Touches.
You’ll hear me use this term a lot when I speak about marketing. It’s a term you need to be familiar with. For the record, it has nothing to do with getting physical. Definitely NOT that kind of touch!
Touches is the term I use for connecting with your voice over leads, prospects and clients to keep yourself top of mind.
When it’s time for them to book their next voice over recording, you want to be the first name they think of.
Inevitably you’re now proclaiming, “but Marc, how do I do this without being annoying?”
I’m glad you asked.
Stop Thinking You’re Annoying
The first thing we need to address is this HUGE elephant in the room. The notion that by reaching out to people you’re annoying them. Going into any marketing effort with that mindset is NEVER going to pay off for you. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that mindset has probably kept you from doing a lot of marketing.
Am I right?
I figured as much!
Here’s the fact you need to accept before we go any further. You offer a valuable service to people. Your professional narration is going to enhance their video. Tell their story. Effectively deliver their message. Give life to their commercial. Engage their audience.
You’re not reaching out to annoy people. You’re reaching out to add value to their work!
Repeat that last statement for me.
“I’m not reaching out to annoy people. I’m reaching out to add value to their work!”
This is fact, and I’m glad we cleared that little misconception up. Now we can move on.
5 Ways to Stay Top of Mind Without Being Annoying
The key to making effective touches is to remember it’s not about constantly selling or pitching. You’ve already made contact. They already know who you are and that you’re a professional voice actor. Now your objective is to simply remind them, from time-to-time, that you’re here and available if they need you.
Vacation Notice: ‘Tis the season for summer vacation and this brings about an amazing opportunity to bring yourself top of mind. Let your existing clients know the dates you’ll be out of the office and that you’re making yourself available to accommodate any of their voice over needs before you go. Planning on traveling with gear? Let them know that too.
This isn’t annoying because it’s offering value. It’s giving them a heads up so they can get their projects done before you go, rather than leaving them stuck waiting for your return. Or, worse yet, having to book another VO. Once you lose a client for that reason, it might be hard to get them back.
Your Project: A few weeks after you deliver a voice over recording to your client, look for the project online. Granted, not every project is going to make it to the interwebs, but many do. If you can find it, you now have a reason to reach out and get top of mind. Let them know you saw the project. Tell them they did a great job on the production. Ask them if they mind if you share it on social media. Get permission to use it for demo purposes.
This isn’t annoying because you’re complimenting their work and offering to spread the word via your network. When you share the project via social media, don’t share it by saying, “look at this VO I did.” Rather, share it as a fan telling your friends about a great service or brand.
Thank You: When the cheque arrives, the PayPal notice comes in, or the invoice is otherwise cleared, say thanks. This is especially convenient if you’re on 30 day terms with clients. It’s been a month since you completed the project, and now you just got back on their mind again.
This isn’t annoying because, well, quite frankly, it’s just polite!
What’s New: Has it been a while since you last connected with a prospect or client because you just haven’t been able to find a good reason to reach out? One of my favorite emails for this exact situation is simply to send a note asking if they’re working on anything new. Remember, you’re not selling. You’re just connecting.
This isn’t annoying because you’re simply showing interest in them and their work, and let’s be honest… we all love to talk about cool projects we’re working on.
Get Social: Did they share something on Twitter? Reply. Did they post something on Facebook? Comment. Did they write an article on LinkedIn? Share it! All of these social triggers are simple, effective ways to bring yourself top of mind.
This isn’t annoying because it’s how social media works!
Just Do It!
All five of these simple tips offer you convenient ways to get back in front of your prospects and clients without selling, pitching, or otherwise annoying. These are just relationship building techniques that all add value and serve a purpose.
The most important thing you can do to grow your database and convert leads to prospects and prospects to clients is to make those touches every week.
How many? That depends on the size of your database, but I always say if you’re reaching 50 new leads each week, then you should have a large enough database to make 50 touches each week too.
Get a system in place, like a CRM, and start holding yourself accountable to making those touches and staying top of mind. The success of your business depends on it!
