I’ve heard the expression that in decision making, you should “Thrown it (an idea) against the wall and see if it sticks.” Does this phrase apply to your voiceover success strategy? In voice acting like any other businesses, if you want to be successful, you must have a focus.
If you’ve ever watched dangerous pets being fed by trainers, you see them throwing an assortment of mouthwatering morsels that are quickly gulped up by the animal to make room for the next catch. As a voice talent, you don’t have to mock the feeding of an animal. It’s okay the choose what you want and what you don’t want to do in your business. Making wise choices in your running your voiceover business will improve your performance and lighten your mental load on your pathway to success.
It can take many years to become successful in business. Those of us in the business of voice acting, usually have no idea of how long it will take for us to reach our perceived success whether it be money or voiceover jobs. The uncertainty of time to success is the strongest reason to focus and choose what works for you in your business.
Know What You Do Best
Identify what you are best at as a talent. Are you drawn to performing commercials, radio promos, or narrations? Focus on that skill or those skills in your training pursuits. If you’re not sure yet, verify with your coach where your best voice performance lies and then research on how to be the best in that genre.
Not everything matters equally, and success isn’t a game won by whoever does the most. Yet that is exactly how most play it on a daily basis.” Gary Keller, author of The One Thing
You don’t need to go after all areas of voice acting. Focusing on what you are good at will lead you to success faster than the “catch whatever” attitude when searching for and accepting voiceover jobs. Target your best audience through marketing and focus on the jobs you want.
Now that you know what you are good at, what does the voiceover industry need in your preferred genre? What are the ideal styles that work best in reaching target audiences’ clients? Look, listen, and find out what voice producers want and focus on being in the position to deliver those tools with excellence.
Become the Best You Can
Train, practice, and train again. With the fast pace and change within the voiceover industry, you must be open to what is working now and what worked yesterday. Are you current in your voice acting delivery and style? How can you improve? Your best delivery today should be relevant for today and not what was good yesterday or last year.
Get the Word Out About You
Market to the voice-over seekers in your chosen genre. Purchase marketing or client lists if needed and find your reach out by email or social media sites or even cold calling. If your budget does not support the purchasing of voiceover contact lists, do your web search using keywords and phrases to narrow down potential voice searcher in your area. Once you feel you’ve exhausted the search in your area, expand nationally, and even internationally to find your target audience.
Stay Focused (Don’t Change Unless You Must)
You may receive offers to do other types of voice acting work, but you may want to steer clear of accepting those offers. I’m not suggesting you leave money on the table, but if you move from your goal, you may fracture your focus and lose sight of your goal. There are many types of voice acting, so staying in your voiceover genre will grow your business more steadily over time to the goal you want.
Focus as you break a lip!