Entries Tagged as 'blogs'

voice talent paul strikwerda walks for MS – an amazing journey

Paul_Strikwerda_MS_walk

So I was looking at Paul Strikwerda’s blog earlier as he was participating in Mahmoud Taji’s blog post discussion when I saw the above graphic that caught my eye.

How nice, I thought, that Paul would offer his VO services if someone donated to his participation in the Multiple Sclerosis walk and how great he put it on his blog.

Then I read further and was even more impressed.

However, no one had seemed to donate yet. Well I fixed that and I hope you’ll add to the pot too if you can.

While it would be lovely I’m sure, I don’t need Paul to read anything for me so I hereby offer my read up as an “extra” for anyone who might want it.

Our voice over industry is almost as amazing as the journey it takes us on everyday.

one last word on Justin from Justin

<em> Justin Kaiser, 1977-2010</em>

Justin Kaiser, 1977-2010

So I was culling through all my Google blog feeds as I was feeling the need to purge. Some people do this annually or some people do it like me – when the feeling hits.

I decided I was tired of the uselessness of the Craigslist feeds on voice over jobs that I started following about 6-8 months ago. Then while I was removing those 365 feeds, I thought – hey I’ll do a blog post about that (cheap jobs, VO’s posting how crappy the jobs were and how craigslist is about “cheap” – always has been- so we can’t get mad about it). Meanwhile I decided to go through and look at the other feeds and maybe clean a bit.

And then I noticed a feed entitled “Creating Conversations” by Justin Kaiser, a fellow voice talent who was buried this week at the age of 33 following from complications following surgery.

And my heart sank.

Craigslist didn’t seem so important nor did just about anything else. Sigh….big sigh.

And no, I can’t bring myself to delete his blog feed.

But then I thought I’d do something that I felt might be a nice remembrance of a special part of Justin’s life – his work at Creative Identities Group.

Justin’s last blog entry (I’m pretty sure he wrote this up…but I did not confirm it….I like to think he wrote it) was posted on December 3, 2009. It was a simple post about On-hold messaging. It made me smile and I sorta feel that’s the way he would have wanted it. I hope it makes you smile too because after reading all the posts about him, I believe that would please him very much.

5 Reasons to Use On-Hold Messages

by On Hold Identity Group

In these difficult economic times it’s worth using every marketing tool available to you. On hold messages are a simple, effective and cost-efficient method of getting your marketing message out to your clients. Think of an on-hold message as a form of infomercial about your business. It’s an ideal opportunity to tell your potential customers about the products and services you offer and the benefits they can bring. No one likes to be put on hold, and many of us feel it’s a complete waste of our time. So if you can turn this into a productive, entertaining 2 or 3 minutes, your callers will appreciate it.

Your company will also appreciate the benefits, as studies conducted by major telecommunication companies revealed that approximately 20% of callers that are placed on hold will actually make purchase decisions based on what they hear while they are on hold.

So what are some of the benefits of using an on-hold message?

1. Introduce new products or services to your customers.

2. You have a captive audience why not use this valuable undivided attention – Entertain and inform them but also remind them that you value them as a customer.

3. Callers are more likely to stay on the line if they hear a message and/or background music. A caller who doesn’t stay on the line is a potential lost sale.

4. Inform your customers of general business hours and holiday time opening and closing times. Use the message to answer frequently asked questions – saving your customer service team time and resources and increasing their efficiency.

5. Tell customers the benefits of using your products and services – remind them how your company can help improve their situation and solve their problem.

Its also important to choose a voiceover artist whose voice reflects your company’s brand and image. Choose a voice that makes your company sound engaging and interesting. A voice that is clear and distinct, but also one that engenders trust and credibility. A professional voiceover artist can deliver a persuasive sales message as well as sounding polite and personable.

anthony mendez’ new blog

<em>Voice Talents Melissa Exelberth, Anthony Mendez and Peter K. O'Connell</em>

Voice Talents Melissa Exelberth, Anthony Mendez and Peter K. O'Connell

Bob Souer’s blog is usually better at keeping up with stuff like this than I am cause people send him their info and updates. But the stars aligned tonight so that I can advise you that the “cross over voice” aka my friend and fellow voice talent Anthony Mendez has changed the name and location of his blog.

Anthony Mendez’ Post-amp blog can be found by clicking the link here. I hope you’ll subscribe to it like I have.

an update on voice over blog links

london-double-decker

Even though he didn’t know it, Bob Souer reminded me of something today in his blog post.

I had asked for any bloggers who wanted a link on my blog and who were not already listed to ping me and I’d add them to my voice over blog roll on this site. You may see it better if you scroll down a bit in the columns on to the right of this post.

I also asked for a reciprocal link which I hope those I link to will put on their blogs but I don’t have the time to check on each and every one of them. HEY, but YOU might have the time, so if you see a voice over blog that doesn’t link to mine, ping me and there will be a major cash reward…not from me as I don’t HAVE any money).

Bob’s post noted that John Florian on VoiceOver Xtra had a blog link page which, sadly, I didn’t realize until just now, even though he gave this blog a link on his page. BUT since John’s news service now accepts comments on stories, that enters it into blog territory so John now has a link on voxmarketising. Thank you John, for all you do for your fellow voice over professionals – it is appreciated and valued.

Also added to the voice over blog roll now are blogs from George Whittam, Michael Stuber, William Spears, Nikki Saco, Jason Bishop, Scott Brick, Lance Blair (whose link was already there but is now updated to its new address), Cartoon Brew, Mahmoud Taji, Mairead Curran and Matt Colrick.

An IMPORTANT point: some blogs I found recently were NOT added as they had not posted in over a year. While its not my place to tell people how often they want to write, I gauge the credibility of a blog by the frequency of its posts. I get that blogging isn’t for everyone and I am not judging. I am committed to providing information on all current voice over blogs. If this is you and you increase your post frequency, please let me know and I’ll pop you right up there.

And for goodness sakes folks, how can anyone have a blog WITHOUT an RSS button or link. It’s one of the main ways people SUBSCRIBE to a blog. If a blog post is uploaded to the internet and nobody reads it, does the blog really exist? And yet I saw a bunch of them today; it’s a darn shame no one can easily read them regularly. Oh well.

Thanks.

be in it for the money – international edition

audioconnell_money

As you’ll recall (cause you’re the only one who reads this blog…and thanks again for that) the issue of payment terms for voice over services provided was addressed here recently. It revolved around American voice talents who work domestically and internationally with one story focusing on the challenges of U.S. voice talents getting paid by internationally based clients.

This is truly a universal problem, as Mahmoud Taji notes in his recent post, because getting the money one is owed is an economic challenge for voice over talents no matter where you live.

voice over talents – do i have your blog listed

London_bus

Back in the early 1950’s 😉 when I started out blogging about voice overs (and marketing and advertising), there were like…5 of us. Now there’s a double-decker London bus full of voice over bloggers.

While I think I have them all listed here and subscribe to them all, I know that the playing field changes fast and frequently. That coupled with the fact that some bloggers fall of the face of the earth or get bored with blogging means my list needs updating. If you’d rather not watch paint dry, you can always sift through a listing of voice over bloggers to see who is still actively publishing…the effect is the same but voice over blog list actually feels more tortuous.

Example: one blog I THOUGHT I was subscribed to and had listed here was Paul Strikwerda’s blog called Double Dutch. Very good blog and you should subscribe.

Today I realized this omission and fixed it. But it reminded me to ask you if you have a voice over blog and are not listed with a link on voxmarketising.com to:

1. Please let me know this and I will correct the error
2. If you haven’t already, please link back from your blog to this blog (audio’connell’s voxmarketising – is the proper name and the address is http://www.voxmarketising.com) So simple, even a caveman can do it.
3. If you have ceased blogging and are on my list, just ping me and I’ll pull you off the list.

Thanks.