab them.

A Quick Tip For Maximizing Your Success Potential

When I speak with coaching clients about the subject of the local chamber, many of them say the same thing, “I attended a meeting, and half the people didn’t even know what a voice over was!”

Therein lies your opportunity. It’s simple. Show them!

Load up your demos on a tablet and take it to a meeting.

When you’re speaking with someone about voice over, now you’ve got a tool you can use to show them (on the spot) what a voice over is, and explain how it their business could benefit from having a professional narration for their project.

If you’ve got videos you can load onto your tablet, perfect. Do that too!

Make sure you get a card from any individual willing to listen to your demo, and then follow up with them after the meeting to discuss their needs further.

Someone that listens to your demo is definitely a solid prospect!

Thanks for sharing this post from Marc Scott's Voice Over Blog.

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Free Yourself From All Day Pay 2 Play

Show of hands… who likes sitting at the computer all day every day competing with hundreds (or thousands) of other voice actors trying to submit the most auditions and book jobs via online casting sites?

Interesting… I see no hands.

Online casting sites are a great way to book work. Don’t get me wrong. But if they’re your only source, and your business is dependant on submitting dozens upon dozens of auditions daily, and getting them submitted early enough in the process to actually get heard… you’re doing it wrong.

Free Yourself From All Day Pay 2 Play

hands-inFor those of you that have questioned if there’s a better way, I’m here to tell you… there is! Right now, approximately 80-90% of my voice over work walks through the door on a weekly basis.

In other words… scripts just appear in my inbox.

If I have time to submit some Pay 2 Play auditions, I will and do. But I’m not forced to be in front of the microphone feverishly auditioning for every job that matches my profile.

The goal isn’t to collect customers. The goal is to build relationships. Click to Tweet

If your current business model is to audition for as many jobs as humanly possible and see what comes back to you, you’re unlikely to ever have the freedom that comes with work walking through the door. That’s because you’re collecting customers. You’re building a business on one-off jobs that are unlikely to bring repeat business.

You Need To Be Building Relationships

I’m very strategic in my marketing. I’m not reaching out to people who need one voice over. I’m reaching out to people who need one voice over a month. Or one voice over a week. Or one voice over every couple days.

When I find those people, I begin to build a relationship. A relationship that is mutually beneficial. A relationship that ultimately results in work walking through my door.

By spending a lot less time sitting in front of the computer on casting sites, I can spend more time marketing myself to the right people. The people that will help me build my business. I’m not collecting customers. I’m building relationships that will last for years to come.

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The Secret To Booking Voice Over Work Via Social Media

There’s a been a lot of talk lately about the value of social media when it comes to booking voice over work. A lot of people who are much wiser than me have shared their thoughts on the subject.

Is There Value In Social Media

social-media-likeQuestions such as, “Can you book work via social media?”,  “Can you measure the ROI of social media?”, and “Which social networking platforms offer the most value?” have all been explored.

While I don’t consider myself to be an expert on the subject of social media / social networking, I can say that I’ve booked voice over work directly via Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn.

So for those of you that are tweeting and updating and “plus oneing” away, wondering if it’s all for nothing, or if one day it will lead to work, I’m going to let you in on one of the secrets to my success.

The Secret To Booking Voice Over Work Via Social Media

Five of the most important words you can ask yourself when it comes to social networking are, who is in your network? Are all your Twitter Followers, Facebook Likes, Google+ Circles and LinkedIn Connections other voice over actors? 

“Building a network of voice actors is the social media equivalent of preaching to the choir.” Tweet This

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with having a network of peers. I follow and am followed by tons of voice actors and love engaging with them daily. However, other voice actors aren’t likely to be booking you for voice over work.

The secret to voice over social media success: Build a network of potential clients. Tweet This

Be Intentional About Building Your Network

Networking-Event-ConnectingWhen you’re building your network on whatever your social media platform of choice is, specifically seek out contacts that are working in your genre. If you’re all about voicing audiobooks, follow authors, audiobook producers, publishers. If you voice characters for video games, follow game developers and production houses that work on those projects.

Build a network of potential clients and engage with them consistently. Like or +1 their updates. Share their tweets. Comment on their blog posts.

With the right network, and by sharing the right content at the right times, you’re going to start reaching the right people with your message. And those people are much more likely to take advantage of your services.

For Comment: Have you booked work via social media?

 

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Add Demos To Your Linked In Profile

A couple weeks ago I wrote a post titled 5 Ways To Improve Your LinkedIn Profile. One of the tips I recommended was adding demos to your Experience section. Since that post, I’ve had a few people email to ask me how to do that. So I thought I’d write a quick post to show you.

Add Demos To Your Linked In Profile

The first think you need to do is access your LinkedIn profile and get it into edit mode.

linkedin-profile-screen-1

Once you’re in edit mode scroll down to the Experience section of your profile.

From there you’ll click the icon to add a link or upload a file. I’ve created YouTube videos for all my voice over demos, so I just add the links to those demos. You can do the same or you can upload actual files.

linkedin-profile-screen-2

After you’ve added your link or uploaded your file your profile will look something like this. There doesn’t appear to be a limit to the number of demos you can add. I currently have seven videos listed.

linkedin-profile-screen-3Let’s Link

Are we connected on LinkedIn yet? If not, send me a request. I’ll happily add you to my network. Check out my profile at ca.linkedin.com/in/marcscottvoiceover/

For Comment: Has LinkedIn generated work for you?

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Diversifying Your Voice Over Portfolio

eggs in a basketI had an appointment at the bank today. I needed to talk to someone about my money.

Here’s the thing, I’m great a doing voice over work. I’m great at earning money. I’ve definitely mastered the fine art of spending money. Heck, I’m even pretty good at saving money. What I’m not that good at, is growing money. Continue reading Diversifying Your Voice Over Portfolio