Voice Talent – What Difference Do They Make?
August 26th, 2007 Filed under: Uncategorized — Advertising AuthorThere are many, many listeners who simply turn the channel when they hear local vendors voicing their own spots on the radio. Sure, they laugh. Sure, they remember the store. They also remember that they vowed on the spot never to set foot in that particular store. Whether it’s because they had to endure a painful listening experience or whether it’s because they assume the bad commercial means that the owner is a bit less than professional, doesn’t make a difference. What matters is, the commercial turned off a listener who may have otherwise spent money in that store.
Many business owners assume that all they need to do is let people know about their store and customers will flock in. If that were the case, corporations wouldn’t be spending loads of money per year on advertising campaigns. How you present what you have to offer is important. It may even be more important than the quality of the product itself. No one is going to know about the quality if you can’t interest them to begin with. Telling them isn’t going to do the job either, because they already have dozens of other merchants with the same item telling them their product is the best.
That’s the reason your commercial has to get people’s attention. But, of course, you want it to stand out in a good way. You don’t want to turn people off.
A commercial should convince potential customers to try your product. And yes, sounding like a fun person may indeed help you in some cases, but sounding professional or hiring someone else to sound professional for you will help you win over more customers. Many business owners actually turn customers off by trying to come on too strong, and too fun. Trying to seem fun often creates the opposite effect. It often makes customers feel as though you are not being genuine. It often makes them think you are trying to be a very special person who needs to be paid attention to.
What you want is to make your listener feel special, as though they are worth paying attention to. A professional commercial is a good start. You may even want to mention that to the actor you hire. I want you to make my customer feel as though he or she is the most special individual in the world. That always makes people feel good, because in our Look at me! society, it is very rare. And frankly, people are tired of people who want to sell them things clamoring for their attention.
Yet, when a non-professional makes a commercial, that is exactly how they appear. It can be exhausting to have to endure something like that.
An actor, however, knows how to cut through all of that and make the listener want to listen. Even though the customer knows the actor is trying to sell them something, they become willing to believe the illusion for a few minutes because it sounds good. A professional voice-over artist knows how to make listeners feel good, and that is the best thing about them.
