Marketing Your VO Business Online
The Voice over industry has gone through an incredible transformation in the past
10 years with the advancement of technology and the exponential growth of the Internet and online services. In today's economy, it is unrealistic to expect that you can truly support your VO business without an Internet connection and a home studio of some sort. And if you are not advertising your services online, you are missing out on a very real and viable marketplace for your business.Two and a half years ago, when I relocated to California, I needed to establish a strategy for keeping my loyal clients from the NY/NJ area without having the ability to conveniently travel to their studios, as well as a way to attract and meet new clients on both coasts. ( I did not have any West Coast clients at the time). I had already established the basic lines of communication with my previous clients through email, but I wanted to make sure they remembered me once I moved 3000 miles away. And since no one enjoys their inbox being "spammed", my only options were to find other creative, "non-invasive" ways to increase my online presence and demonstrate my viability as a truly professional entity. I explored many possibilities - online of course - and, through my research, learned a whole lot about various online technologies, and found many wonderful and giving people along the way willing to share their ideas and experiences. (One of the many reasons I have always truly loved the Internet and have always been a complete and utter techno-geek!)
Some of the online strategies and lessons learned that have worked well for business include:
Establish a Web Presence
This is an absolute must in the voice over industry - Having a web site first and foremost, establishes credibility for your business, and gives you a central location where your clients and potential customers can hear your demos and find out more information about you. Luckily for a voice over artist, it doesn't have to be complicated - a simple one page web site with your contact information and demo links can suffice. Keep it simple - due to the fast paced nature of the voice over business, the quicker your information and demos can be accessed, the better. Flashy websites can be incompatible across different browser platforms, so make sure your website functions on the most popular browsers. Make sure to check your site on your mobile device too! You can find great deals on domain names and web hosting atgodaddy.com.
Update your Voice Profile Regularly
Make sure your profile information is always current on your "Pay-to-Play" online casting sites and any freelance sites you may be registered on, as well as your own website. Especially with any recent jobs you have completed or with new or updated demos. Even if you are not fully subscribed or participating actively in submitting auditions, your profile is a linkable web address that is found by search engines and this, in turn will help to advertise your services.
Google Yourself!
Make it a point to google your name and/or brand at least once a week. This will give you a good benchmark indication of your visible online presence, as well as showing you what you shouldn't do! For a while, I was having fun posting comments on "Freebie" blogs in an attempt to win free prizes. Imagine my surprise when I googled my name the following week! There they were, linked in all their glory! Obviously, this can give the wrong impression to potential clients - winning that free pizza really has nothing to do with my voice over business! (And 6 months later, I still see some residual links!)
Market by Example
Read, Research, and Follow peers in your industry every day - Create a basic account for yourself on Twitter, Facebook, and Linked In. See what others are doing and see what works - and what doesn't! One of my favorite "marketers" isEmille Barta. She is a popular trade show spokesperson who tweets and blogs regularly. She always makes sure to promote the company and trade show event she is currently working with. The appreciative company and trade shows respond in kind, tripling her marketing efforts!
Create a Social Media Presence
Building your brand used to be all about you, saying positive things about you. With the advent of social media, building your brand has become the process of bringing value to the market and having the market say good things about you. And (for the time being) - it's all FREE! Create your business presence onTwitter,Facebook, andLinked In, at the very least. If you are a beginner at social media, start by "lurking" and learn the social media etiquette for each platform. Once you are comfortable, your Social Media Marketing Strategy should, at a minimum, enrich the relationship with your current clients and followers through meaningful, professional conversation. In time, these contacts will become "advocate agents".
Add Social Networking to your Email Signature
Once you have established your Social Media business presence, include a "follow me" at the end of your e-mail signature with links to your Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter accounts. This can be another way for you to reach out to clients and others that may have not been aware of your businesses presence on the social networking scene, and makes it easy for them to keep current with you and your business.
BLOG!
The concept of "blogging" allows you to be interactive with your audience, which allows you to develop and nurture important customer (both existing and new) relationships online. If you blog regularly and produce good content, you will be seen as an "expert" in your field, and can develop a following of readers who can be referrals for your business. Most blog software today is optimized for Search Engine Optimzation, or SEO, due to the fact that it allows you to categorize content and designate keywords. This makes it easy for search engines to algorithmically crawl your site, giving you the opportunity to rank well on your topic. Also, by nature, blogging regularly creates fresh content, which means that your site will be crawled more frequently, giving you more opportunities to score high in your search ranking.
Comment Regularly on Industry Blogs
Comments and trackback features in blog software encourage interaction, which are rewarded by search engine rankings. If you don't feel comfortable creating and writing a blog yourself, read other industry blogs and comment on them. This will show that you, and your business, is current and relevant. You name and contact information (such as your website link) can be published along with your comment. On many blogs you can post by automatically by signing in with your Google, AIM or other blogger ID which automatically links your contact info - if you do this - be careful that you use a login that contains your professional information (perhaps NOT your AIM or other ID that you would use to chat casually with your friends)
Comment on this article and get your name out there! :)
Your voice is unique - there is no other voice like it in the world! Once you discover your true voice(s) as an artist, you have the opportunity to become distinctly adept at being the perfect person to market it! Combined with some smart online strategies, your success can be unlimited!
I hope these tips have been helpful and I'd love to hear your comments and suggestions!
Marketing Your VO Business Online
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