Don't Do Your Own Voice Over

By Author: Terry Daniel
Total Articles: 46
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When you own a small or medium-sized business, it is a good idea to look for ways to cut corners. That is great advice if it makes you avoid purchasing something more expensive when something less expensive will do, or if you avoid making purchases you don't need. However, some business owners try to cut corners a little too far, and end up not purchasing services they actually need. One area in which business owners make this mistake is in do-it-yourself commercials. Unless you are a voice-over professional yourself, don't try and voice your own commercials, because doing so can actually drive away potential customers.

The most common reason that customers are driven away from businesses whose owners make their own commercials is that the commercials themselves annoy them. It may not be a pleasant truth to bear, but not every voice is cut out for the microphone. If you have an unprofessional voice, customers will not want to listen to your commercial. If you are untrained, you may be sending messages that you don't intend to send. You may sound angry without knowing and will, in turn, make your audience tense. If your ...
... commercials make them tense, then listeners will not be inspired to visit your establishment.

If it is obvious that you don't have a professional voice-over artist, listeners will assume at least one of two things - that you are a cheapskate or that you are not successful enough to afford to put together a professional commercial. People who assume you are cheap when it comes to your advertising may also assume you are cheap when it comes to the product or service you are attempting to sell, and will not have faith in you. It is also a bad business practice to let people know you can't afford things, even if it is true. Customers want to do business with successful people. Therefore, you must always act as though you are successful. Spending money in the right place will help you do that.

Though the final reason for not acting in your own commercials won't necessarily have an effect on potential customers, it is a valid thing to think about: Wasting your time performing a task best left to people who can do it better is a unwise use of one of your most valuable resources - you. As the CEO of a business venture or department, your time is best spent doing what you do best, and that is running things. Your job as owner is to delegate jobs and responsibility. If you do choose to do some things yourself, do those things you can do well.

Your commercial is like a job interview. It's your chance to make a first impression on potential customers unfamiliar with your business and to let others know you are still working and still doing an outstanding job. Just as you would never go into a job interview as anything less than a professional, you should never allow your advertising to be anything less than completely professional. Hiring professionals and delegating tasks, where it is the appropriate thing to do, instead of running around trying to do everything, is the mark of a good leader. Don't let the desire to save a buck make you a laughingstock.