What Voice Over Artists Are Good For

By Author: Terry Daniel
Total Articles: 46
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There are many, many customers who simply cringe when they hear local business people voicing their own spots on the radio. Sure, they laugh. Sure, they remember the merchant. They also remember that they vowed on the spot never to do business with that particular store. Whether it's due to the fact that they had to sit through 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 matter. What matters is, the commercial turned off a person who may have otherwise spent money in that store.

Many people assume that all they need to do is let others know about their product and customers will come spend their money. If that were the case, corporations wouldn't be spending billions of dollars per year on marketing 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 have any idea about the quality if you can't interest them to begin with. Telling them isn't going to cut it either, because they already have dozens of other sellers with ...
... the same thing telling them their product is the best.

That's the reason your commercial has to stand out. But, of course, you want it to stand out in a good way. You don't want to make people dislike you.

A commercial should make people want to try your product. And yes, sounding enthusiastic may indeed help you in some cases, but sounding professional - or hiring someone else to sound professional for you - will help you sell more. Many vendors actually turn customers off by trying to come on as too energetic, and too fun. Trying to seem fun often annoys people. It often makes customers feel as though you are trying too hard. It often makes them think you are trying to make them think you are a very special person who needs to be paid attention to.

What you need to do is to make your listener feel special, as though they are worth paying attention to. A professional commercial is a good place to begin. 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 customer in the world. That always gets people's attention, because in our Look at me! society, it is very rare. And frankly, everyone is tired of people who want to sell them things clamoring for their attention.

Yet, when a non-professional puts out a commerical, that is exactly how they come off. It can be exhausting to listen to something like that.

An actor, however, knows how to cut through all of that and make the audience want to hear more. Even though the customer knows the actor is trying to sell them something, they become willing to believe the patter for a few minutes because it is interesting. A professional voice-over artist knows how to make listeners feel good, and that is the best thing about them.