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A lot of voice actors treat practice like something they’ll get to eventually.

New talent waits for a coach.

Seasoned pros figure they’ve already got it.

Both groups are leaving real skill development on the table. Good voiceover practice scripts are the gym equipment of this business. Quality matters.

What Makes a Good Voice Over Practice Script?
It should mirror real-world copy you’d actually get hired to read.

Commercial voice over scripts with a clear call to action. Narration with technical language. E-learning that demands authority. If your voice acting practice scripts sound nothing like actual client work, you’re not practicing. You’re just reading out loud.

How to Practice Voice Acting: Start With What’s Around You
Free voice over scripts are hiding in plain sight. TV, radio, streaming pre-roll ads. Real scripts real clients paid real money for.

Read along, then read without the audio and compare.

Here’s a voiceover training tip people overlook and I’ve been teaching FOR DECADES: grab a magazine.

When a brand ad catches your eye, read the copy. Why? Because for some reason you were drawn to that brand and you are connected.

The messaging, tone, and selling points are all there. With a little rewriting you’ve got a solid voice over script for practice and an unlimited, free supply of fresh material.

Where to Find Free Voiceover Practice Scripts Online

There are some other sources that I’m glad to share with you:

• Edge Studio (edgestudio.com) offers thousands of free voice over scripts for beginners and pros: commercial, narration, animation, e-learning, and more in English and Spanish.
• Voice Actor Websites (voiceactorwebsites.com) has a solid growing collection covering commercial, narration, IVR, PSAs, and imaging.

Why Voiceover Training Never Really Stops
I’ve been doing this over 40 years. I still practice.

Here’s a working voiceover’s truth: sometimes when a client sends a script, there’s little or no warm-up time. You sit down and you are expected to nail it. Practice gets you pointed in the right direction faster because you work your mind and vocal muscles more regularly and with intentionality (that’s a big teacher word, you should be impressed, say oooo or something).

Record yourself every session. What you think you sound like and what the mic actually captures are rarely the same thing. That gap is where voiceover training can begin to fix or enhance.

Quick Answers

In addition to practice scripts, I often get these questions (which could be their own full blog posts) but for now I’ll just briefly touch on them.

Can I use free voiceover practice scripts for my demo?
Generally no. Free script libraries are for voice acting practice and voiceover training, not demos. A good demo needs original, custom-written copy tailored to your voice.

Finding great voiceover practice scripts is not complicated. It just requires getupandgoness. Yes that’s a word…that I just made up.

Where do beginner voice actors start with training?
Start with a good voiceover coach who can assess your actual strengths and weaknesses. Then practice constantly with real-world commercial voice over scripts, narration copy, and anything else that mirrors the work you want to book. The coach gives you direction. The scripts give you reps.

How often should voice actors practice?
As often as you can manage, but quality beats quantity every time. One focused session with fresh voiceover practice scripts you’ve never seen beats an hour of reading the same three scripts you’ve memorized. Variety is the whole game.

What types of voiceover scripts should I practice?
All of them, eventually. But start with the category you most want to book. Commercial voice over scripts if you want ad work. Long-form narration scripts if corporate or e-learning is the goal. Character scripts if animation is your dream. Practice where the work is.

Do I need a voiceover coach to get better?
Yes. Not because I happen to coach, but because nobody can do this alone. You need a trained professional set of ears acting as an omniscient third-party expert. You simply cannot hear yourself the way an experienced voiceover coach hears you. That outside perspective is not optional. It’s essential.

Finding great voiceover practice scripts is not complicated. It just requires geterdoneness (that’s another big teacher word…don’t you feel edumacated now?)

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Peter K. O’Connell is an award-winning professional voice actor and voiceover coach based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Connect with Peter at audioconnell.com.

Tags: voice over workshop, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Like all of us in our everyday lives, people new to voiceover are in an all-fired hurry to get behind the mic and start recording.

The advice these rush-rush-rush folks get from voiceover pros never sits well with them:

• Take group voiceover lessons
• Take individual voiceover lessons
• It can easily take at least six months before you’re ready to perform

Like Veruca Salt in Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory, they want a voiceover career to start NOW!

From a technology standpoint, they can start now…buy a cheap mic, plug it in to a computer (or worse yet just use your phone), sign up at a crappy pay-to-play voiceover site and start auditioning.

Enjoy the crickets of those new jobs more than likely NOT coming in.

So if these new voice acting folks do take the more prudent, thoughtful approach to their new career, if they do take the advice, how will they know when they are ready for their voiceover debut?

The answer varies with every person.

But I was reminded of a good milestone to know when you’re on the right path to a voiceover career the other night when I was teaching a group voiceover lesson.

Simply put,

that milestone is an actor’s ability to “take and execute successfully voiceover direction on the fly”.

What that phrase means is a bit more involved but it’s something every professional voice talent does every day in their job.

What? Lemme ‘splain…

Most scripts come with some written direction on how a producer or client wants a voiceover read to sound. The direction can be as simple as a word or a sentence OR it can be as detailed as a full on creative brief that goes on for a page and sometimes has audio and video examples with it.

But what I refer to as “on the fly direction” is usually direction you get during a voiceover session (or in a voiceover class), usually in-person or in a connected session (like Source-Connect), where you start getting direction outside of the direction listed on the script.

Why would you be getting additional direction? Many reasons but a few might be:

• The director got the takes (sound) they wanted based on the script specs at the start of the recording session but now wants to be creative and have other options to share with the client or hold in reserve in case the client doesn’t like the sound of what they originally agreed to (which happens more than you think)

• The director doesn’t like the read given…it’s not the sound he/she was hearing in his/her head (it has happened to everyone at least once in their career)

• The client doesn’t like the way the audio is turning out even though you did exactly what they asked

The reason for the change in direction doesn’t matter — but what DOES matter is the voice talent’s ability to deliver on the new, unplanned direction.

A trained voice talent, one who has studied voice acting, is not really thrown by such a request but is prepared for it (or at the very least can adapt to it), doesn’t take the changes personally, listens closely to the direction (asking questions for clarification), jumps on the creative band wagon and can usually execute the changes to the producer’s satisfaction.

Attitude for the voice talent in such a situation is almost as important as their line delivery – as that attitude (and their adaptability) can be the difference in ever being hired again by the studio or client.

A pro talent is open to change, accepts tweaks, critiques and even criticism for what it is…part of the journey to satisfy the client and get the job done. Some one who does NOT react or respond well to such changes (most because they weren’t trained in how to deal with it) is going to have immediate and long term reputation problems (cause producers and engineers talk).

Some new voice talents need practice at on the fly direction and some students – like the one I had last week – took the direction and really upped their read. There were still some rough spots but the improvement was amazing. There is a bright VO future there.

So please do the training, get prepared.

In conjunction with the above advice, please consider the pitfalls of voiceover demo mills.

Wait, you may be saying to yourself, what does one have to do with the other. Lemme ‘splain some more.

These demo mills are companies many voiceover newbies find (among other spots) via “free” voiceover classes at places like Community Colleges. You attend the  free class, you’re told you have ‘a bright future in voiceover’, you are offered a program (that you ultimately pay plenty for) where you take a few classes and they make you a commercial voiceover demo in a pretty short amount of time.

So exciting, right? No.

Most of the time, the untrained student gets a demo and not much else to show for it. Rarely any real training.

What I think these demo mills do, besides give somebody rushed lessons, fake praise, false hope and a “demo”, is take a person’s money and leave them with barely passable VO demo.

In some cases, some of the untrained students that fall for these demo mills don’t have the basic talent to be a voice actor (they as performers are just not good) — even if they studied with James Earl Jones every day for 10 years. Other folks in these classes could be but still get no viable training.

In either of the above cases, the demo mills cash in on someone’s dreams, do not help the individual and that’s crappy.

Here’s the nasty secret to demo mills and how I think they REALLY hurt a potential talent – they direct an untrained student “talent” on a few lines of script among seven or eight scripts that gives the producer just enough content to produce the demo.

In the demo production, demo mill producers just focus on getting a mostly untrained student to deliver a close to average or acceptable read on a line or two of copy. They will then edit a bunch of those not great reads into a demo.

But even if the student gives on OK read on those lines (likely after MANY attempts in the demo studio) the untrained student is very unlikely to be able to deliver a FULL PERFORMANCE of that read in a FULL SCRIPT in a studio with a professional producer if the untrained student talent gets hired off the demo mill produced voiceover demo.

The demo mills aren’t teaching script interpretation (which is not at all the same as reading comprehension), they aren’t teaching acting techniques, or anything about breathe control, or versions or you….I could go on and on.

In reality, a producer at a voiceover demo mill (and sometimes the “mill” is just a company of 1) is not teaching an untrained student talent anything except how to voice 1-2 lines of copy well enough to create a read that “sounds” professional…and then collect the demo money.

But…and this is a painful but…should the voice talent get hired off the demo, they are completely ill-trained, ill-equipped to reproduce the demo sound or heaven forbid tweak that sound in an actual recording session. The talent doesn’t know how to really do it because they do not have the training.

Whether the producer fires the talent on the spot or muddles through the session…the talent has made a first impression that is likely unrecoverable.

If you’re looking to get into voiceover, reading this and thinking “I would never make that mistake,” please know that’s what all the people who have worked with demo mills in the past thought too.

Now go back up at read my original advice:
• Take group voiceover lessons
• Take individual voiceover lessons
• It can easily take at least six months before you’re ready to perform

Working quickly can often result in sloppy (read: unprofessional) work.

Nobody’s perfect but be smart and do not start off on the wrong foot.

Please be careful and good luck.

 

Tags: voice over workshop by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Most of the time when I teach a voiceover class through my Voiceover Workshop, it’s a private lesson either in my Raleigh, NC voiceover studio or on a Zoom call somewhere around the world.

But every now and again, I get pulled out of the studio to teach in the voiceover wilderness of eastern and central North Carolina.

Tonight my friend, Wendy Zier, who teaches over at the Theatre Raleigh ACT studios in Raleigh, needed the night off so she called me in as her voiceover teaching understudy.

Great class of students there who really did some great work on the commercial and narration scripts I brought along.

Wonderful time had by all. Thanks!

 

 

 

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Interviewer: THE VOICEOVER EXPRESS
Guest: Peter K. O’Connell – Award-Winning Voice Actor, Voiceover Coach, and Business Owner

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With a career spanning over four decades, American male voice actor Peter K. O’Connell has voiced some of the most recognizable campaigns in North America—from Maaco’s iconic “Uh-Oh, Better Get Maaco” to high-profile work for Duracell, Amazon, Disney, Kraft, and L.L.Bean. Media creatives and audio producers trust him for his voice acting versatility and consistency; voice talents seek out his guidance for both performance and business development.

In this exclusive interview with THE VOICEOVER EXPRESS, Peter draws on his deep well of experience not only as a working voice talent, but also as a small business owner and voiceover coach.

He offers thoughtful insights on the state of the industry, shares why WoVOCon – the Voiceover Unconference, remains a standout event for experienced voiceover professionals, and Peter also reflects on what’s helped him—and many of his students—sustain and grow.

The Voiceover Express:
Peter, it’s always a pleasure. Let’s get right to it given your decades in the voiceover industry—what’s the number one question you get from fellow voice actors?

Peter K. O’Connell:
No contest—it’s “How do I grow my voiceover business?” Right behind that is “How do I land more voiceover jobs?” And, of course, “What’s the best voiceover microphone?”

The Voiceover Express:
Classic questions—and all very real. But your answer is what really stands out. How do you typically respond?

Peter K. O’Connell:
For the past year, my answer has been simple and consistent: Go to WoVOCon—the Voiceover Unconference—and get real answers to those questions, plus the ones you didn’t even know to ask.

The Voiceover Express:
That’s a smart pivot—pointing professionals toward a resource instead of giving a one-size-fits-all reply. So tell us about your experience at WoVOCon.

Peter K. O’Connell:
I first went to WoVOCon in Chicago in 2024, and it helped me in all facets of my voiceover business. It wasn’t just useful—it was transformative.

The Voiceover Express:
That’s saying something. For those not familiar, can you break down what makes WoVOCon so valuable?

Peter K. O’Connell:

Absolutely. WoVOCon the Voiceover Unconference, is produced by World-Voices Organization (I’m a dues-paying WOVO member and Unconference volunteer). WoVOCon is a peer-to-peer event—meaning the attendees are the presenters. And attendees (who are all members of WOVO) are vetted, working voiceover professionals. They share everything from performance techniques to business strategies and tech workflows. It’s not about somebody pitching or selling services, nothing is ala carte—WoVOCon is about genuine knowledge and sharing of professional voiceover experiences by people who pay their mortgages via voiceover. What you learn at WoVOCon is practical and applicable to your voiceover business right now.

The Voiceover Express:
Incredible. And I love that it’s peer-led. That adds an extra layer of authenticity. What’s the vibe like?

Peter K. O’Connell:
It’s intimate, which is one of its biggest strengths. Attendance is capped at 125 people, so you really get to know folks. And to a person, they’re there to learn and help others grow. It’s a deeply collaborative, voiceover-centric environment.

The Voiceover Express:
That’s refreshing in an industry filled with noise. You also make a compelling case for why every VO professional, especially small studio owners, should attend. Care to expand?

Peter K. O’Connell:
Sure. If you’re a voiceover talent, you’re also a small business owner. And WoVOCon is where practical voiceover training, real industry insights, and meaningful networking happen. You’re not listening to abstract advice—you’re hearing from people who’ve done the thing. You learn from everyone. The only downside? WoVOCon only happens once a year.

The Voiceover Express:
Now that’s the kind of conference we all want—limited, high-quality, and packed with value. When and where is the next one?

Peter K. O’Connell:
This year’s WoVOCon will be held in New Orleans, October 17–19, at the Embassy Suites by Hilton. I’ve got my reservation—I’ll be there. And if growing your client base, sharpening your skills, and mastering the voiceover business matter to you… there’s nowhere better to be.

The Voiceover Express:
Peter, the way you break that down makes it clear why WoVOCon is such a strong recommendation. But you’ve been walking the walk (or more like talking the talk -voiceover humor) in this industry for a long time. For those who may not be familiar—can you take us through your background and career?

The Voiceover Express:
Sure. I’ve been in the voiceover industry for over 40 years now, working as a voice actor and live announcer. Along the way, I’ve been fortunate to build a career that blends versatility, personality, and professionalism—those are the pillars I’ve always tried to stand on. I’ve come to be known in the industry as “Your Friendly, Neighborhood Voiceover Talent,” and I think that pretty well reflects both my approach to the work and the relationships I build with clients.

The Voiceover Express:
That nickname says a lot—it’s accessible but also polished, which feels true to your work. What types of voiceover projects have defined your career?

Peter K. O’Connell:

There’s been a great mix. I’ve done national and regional commercial campaigns, non-broadcast narration, and live event announcing. Over time, that variety really helped me stay creatively fresh. One of the more recognizable spots I was part of was Maaco’s iconic “Uh-Oh, Better Get Maaco” campaign. That “everyman” voice really connected with people. On the other end of the spectrum, I’ve done high-energy character work like Crest’s “Pro-Active Defense” ad and brought a warm, relatable tone to L.L.Bean’s “Be An Outsider” campaign.

The Voiceover Express:
That’s a wide range—from friendly guy-next-door to animated character actor. What other brand work has stood out to you?

Peter K. O’Connell:
I’ve voiced campaigns for companies like Duracell, Ford Dealers, and Novartis. Kraft Dinner’s “Pony and Jockey” campaign in Canada was especially fun—it was full of quirky charm. I’ve also voiced content for iHeart Radio, and I’ve handled narration for brands like Amazon Web Services, Deloitte Canada, IBM, General Electric, Tic Tac, and Disney.

The Voiceover Express:
That’s a who’s who of major clients. It seems like narration has become a big part of your portfolio, too?

Peter K. O’Connell:
Definitely. I do a lot of narration work now—explainer videos, eLearning, and corporate storytelling. Whether I’m voicing a whimsical character like a scarecrow for AWS or guiding viewers through something more reverent, like the U.S. Army’s history in Fort Huachuca: An Enduring National Treasure, I always focus on clarity, warmth, and pacing. You’re telling a story—whether it’s 30 seconds or 30 minutes.

The Voiceover Express:
We noted when doing our research for this interview, you’re also a trusted guide for others in the voice acting industry. Let’s talk about The Voiceover Workshop. What inspired you to start coaching?

Peter K. O’Connell:
Honestly, coaching wasn’t part of some grand plan. I just started helping folks because they asked. I’ve been a full-time working voiceover talent for over 40 years—and somewhere along the way, other voice actors began asking me questions. “How do I improve my reads?” “How do I find clients?” “Why isn’t this demo working?” That’s how The Voiceover Workshop came to be, almost 20 years ago now.

The Voiceover Express:
And now you’re known as the “Voiceover Consigliere,” which we love. What kind of approach do you take in your coaching?

Peter K. O’Connell:
That nickname kind of stuck—probably because it’s more fun than “counselor,” but that’s really what I try to be: someone who helps you get where you want to go. I’m not a professional VO teacher (and there are MANY great ones), I don’t run group classes or focus on a formal syllabus. Every session with me is one-on-one, tailored specifically to what the voice talent wants to focus on—whether it’s script interpretation, narration technique, character voices, demo feedback, or the business and marketing side of things.

The Voiceover Express:
That sounds incredibly practical and personal—especially for an industry where so many people feel like they’re navigating alone.

Peter K. O’Connell:
I believe in practical, actionable help. Every voice talent has different goals, so every session should reflect that. We meet virtually—usually via Zoom or Teams—and we dive deep into whatever matters most to them. It’s been amazing to work with voice actors from all over the world, at every experience level.

The Voiceover Express:
And judging by the feedback from your students, it’s clearly making an impact.

Peter K. O’Connell:
I’m grateful for that. I think the most meaningful part is hearing how something we worked on helped someone land a client or gain confidence in their reads or reframe how they run their business. That’s what matters.

The Voiceover Express:
Peter, your career truly reflects the depth and range that many voice actors aspire to. Thanks for pulling back the curtain and sharing both your insights and experience with us today.

Peter K. O’Connell:
My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

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For more information about WoVOCon, visit WOVOCON.com.

Producers can reach out to Peter K. O’Connell directly to discuss voiceover needs—from commercials and narration to live announcing at peterkoconnell.com.

For voice talents ready to grow, refocus, or finally get started the right way…visit voworkshop.com to learn more about The Voiceover Workshop, see testimonials, and schedule your one-on-one session with Peter.

Tags: media releases, voice over workshop, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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“Peter K. O’Connell on Voiceover Longevity, Learning, and the Power of Peer Connection”

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The question I get asked the most by fellow voice actors: How do you grow your voiceover business?

Right behind that: How do I land more voiceover jobs?

And of course: What’s the best voiceover microphone?

Here’s been my answer for the past year—go to WoVOCon The Voiceover Unconference and get real answers to those questions, plus the ones you didn’t even know to ask.

I went to WoVOCon in Chicago in 2024, and it helped me in all facets of my voiceover business.

WoVOCon – the Voiceover Unconference, produced by World-Voices, is a peer-to-peer voiceover conference built for professional voiceover talent. The attendees are the presenters—working VO pros who’ve built careers in voice acting, voiceover performance, business, and tech.

It’s also intimate, capping out at 125 attendees…so you WILL get to know a lot of people quickly. To a person, they are all at WoVOCon to share knowledge and learn, not sell anything.

Yes, voiceover talent reading this—you, the small business owner of your own VO studio—this is where practical voiceover training, industry insights, and next-level connections actually happen.

The upside? You learn from everyone. The downside? It only happens once a year.

This year it will be held in New Orleans, October 17-19 at The Embassy Suites by Hilton.

Nope, I don’t make a cent from promoting WoVOCon. I just believe in it.

I’ve got my reservation. I’ll be there. You should be too—and if growing your client base, improving your skills, and mastering the voiceover industry matter to you, there’s nowhere better to be.

Tags: commentary, voice over training, voice over workshop, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice, WOVOCON by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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I’ve been fortunate to be invited on a number of voiceover related podcasts and webcasts (because the ‘cooking show’ podcasts know I don’t really have that much to offer – as I am a Platinum Member of the Arby’s Best Customer Club).

So it was nice to have the VO Workshop invited on Tom Dheere’s “Ask Me Anything” webcast (part of his VO Strategist business) to discuss voice-over marketing.

Full disclosure, I was not his first choice for the show but his original guest had to cancel last minute. Glad to help out my friend of at least 10+ years just before airtime.

The show must go on! Indeed it did!

We spoke about marketing priorities for voice talents including databases, demos, websites and more. We also took questions from viewers of the live broadcast.

According to Tom, the show went very well. As the guest, I know hosts always say that but the response thus far has been very positive. I know I enjoyed myself.

Hope you enjoy it.

TRANSCRIPT IS AUTO GENERATED

0:00
so where you from and how’d you get started hey thanks for calling uh the uh I I started um back in 1982 officially I
0:08
mean I really always wanted to be in radio um I tell the story on on my
0:14
website when they put my bio up there um that I was in kindergarten in 1969 at at
0:20
madii school and our and our teacher sister Donna Marie was kind enough uh to
0:26
take a class of four and five year olds to a radio station so and it was webr which is a station
0:33
that kind of exists now but not certainly the way it did um and I remember walking into that studio not
0:39
really understanding radio here’s my concept of radio back when I was in kindergarten that there was a band uh
0:45
that played a song and then that band left and the next Band came on and played their song that was that was that
0:53
was my logic of in kindergarten of how how radio worked okay so when I saw how
0:58
radio worked I was just like ooh I don’t we all have that sort of moment where we go wow what was that
1:05
could be a car it could be you know a location a trip we took but that was me
1:10
that was me and I knew somehow from that point forward I was going to definitely
1:15
uh be involved in in radio and so you’re saying so you’re saying you wanted to you discovered you wanted to be a DJ when you were five years old I didn’t
1:22
know what a DJ was but I wanted to work in that place I want to work in the place with the tubes and the levers and
1:27
the microphones and people talking and was really cool cool um so I I really
1:32
like I really like that so fast forward to uh you know finishing up high school and got to make some decisions here and
1:39
I wanted to you know it it it’s tough to uh put together a radio career and a
1:47
college career together because that’s a lot of money to invest in it but the idea was uh that I get a good college
1:54
education so if the radio thing didn’t work out you know you you had a backup so um fast forward to there’s a couple
2:01
schools um three or four schools that I was looking at um and a couple of them
2:06
said no and then uh a few others of them said oh sure and one of them was the
2:12
University of Dayton which is where I ended up going so I’m I’m a Dayton flyer and the the reason um I went there uh
2:20
was was very simple uh the University of Dayton owned a 50,000 watt FM radio
2:26
station which was not a normal College radi station you’re saying a some kids come in there and they put on a t-shirt
2:33
talk to their buddies in the dorm no this had a professional paid general manager not a student professional paid
2:40
program director not a student professional paid sales team that made their living on sales traffic department
2:48
but the students were on air save um were all all the people on air were all students save for the morning man who
2:55
was the paid program director and the music director who had the afternoon shift so I I got myself on there in the
3:01
first year um and I was doing news in the afternoon uh I think I started maybe
3:08
December January around that time of my freshman year and I worked all the way through uh and and and by my beginning
3:15
my sophomore year I had a regular shift um Monday through Friday 6:00 to 900m so
3:20
I was I was the evening dish jockey and got to do all sorts of stuff but while I was doing all that
3:26
um I the the the radio station would have their announcers as most radio
3:31
stations do um read commercial copy uh sometimes it’s uh you know starting at
3:38
the theater near you this Friday back when people only could go to theaters um you know and um and then you know I got
3:46
to do some other spots and sometimes the clients were kind of fun they let me you know they let us be creative well i’ I
3:52
have a I had a shift uh in production so I work two or three hours a day so I would do you know I dub over commercials
3:58
from real toore and put them on carts but then you’d get commercial copy and they let you be creative with it that’s
4:05
where the lightning bolt hit for voice over I’m like oh I can write I can do
4:11
voices I I love making sound effects and music and all this other stuff and I became quite known for it at the station
4:17
to the point where clients would hire me uh to do their spots pay me additionally
4:23
versus the fee that I was normally getting and then take my spots and put them on other stations for which I got
4:29
remunerated again so um that was that was kind of when I went oh that’s cool um and I you
4:36
know I’d really like really like that but um you know it was it was fun but I
4:42
also realized at some point I needed to get a real job because I got some radio jobs after graduating and you know the
4:49
pay was was was pretty bad um and to think now it’s even worse uh but but it
4:55
was it was bad in 1986 so um so I you know I I got another jobs but I always
5:01
did voice over along the way one of the first things I did was start a video production company with my high school
5:06
video teacher and we did that for six or seven years um and we produce videos and so I’d narrate some of that stuff or
5:12
hire I would hire The Voice Talent um you know and some of the some of the dish jockeys that I would hire in the
5:18
Buffalo Market to do the stuff they’re you know i’ give them some direction they’d be like what I said yeah I don’t want your radio voice I need this kind
5:25
of voice and they like they thought that was kind of cool they were like wow okay thank you I can can do that so they so
5:32
anyway voiceover was always a part of that um you know going back through through all the different jobs and tasks
5:38
because you’re not going to make a king’s Ransom and voice over in Buffalo New York um to this day uh or Raleigh
5:45
North Carolina you’re going to have to be in in New York or La people some people say Chicago and I have lovely
5:50
agents in Chicago High big mouth uh but um no I uh you know I’m not in those
5:56
cities and and and didn’t didn’t want to be so um you know know so voiceover was
6:01
about um creating awareness you know around that time thank goodness the um
6:07
the internet popped up and suddenly we you know we we got the AOL dial up some people won’t know what that is but uh
6:14
but those of us of a certain age will remember you know we first we first signed into uh our first AOL account and
6:21
heard a noise we’d never heard of before and thought we broke our computer I think we all remember
6:27
that oh God what did I do wrong uninstall uninstall um and it was you
6:33
know and and then we went on from there and so with the internet came on business changed how you marketed
6:38
yourself changed we may talk about marketing here today I don’t know what the show is about um maybe a stitch but
6:44
um but then everything sort of opened up for us and around the world um and and
6:50
it became it became really really fun um and then I I’ll stop there and I can
6:55
tell you how you know voiceover for me changed a little bit and became even even broader uh scoped but I I don’t
7:02
want to take 10 minutes answering a question no you’re no it no it’s good it’s good for everybody to hear because
7:07
everybody’s voiceover journey is different and now that it’s 2023 and now that I’ve been you know
7:14
doing the V strategist coaching thing for over 10 years now and I did my first
7:19
voiceover in 1996 the landscape has changed dramatically and the changes
7:24
keep coming faster and faster and we as voice actors need to adapt more and more I think an interesting uh something
7:32
interesting I got out of it is that you had the infrastructure of radio as your entry into the voiceover industry yeah
7:39
um other people have have other other ways of doing it for what’s happening in
7:45
2023 you know that infrastructure that is Radio it still exists but not even as
7:52
remotely as uh spread out or prolific as it is because now you know that I think
7:58
it was at the tele Communications act in 1996 that really uh that really changed
8:04
radio forever and not in a good way well I think it was I think it back even farther and I and I’m not going to
8:10
remember I’m sure that that didn’t help but um the the point where I kind of
8:16
went even as a young person I went oh this is going to change things was I
8:21
believe it was in the Reagan Administration uh there used to be a limit that a company could own I and
8:30
historians please forgive me seven radio s 7 AM 7 FM and 7 TV right and then
8:36
Reagan no you don’t need those limits thanks boom right and then everything changed
8:42
soid because yeah oh yeah because then what that meant for for those the the younger viewers out there is that means
8:49
that um that Mom and Pops who are maybe not doing so well who want want to get out of the market want to be bought out
8:55
and major corporations who wanted to you know buy into a market could more easily do so they weren’t ham hamstrung anymore
9:02
for television or am or FM um you know that was that was great and then uh as
9:09
as we delved into the 90s when internet came in that was another kind of seismic
9:15
shift um and and what could that mean well for for audio production for radio
9:20
production um it allowed things to be even more automated than they already were uh it it it brought along the
9:27
opportunity for electronic um electronic audio editing instead of
9:32
realtoreal machines uh suddenly everything was digital and there was there was software out there that’ll
9:38
that allow you to do that um and and everything kind of just became seismic from there so from a from a radio
9:46
perspective the jobs became um smaller and because they radio stations would
9:53
not bother with you know bother with people because they’re expensive and they you know they’ have somebody do one
9:59
show out of atuma Iowa and somebody would insert a radio call letter jingle
10:04
and it would just be all very generic and and and pre-recorded that’s a really really uh brief and poorly surmised
10:13
explanation of how that all happened so Tellis now you are a you consider yourself a full-time voice actor but you
10:19
also I got this I got to be full-time I gotta pay for this that’s already paid for but also I know I’ve known you for a
10:25
very long time you also travel the country as a is it safe to say marketing consultant would that be the no I I have
10:32
a marketing business uh and I’ve been working with uh clients for a long time one client in particular so that’s you
10:38
know it’s pretty terrific but um it’s uh yeah I’ve been doing marketing I’ve had
10:44
uh my business uh for a long time um and you know the the industry has changed
10:51
and of course because of my marketing background and sales and marketing background um and I’ll always do that
10:56
that’s just that’s just who I am and what I am um as part of what I do uh
11:02
it’s it really it really has evolved and and it’s really evolved In from from a
11:07
voiceover standpoint as well um I know that a lot of people obviously here are very focused on their voiceover business
11:13
but what you can learn from other other marketing channels from other Industries you there are often
11:19
times applications to voice over um so just watching some of that change um has
11:24
been has been really something of of interest to me because I think um I mean it’s it’s ever evolving we’re all having
11:31
to deal with it um and there’s a little bit of everybody making it up as they go along um there is no very similar to um
11:41
I think very similar to the voiceover Journeys you referen that everyone takes one marketing uh size does not fit all
11:50
um and because so many people in voiceover
11:56
are are voiceover actors they are not marketers they don’t understand business
12:02
and some of them I think are certainly a lot of the new folks that I’ve talked to over the years and again doing this 40
12:09
years you talk to a lot of people they don’t understand that they’re starting a
12:14
business when they get into voiceover right it’s not just you sit around you sit on your you know your couch and wait
12:20
for the phone to ring and I I’ve said this for years others have said this for years and yet there are people still on
12:26
the couch waiting for the phone to ring well here’s what I’ve learned in my you know 10 plus years of of coaching the
12:32
business and Mar and marketing side is that you know voice actors have who are early in their Journey have certain
12:39
expectations they expect that they based on their talent and then the fact that
12:44
they produced a demo yeah that um they will get discovered get their lucky
12:49
break or something or something like that and what I’ve learned is that the the four words that will ruin your
12:55
voiceover marketing are breaks competition connections and luck yeah and the thing that those four things in
13:02
have in common and all of those are outside external forces that you’re
13:07
waiting upon to relieve you the responsibility of taking true true control of your voiceover career in
13:14
general and your Marketing in particular when all the things that you really need to do to move your voiceover business
13:20
forward in general and your marketing efforts in particular is all internal
13:25
developing your understanding of marketing your understanding of the voiceover industry your understanding of
13:31
self on a talent level on a skill level level a skill level level uh that’s
13:36
right we’ll edit that out in post no one will ever see it right understanding what your limitations are as a voice
13:42
actor both when it when it comes to genre and like you know you know your comfort level with technology your
13:47
comfort level with social media your comfort level with writing you know all of those things and then trying to
13:53
figure out based on what your strengths and limitations are and your understanding of the industry how you can move forward so um throwing cold
14:01
water on the heads of most people who are very early in their Journey about when it comes to marketing no one’s
14:08
going to do it for you you do have to figure it out for yourself but there are a lot of resour there are a lot of
14:14
resources um out there um well I think the other thing that’s important there
14:19
and you were you were touching on it is sort of researching and finding out who you are as a voiceover talent and who
14:25
you are as a performer um I I will show you share one of my flaws as a performer
14:31
I am not an audiobook narrator I have tried it and I did not like it uh so I I
14:37
don’t have the tolerance the patience or maybe even the talent to be an audiobook narrator nothing wrong with audiobook
14:44
narrators some of them are friends some of them maybe even in this in this camera uh you know that I’m looking at
14:50
here um so that’s all fine but you have to kind of I think as you’re identifying
14:57
yourself what as a voiceover Talent find out what that Niche feels like sometimes
15:03
when you’re early on you’re not going to know that’s okay you got to develop that takes time but say you’re two or three
15:08
years in or even a year in you have a better sense that boy I really have a knack for character or I really have a
15:14
knack for video game or I really have a knack for promo what any one of the genres and then really understanding
15:21
from there who your audience is and what do I mean by that okay so let’s say for for
15:29
example uh you are you are going to be you really feel strongly about broadcast
15:34
promo okay you feel that you really have the pipes uh and and you you offer something different something that
15:41
stands out uh from a performance standpoint that will really get a viewers attention uh from either a um
15:47
from either a a local affiliate or go for it national um opportunity that you
15:53
really think is going to work out so who is your audience stop think stop drop and roll
16:00
stop and think this is where the business part of marketing kind of
16:05
starts once you know who you are uh as a performer doesn’t mean you can’t be
16:12
other things it just means you’re you’re kind of focusing you’re trying to you got to start somewhere right you go
16:17
Gotta you got to pick somewhere right so if I would to if if I were to ask Tom you know what’s the best way to uh begin
16:25
you know figuring your your marketing out from a from a uh from a uh audiobook perspective his answers are going to be
16:32
significantly different than if I say what are going what are the ANS is going to be for trying to figure yourself out
16:39
as a broadcasting promo uh specialist big time Big Time so in in in this
16:45
example and this is just an example and and it’ll could be again be a short one because everything we’re going to talk
16:50
about has a lot more to go into than we’re going to cover here today but for the purposes of this if you were going
16:56
to be in broadcast promo you’d probably want to stop and think about who your audience is more than likely your
17:04
audience your your your most opportunistic audience is going to
17:10
be at a local affiliate level you’re going to start at the local affiliate
17:15
level versus the networks doesn’t mean you can’t start at the networks but this is assuming that you are a an individual
17:23
without necessarily representation you have to Market yourself out to these folks and you have to get your first
17:29
couple of gigs it could be radio it could be television so if it’s going to be uh radio uh you’re probably going to
17:37
want to focus on those people that hire you uh for for these jobs um and in
17:42
radio that’s going to be either the program director or the creative Services director depending on the size
17:48
of the radio station same sort of thing in television uh you’re going to you’re going to talk to the program director or
17:54
the promo more often not the promo or creative Services director at a television station station again local
18:00
affiliate why is that valuable for you it’s valuable for you because there
18:05
are oodles of local radio and television stations versus a much smaller pie for
18:13
National even cable networks now granted when I was a boy there were no cable
18:19
networks and there were four channels ABC NBC CBS and PBS and maybe fifth one
18:24
maybe you had an independent there was no Fox network at the time that was 80s five or 86 yeah so I mean we’re talking
18:31
it wasn’t that long ago uh that you know and and cable came up and everything HBO
18:37
wow uh you know it was it was a whole big thing um now HBO’s like uh they throw that in they just throw we will
18:42
get to your questions in just a moment and then I’ve got a story after Peter I’m sorry um but uh but so when you’re
18:48
going after these guys you’ve given yourself a bigger Pond to fish in so
18:54
that’s why I use this example right um and so you’re going to try and find these folks how are you going to try and
18:59
find them um there’s a variety of ways to do that I will stop here and say do you want me to talk a little bit about
19:05
that or do you want to go into another area yes but not yet so I’m gonna give you a little sto so I’m gonna give you a
19:11
little story about you know what I think oh to rephrase to to cons condense what
19:16
you were saying let the industry listen to the industry because the industry will often tell you where where you
19:24
should Place yourself and how you should Market yourself just in the past couple of months I booked three gigs very very
19:31
close to each other within a couple of weeks of each other and all of them were recruitment
19:38
ads commercials radio commercials like the Maryland Department of Transportation is looking for great
19:43
people like you come on down to the Civic Center on at on the 14th at four o’clock and bring your resume we’d love
19:49
to find out what you can do da I got like three of those for three different clients yeah and I’d never booked
19:55
anything like that spots like that before I was like oh that was interesting and then also around the same time I
20:01
also booked three spots back to back to back with three different clients all of them were well I guess we they’re not
20:08
exactly tags maybe n cards like there was one for Cousins Subs I don’t know if you know the that sub it’s a in Wiscon
20:15
it’s a Wisconsin subchain sure and the guy goes to the counter and he’s not sure what to get and one customer say get this and other saying get that and
20:22
the lady behind the counter said get both you know and at at the very last end I’m like you know sometimes it is hard to decide what to get a cousin subs
20:28
come on down and figure it out so I just did like it was a 30second television commercial but I only came in at the
20:34
last 5 seconds with the voiceover right and I got like three of those Royal Bank of Canada was another one back to back
20:40
to back also I had never gotten anything like that before either and these are all coming to you individually or
20:45
through representation they were they all came through uh voice one 123 okay all of them did and I was like oh that’s
20:52
very that’s all very interesting so I so what I did as a result of that is I got the finished spots I you know chunk them
21:00
down into the MP3 I create I created demos short demos for both of those and
21:05
I uploaded those samples to my website and to my other casting sites yeah so now I have found the industry told me
21:12
that there’s a new way to Market myself so have you ever so you have you ever had an experience like that yeah I I yes
21:19
in many ways and the other thing I’m thinking is as you’re talking about what you’re doing there is the other thing I want to tell you to do is is share that
21:26
demo with maybe some some producers that you know just to let them know that this may be a genre coming up right it’s a
21:32
great opport great opportunity it’s a great opportunity to reach out to uh to folks to have
21:38
something new to share with them right um because you have something to talk about something of value and it and it
21:44
directly relates to their business so you’re not just hitting with the the old email hi I’m great and I did this that
21:50
and the other thing it’s like no listen to this this is the thing that’s happening now so I tell my students that
21:55
that’s what’s called demonstrating value in progress if you’re going to Market if you’re going to send out something make sure it’s either demonstrating your
22:01
value your progress or both I’m going to charge you for that piece of advice I just gave you by the way just just be
22:07
very clear you get check in the mail uh let’s go to our first question Pat hello Pat Pat says okay so Peter well most of
22:14
these questions are for you unless they say it specifically for me what is your best piece of marketing advice my best
22:19
piece of marketing advice um I don’t have a best piece um I I don’t because
22:26
and and I don’t mean it in a in a joking way either I mean it there’s there’s a lot of different things I would say
22:31
Obviously um as a voice I assume this is as a voiceover Talent this I’m gonna assume that’s the question so obviously
22:38
it all starts with a really good demo because that’s the calling card of every uh voice over talent so again knowing
22:45
your business uh knowing your niche as we talked about just a few minutes ago whatever that is whether it’s commercial
22:51
narration explainer videos promo whatever so that’s that starts there um
22:56
having a uh a really good website uh that is uh search engine optimized I
23:02
would highly highly recommend that um and I would I would think that would be extremely extremely valuable for you um
23:12
and from going on from uh the website you know social media and all the rest
23:17
of it so all that said the where where
23:22
marketing the the real core of marketing begins and ends for me is in your
23:30
database I have screamed from the the rooftops for 150 years that’s how old I
23:36
am uh that you have to um that you have to have a good database um it is it
23:44
really is the core of your business more than your demos and your websites and your social media and your blogs and
23:50
your YouTube videos and all the rest why how can I dare say that uh because
23:56
ultimately if you’re you know if you’re putting out a video here or there that’s great some people may see it it may go
24:03
viral it wow great that happens not very often though if we’re being honest it
24:08
does not does not happen very often but if you have a database of qualified
24:14
people um that’s a place where you can build a business that goes back to when
24:21
I spoke about just a few minutes ago about saying you know know who your audience is we talked about the
24:27
television and radio program directors and creative Services directors you have to go out and find those people LinkedIn
24:34
is your friend um you know you can you can there are some directories you can buy all well and good but I’m going to
24:41
assume many of the people looking for marketing advice U might not necessarily have a huge marketing budget um so so
24:48
I’ll start there if you have a huge marketing budget please call me um but but if you um you know if you’re just
24:55
starting out going through Linkedin is a great way to develop that database now I’m not saying to spam people let’s back
25:02
up here um what you want to do and this is what I’ve told people for a long time
25:07
um if you’re a voice over talent if you do nothing else for your day if you get up in the morning at 700 am. go to bed
25:14
at 10 o’clock uh you get a good night’s rest and start the day again the one thing you need to do every single day is
25:22
try and find yourself a qualified lead one a day you do that once a day say say
25:28
you’re just starting out you got a regular job oh I got a lot of things to do I’m going to do I don’t have time and you can probably spend 10 to 15 minutes
25:35
on your business just finding that one qualified lead something as simple as going on LinkedIn um and finding out
25:42
information on the person not just the name and the title and you get the address and the phone number all that
25:47
goes into your database by the way whether it’s on a an 8 and a half by 11 sheet of paper a a index card or it goes
25:53
into something smarter like an Excel spreadsheet that has first name last name business address all the rest of it
26:00
I’m sure that’s been covered on this or a CRM like clothes or Nimble or something yeah I again I’m not trying to spend people’s money so I’m you know
26:06
most everybody’s got some sort of Google database something like that that’s cool um uh but however they want to however
26:12
they want to do it start start there and then we can talk about talk a little bit
26:17
later about you know how you how you reach out to them and and the proper way to uh to insert yourself into their
26:24
lives without being a real pest but all of those things the database is the is
26:30
probably more important than anything else but you got to do those other things too the the demos and the website
26:36
and and and those things because because your competition is already there right
26:42
and if you’re going to be taken seriously you have to at least look like you belong at the dance right so I think
26:48
you said strong demo strong website strong social media presence strong database yeah database first probably I
26:56
mean demo demo dat database because if you if you don’t have a demo you have nothing to send to the database but if
27:03
you don’t have a database who are you going to send the demo to okay so demo and so demo and database are have a D
27:09
and D oh wait a minute that’s that’s that’s um our dear friend roxan
27:14
Hernandez coin I haven’t seen her in so long but now I see she’s marketing herself on video and I’m seeing all
27:21
these videos popping up and I’m so glad she’s out there yeah so see it’s always
27:26
lovely to see our buddy roxan she has lots of great questions so the first one is any tips for getting clients to write testimonials or give you reviews on
27:34
Google I’m not big on Google reviews I I haven’t done that because I and that’s a
27:39
personal problem with me it has nothing to do with anything else except I’m like
27:44
my cousin could have wrote that you know I just I kind of look at that kind of funny um but I I will I I have great
27:51
advice on how to uh how to reach out uh to get uh references and testimonials
27:56
from clients are you ready I’m ready call and ask
28:02
him I know I know that’s so old school but think about the value of it
28:09
though think about think about what you’re doing um now certainly if you’ve had a problem with a client if I have to
28:15
tell you this don’t call them for the the reference but if you’ve had a good client and most of your clients are
28:21
great I know no one’s no one’s ever really mad at us um but you can reach out to them and it’s it’s a great
28:27
opportunity to touch base about a hey how are you you know I want to tell you some of the things I’m doing um any new
28:34
business coming up that’s oh no okay that’s fine hey I was wondering I’m doing something if if you’re comfortable
28:40
with it I’d really like if you could um you seem to really like the work we did in the past could you write me a
28:46
recommendation I’m talking a couple lines that I can post on my website or you know have people know about it with
28:52
that be okay MH nine out of ten times they will do it I had one guy say he would do it and he kept saying he would
28:57
do it take him two or three months he was just that busy he ended up writing me a you know I had to chase him down
29:03
just very gently you know every three weeks and say how we doing on that reference the reference if you can’t do it it’s okay to tell me um but I got the
29:10
I got a great reference and so you know that’s to me the best way uh to get to
29:15
get those folks because you’re doing a couple things you can never I was about to say you can never reach out to your
29:20
clients too much but I know that’s a dangerous thing to say um uh you you
29:26
should try and reach out to past clients one or two times a year by phone if
29:32
possible you really should just to touch base and if they say nothing’s going on you’re not going to piss them off that
29:38
much and if they don’t want to take the call they don’t have to take the call right um but but you’re reaching out to them and this way you’re reaching out to
29:45
them and just saying you know having having a nice conversation um so that’s where I think that um that has some
29:52
value for you to to do that her next question is how about SEO wait a minute how many questions does she get she gets
29:58
she until someone else types in she gets uh she says how about SEO what’s a
30:03
good place to start getting a website up to speed without spending an absolute Fortune what might be the best things to
30:09
Outsource for SEO optimization and I’ve got something that can help with that too but and and then I’ll I’ll look to
30:14
your answer on that because I the way I’ve always done SEO optimization um is
30:20
I’ve I’ve read online and I’ve talked to experts that I know and trust okay um so I the I’ve always found with SEO
30:28
um I feel like SEO can can be a little bit of snake oil uh as sold by some
30:35
people yes so uh my personal way uh has always been to try and work with people
30:41
I know vendors I trust and if you don’t have any vendors that’s a little bit more difficult but your friend Tom has
30:48
has a has a resource for you he’s going to share with you now that he’s used to help people get their SEO uh up and
30:55
running okay blogging now think about this you have a
31:01
you have your website Tom deer.com Peter oon oon roxan hernandes coin.com and
31:07
usually it’s it’s one page like especially the trend with scrolling websites for a mobile experience so it’s
31:13
more so the trend is you know have a one-page website which has your demos a little bit about yourself ways to
31:19
contact you maybe some featured YouTube videos social media links contact right
31:24
every time that you write a blog when you post that blog it P when you publish
31:30
that blog rather it creates an additional page on your website that
31:36
page if you’re writing about voiceover will say voiceover voice acting and all the genres and all that stuff so it’ll
31:42
hand off a lot of keywords related to the voiceover industry organically and
31:47
if you’re talking about this or you’re talking about that another company a website a product or a service you’re posting a link in that website that link
31:56
goes to their website once you’re creating links from from your website to
32:01
other websites it creates a little synergistic relationship so I started blogging in
32:07
2008 yeah i’ had been blogging once a week anywhere from once a week to once a
32:12
month um sometimes more sometimes less but I have well over six
32:20
700 blog entries which means Tom dear.com and then after that Vost
32:25
strategies.com which each has their own blog each of those websites are six or 700
32:32
Pages massive and all of them are dripping with voiceover related content
32:38
dripping dripping my friend like a melting ice cream sunday um I just went and checked my
32:45
website um and I have the peterk connell.com which is also tied into to audio oconnell dcom uh just Google Peter
32:53
oconnell you’ll find me on there but I also have a Blog called Vox marketizing where I talk about voiceover marketing
32:59
and advertising and it looks like my first post was in May of 2005 okay so
33:05
how often have you been blogging uh I’ve been I I blog pretty often there’s actually some time I took off because it
33:11
felt like um the blog wasn’t getting as much interaction or people weren’t paying attention to it I think I think I
33:17
think it goes in lulls quite honestly but um there’s new stuff up there has been up there for some some months uh i’
33:24
I’ve been a little bit more active about it um I I also this is the self-doubt comes in many
33:30
forms in all of us but you know I feel like I’ve said this before like I’m repeating myself on certain things with
33:36
blog that happens especially if you have been at it for a while oh my gosh and I’m like I’m going to come away like you
33:41
know a goofy old guy okay two bits I’ve got two bits of advice for you on that Peter all right I’m not gonna pay for
33:47
him I’m telling you right now I’m just let you know that’s fair um number one if you want to talk about a subject
33:55
again you post that blog but you say a few years ago in this blog entry I
34:01
talked about this in the four five 10 years since my thoughts have evolved here’s been in my experiences since then
34:07
and this is what I’ve learned since then which either supports what I used to think or it contradicts because of I
34:14
either I was wrong or the industry has changed or whatever so you can talk about same subjects again as long as
34:22
long as you’re do backlinking because if you’re backlinking to yourself that helps your SEO I I think I think that’s
34:27
a sin I don’t think you’re allowed to back backlink yourself but that’s okay well you can do it
34:33
you so what what about if the people that you wrote about four years ago are still making the same stupid mistake how
34:38
do you how do you write that because that’s some of the things I’ve had to do you people were not listening when I
34:43
wrote this four years ago so I’m GNA post it again okay well that here’s here’s the other thing is that I’m kidding I know you’re kidding one thing
34:50
that I’ve also learned especially now is that search engine search engine optimization used to be just about the
34:57
strength of your website right and then Google B Yahoo would rank it accordingly
35:02
in relation to other websites but now all of the search engines are taking your social media presence into account
35:09
it’s part of the calculation in determining the strength of your overall online presence both website and social
35:15
media so one way to increase the page ranking of your website is to increase
35:21
the quality and quantity of your social media content they are they have a synergistic relationship and your
35:28
website should have your social media buttons on them which link to your social media and your social media
35:33
profiles should have a link to your website so you are you are crosslinking to to both of them so that can help out
35:40
a lot and we won’t even get into the the the explosion of video which is our friend roxan is is dealing with that
35:47
right now she’s making all these new videos which are wonderful video is Kingo rewards a video over everything
35:53
else right now which is upsetting to people who have a face for radio w so wear a mask uh as she also asked does
36:01
anyone still use business cards what would be a good marketing item to carry on yourself at conferences and other events I have an answer for that and
36:07
then I and then I’d love to hear yours is if anyone’s ever read my blog they know how I feel about business cards
36:13
right I’m very Pro business card okay so one thing that I have done is someone I
36:20
don’t remember who recommended it to me and I’m trying to remember the name of it it’s either H ha. or something like
36:26
that and um well even that aside QR
36:32
codes were in for a while and then they were out for a while and now they are in
36:37
again yeah so one thing that I do so like literally a couple weeks ago at the Jacob Javit Center which is just a few
36:43
blocks for me here in New York City there was the build Expo B Expo oh with the so he’s got the business card with
36:49
the QR code on it so and then the and then the and it’s dinged up because it’s
36:55
been in my wallet so I’m sorry okay um so when I went so I knew that I was going to be interacting with a lot of
37:01
people and Reps and stuff at this build Expo which was sponsored by B&H uh audio and video so it was this wonderful thing
37:08
so I generated a QR code and that QR code I just took a I kept it on my phone
37:14
so I keep it in Google Drive so I can call it up anytime I want so if anybody wants to connect with me I just hold up
37:21
my phone everybody’s got their phone in hand they just scan my QR code and depending on who I’m with or what the
37:27
event is whether I’m going as a voice actor or the vo strategist or both I’ve got this I think it’s called ha. I got
37:34
to find it I’ll I’ll post it in the you when the when this when this video is over this streaming is over it turns
37:39
into YouTube and gets a permanent YouTube video I will upload I will post the link but it gives you like it’s like
37:46
about. me where you can have a whole bunch of links or link tree it’s like that but it’s but you can format it you
37:52
can use a brand kit and customize the fonts and the colors and the format and stuff so do still have b Paper business
37:59
cards which I bring but those are mostly to stick in the fishbowls for the um you
38:04
know the Expos you think you’re so cool you kids nowadays yeah but I still I use
38:09
both I use that for that and some people still want to have the physical card but I also have the QR code available so
38:15
people can quickly scan it and then they have that on their phone so what and I agree I I understand that and I don’t
38:22
disagree with it I teased Tom because we’ve known each other for decades he teases because he loves yes exactly but
38:27
but um I I’ve always been a big stickler for business cards because I believe they do work and I believe and and I and
38:34
I want to point out something that I think is kind of a unique difference for Tom is that he’s talking about Marketing
38:40
in specifically in this instance in New York City where technology is it’s it’s
38:46
not that in Kansas City they don’t have this technology as well everybody has the technology but I think in certain
38:53
circumstances for many businesses that you’re going to run you’re going to want to have the electronic opportunity and
38:58
you’re going to want to have the paper opportunity based on the culture of the event yes exactly right and so that’s
39:03
why I created uh business cards with with a QR code on them to make it as easy as you want don’t want the card
39:09
just scan this boom done thank you very much let’s go have a drink right um you know and but it’s it’s being ready uh to
39:17
to have either one of those um AA available as a marketing tool because
39:23
it’s more than you know with business cards and and that kind of interacting you’re likely going to do a lot more
39:29
networking as a voiceover talent in an American Marketing Association group in
39:35
an ad Club um it doesn’t mean that you’re not going to go to the uh the
39:40
technology Awards and meet new people who who need audio for various things and and voices all I’m saying is um if
39:48
one of the great things that a voice Talent has that most businesses don’t have is the talent him him or herself
39:55
and their voice and being able to Market that and the interaction and and the response we all get uh when we tell
40:02
somebody we’re a voiceover and they you know oh I can hear that I can just you said oh did I sound too announcing no
40:08
you sound great you know they they just and so that actually with with humility
40:14
for all of us is a great opportunity to say well here you know how can I help you whether it’s you know of course what
40:21
we want is a national ad campaign what we might get is a message on hold job I don’t care you know I done them all I
40:28
you know I’ve worked for like I said Fortune 500 companies and companies that think $500 is a fortune I I don’t I
40:36
don’t mind working with any of them um because the check clears and the mortgage gets paid yes um but it’s but
40:42
it’s incum it upon us uh to be able to share our stories whether it’s through a
40:48
card or being able to explain to people what we do in an interesting way um you
40:56
know you know I say I’m the the your friendly neighborhood voiceover Talent uh which
41:02
is kind of a tie in to the old Spider-Man theme which when I came up with it the Marvel Comics really hadn’t
41:08
blown up yet uh as far as the movies um Spider-Man had but uh but not the movies
41:13
but you know however you position yourself make yourself memorable um and
41:18
it’s more than a tagline okay it it is about you I don’t know too many voice
41:23
over talents again we talked about the voice being important but the other part of VoiceOver talents is usually by and
41:30
large they do tend to and most actors are this way they do have tend to have a bit of a
41:36
personality you know and and it’s usually a positive thing some some are divas and some are you know in in real
41:43
introverts and it’s really difficult for them but most of them like to talk to to other people and if you’re talking to an
41:48
actor oftentimes they like to talk about themselves so my advice there is remember it’s a two-way conversation uh
41:55
some actors don’t get that but enough about me what do you think about me no that’s not the right way to go with that
42:00
uh Paul pton said always be interested in what they’re interested in yes and God gave you two ears and one mouth use
42:07
accordingly listen uh it is the greatest tool of a voice actor as a performer to
42:13
to be to be a great listener it is uh it is a great uh is a great tool as a
42:19
business owner and as a um an owner of any any business to to listen and
42:24
certainly as a marketer to listen very CL L as well because they will a client will give you most of the answers uh
42:32
that you’re going to look for in life uh in your in what in what you need for their business you just have to listen
42:37
for it so talk less ask good questions and then listen right uh Rex roxan asked
42:44
specifically you how much would it cost to work with a marketing company and what type of services could you expect
42:50
from working with a marketing company well generally I mean obviously for me call me we’ll talk and and it depends
42:57
what what every voice over company whatever marketing whichever every marketing company should tell you is it
43:04
depends uh on on exactly on exactly what you want to work for um basically it works in two ways it works either on an
43:12
hourly basis or a package basis um every Everybody every marketing company that I
43:18
know of whether they call themselves a marketing company an advertising agency and advertising and marketing company
43:23
and advertising marketing and dry cleaner um you know whatever they are um you know cuz I know a couple voiceovers
43:28
that are dry cleaners too so it’s you know it’s everybody’s in in the boat but the the opportunity there is to figure
43:35
out what it is you want to achieve and and I tell this to people whether it’s
43:40
marketing companies or agents you know what is it you want to what is it you
43:45
want to achieve and the answer cannot be I want more business no it can’t be that
43:52
because they marketing and advertising can’t NE necessarily get you more
43:58
business depending on your industry okay they can create awareness and they can
44:04
try and develop a need or a um a perceived need but in our in our area we
44:10
need to make sure people know that we’re out there and we need to make sure more
44:15
importantly that the right people know that we’re out there going back to what
44:21
I said earlier about knowing your audience and knowing your Niche so taking the example that I used earlier
44:27
if I was in broadcast promo and I was going to hire a marketing company I would say to them my targeted audience
44:34
um is a is a creative service director or a promotions manager in markets uh in
44:41
broadcast markets 50 through 100 or 100 through 175 if you want to start smaller
44:47
I wantan to I want to find a way to reach them how can you reach them and marketing company tell me what you think
44:54
the best way to do that is um if you were a commercial voiceover Talent we’re
45:00
all commercial voiceover talents if you’re if you’re Focus for this purposes of this example were really about
45:07
commercial uh production commercial voiceover Talent you really wanted to be in spots there’s a couple audiences you
45:13
want to go after you want to talk to U production houses and then you want to
45:18
talk to the commercial production division of a television station as well
45:23
so there’s and and and some advertising agencies have media production departments not as many as there used to
45:30
be but there are some that still do and so you’re my my point in showing you the two difference between broadcast promo
45:36
and and and Commercial uh voiceover is that the audience changes and so you
45:42
need to have a focus on what you want to want to focus on my advice further is to
45:49
be as as niche as you can be uh and go down drill down that funnel Beyond you
45:57
know we were we’re out here and now we’re here and I’d like to try and get you into here because then you can
46:03
really gauge results now if you’re out here you have a lot more fish but they might not be the right fish here you’re
46:10
probably going to get the right fish in the right area and have a have a better idea of what that value is um and I
46:17
think you should go into I’m still trying to answer Rex an’s question because it’s multiart um is is that you
46:23
need to really have a a sort of budget in mind you should you know what am I
46:29
will what am I willing to invest in my marketing from from two two uh aspects for for the
46:38
purposes of hiring a company um how much I’m willing to pay for a fee and how much I’m willing to pay an agency fee
46:45
and how much am I willing to pay for for the advertising or fees to actually get that into the market um and that and
46:52
that could include production it could it include fees to advertise on certain you know in certain things whether what
46:58
you trade show say they say you’re going to be in a trade show and you got to have a booth and you got to have displays you there’s expenses with all
47:05
that all that’s going to come out of your marketing budget um whatever that is and I’m not saying you’re GNA be in a
47:11
trade show I’m just using that as an example but whatever it is there’s going to be a line items of fees that you’re
47:17
going to do and that you’re going to break that down uh and and there’s going to be a fee from that do you do you
47:23
spend do you do um Google ad do you pay for Google ads or Facebook ads or no no because the um the payto plays have made
47:30
that ridiculously expensive uh as as nich down as you want to get uh I think
47:36
I don’t and I don’t think the value is is there because I think ultimately and again I have no research on this this is
47:42
just my gut so I could be way wrong but specifically for voiceover and I also think there’s better ways to spend your
47:48
money than that um so maybe that’s part of part of my bias and we all have bias
47:54
you can only go by your experiences too yeah and and the way I look at it is um
48:00
I think when it comes to Google ads and all the rest of that stuff you you you’re not you’re you’re
48:05
going too wide you can go narrow but it can get very very narrow but it gets to be too expensive for what you’re for
48:11
what you’re getting I think um especially if you’re just starting out and you have a smaller budget I think um
48:19
I think smaller is better anytime you can as much as you can interact with the with your audience the better and by
48:26
interact I mean personally interact uh versus just being out there and and having the name squared away the other
48:32
thing that I will say um that’s on my it’s on my website uh regarding um the
48:39
voiceover Workshop vo workshop.com uh which I’ve had for a hundred years
48:45
and I don’t Market it that strongly because there’s so many coaches out there I’m like oh people find me and
48:50
it’s and I like that better that way but with with VW workshop.com I have on that page um the bottom of it there is a
48:58
marketing planning template so you can write your own marketing plan for the year it’s very simple uh you can you can
49:05
break it down and if you have questions I’d be glad to talk to you about it just give me a call but you can start your
49:10
own marketing planning where you don’t necessarily have to get with an agency or you can put together a plan and share
49:18
that with a perspective agency saying these are the some of the things that I’d like to achieve because this will
49:23
allow you to really focus your time and effort on on on where you think the the
49:29
best audiences the best audience for you is now an agency if they’re a good agency may be able to give you some
49:35
insight saying you know you might want to think about this from a little broader perspective um and granted there
49:41
are not too many agencies that I know of that are um that are voice over specific
49:47
marketing um even even I don’t necessarily do voiceover specific marketing for folks I I really I really
49:53
don’t because it’s you know there’s not that many people have that much money to spend I got bills to pay um but you know
50:01
there have been a few and i’ I’ve helped them out and at the very least I get them on their way to help um to help
50:08
write a plan for themselves how to execute the plan for themselves so they have a comfort level about what they’re
50:14
doing and so that they can go off for a year and know that every month uh they have to they have this goal to achieve
50:20
and they have these things to do to get to that goal whether it’s production or action steps they have to do and they
50:26
can do it every month so they’re at least moving everything forward but if you take nothing else away from this um
50:32
the the one tip that I that I gave out earlier on and I would highly recommend everybody do it especially if you’re
50:39
just starting out is figure out what your Niche is what you’re really what your what your hot spot is what you’re
50:44
really passionate about and voice over understand what that audience is and then spend some time on linked in
50:50
one lead a day by the end of the year and I mean work weekends too because
50:56
it’s 10 minutes you’ll have 365 leads if you’ve done it well that database I will guarantee you
51:03
is better than some voiceover talents who have been this in this five and seven years I guarantee you because they
51:09
don’t bother to do that right okay we’ve got time for one more question uh man
51:15
these hours always go quick don’t they um I’ve never been here before so I don’t know that was a royal that was a
51:20
was a maybe it was a rhetorical question I’m I’m glad to be here though Pat has another question opinion of using AI for
51:27
marketing wow um all right well my
51:32
opinion on AI right now is is fairly negative I um I don’t trust the
51:40
technology for marketing yet I feel like that and this may be an old man talking
51:48
you know and I’m not that old but I you know sometimes I feel like there’s no whippers Snappers in your AI get off my lawn get off my lawn and take your AI
51:55
with you um but you know I I see how I see how it makes
52:00
things simpler um I’m a guy who likes to control the marketing and control the
52:07
message and control how it’s sent out I have automation you know I email blasts and all the rest we didn’t even talk
52:13
about that yeah um you know but um I understand the value of it I’m not
52:19
sold yet that it that it necessarily works and I think for voice actors specifically I think you miss an
52:27
opportunity to um to interact to possibly interact better and follow up
52:33
faster um with with a person that where you’re more Hands-On in the marketing
52:39
now I’ve said something very very generic there about a very specific industry we don’t have time to go into
52:45
the the the who’s what’s and where’s of that we we’d be here another two hours right but generally speaking that’s my
52:51
feeling on AI and you’re a small business owner don’t you know yeah you
52:56
want to work smarter not harder but also remember that you’re you’re also in the
53:02
business more than many businesses you’re in the business is a voiceover Talent of building relationships with
53:07
your clients that’s really important and AI is a difficult way to do that not impossible right just difficult there
53:15
are there are ways there are ways and then there are there are ways um some are more reliable than others I think
53:21
Buddha said that I think yeah for example I some I don’t remember where I saw this
53:27
um oh I think Tom ago who is a a direct who is a full-time voice actor but he
53:32
also uh helps teach people about direct marketing he posted a video about a girl who discovered that you could use chat
53:39
GPT to run searches um and build and populate spreadsheets with companies and
53:47
their contact information and the person you know and the email and all that stuff and what the job description is
53:52
and maybe a recent award or a project that’s related to that company so when you do a you know human email you can
54:02
say hey and I really like the idea of that the only problem with that is that
54:07
right as it is right now currently constituted Chad GPT and a lot of the other AI stuff is notoriously unreliable
54:14
when it comes to data it has been known to create to give you incorrect information on a variety of topics so if
54:22
you are going to do that you got to vet it and if you’re GNA vet it I mean if you want to do it to try to come up with
54:28
a list of ad agencies in the Raleigh Durham area it could it could do that
54:34
easily check the information double check it check the to make sure that they did win this award or they did
54:39
produce that Nike SPoT and then you do so if you many better there there are better ways to do it but that is a way
54:45
to do it here’s another thing that you could do is I use AI to help my blogging
54:52
workflow so for example as the vo strategist I shoot a video every month talking about a different subject my
54:58
October uh blog topic is by the way AI I already shot that video and um I don’t
55:06
script I don’t script the vo strategist blog anymore I come up with a theme for every month I come up with a subject
55:12
October is AI the reason why it’s AI is because I’m speaking at La lapides New England voiceover Summit and showcase
55:19
and then I’m going to go to speak at Johnny hel’s audiobook narration Retreat and that is one subject that I’m going to uh cover yeah so what I do is um I
55:28
record the video and then I um use Google’s speech to text yeah software
55:35
and it listens to the uh audio and it spits out the text so I don’t have to transcribe it and it’s pretty good for
55:42
you uh it yeah it’s pretty it works pretty good then what I do is then I’ll go over to a hyper write which is which
55:48
is an AI and I’ll basically ask it ask it to clean up and consolidate the verbiage which then turns into the text
55:55
of the blog which is essentially everything that I said in the video but just cleaned up and Consolidated of
56:01
course you have to check it to make sure that it did everything that you ased to do but this is taking a lot this is
56:07
saving me a lot of time and it’s not forcing me to require on qu data that’s
56:14
questionable uh as a result of it being generated so I’m not using it to generate content I’m using it to you
56:20
know as an editing tool as an editing tool for my content so that is one that’s one of a number of positive use
56:27
cases but when it comes to AI for marketing you got to be at this point you got to be really careful because the
56:32
data is unreliable hopefully there will be some form of reg state or federal or local legislation or oversight so that
56:41
always works so well in every other category I say I said hopefully that so
56:46
you know because also another problem with with AI which we don’t have time to get into is that it is harvesting data
56:51
without the consent of the creators of the content artists writers and all of
56:56
that stuff and that’s a big that’s a big should should strike about that they should should have people should write
57:03
letters so that that’s a serious problem Oh terribly serious yeah it’s a big big
57:08
big problem So eventually hopefully someday chat GPT open Ai and whatever
57:14
else the data that you’re creating content from will be from content that is a verifiably correct and B has the
57:20
permission of the people who generated the original AI or book or song or whatever
57:26
and then and make sure that those people at at the very least get some form of acknowledgement if not compensation for
57:32
their contribution to that AI database so Pat um it can have some use cases I’m
57:38
sure there’s other positive safe use cases other than one I just did to use it as a Blog editing uh and you know
57:44
workflow tool but you know there there probably are some other ways okay oh look at that it is 3 o’clock wow that
57:51
time went fast um Peter yes how can people find you if they do want to work with you as a CO and or marketing
57:57
consultant well I I feel like we should be mentioning Mark Scott’s uh information here as I’m substituting for
58:03
him and he was he had a bit of an issue today so I I would feel we will do that we’re going to reschedule I’m gonna have
58:08
one with him so don’t worry about that I’ll put his information in the in the YouTube comments but how can people get in touch with you uh they can uh reach
58:15
me at uh Peter konell domcom uh they can reach me via the voiceover Workshop
58:21
where I do uh training for folks on voiceover marketing and technology uh
58:27
and you can reach me at vo workshop.com that’s how long I’ve been doing it that
58:33
domain was still available all those years ago that’s pretty impressive yes all right Peter thank you so much um you
58:40
were you did this on very very short notice you were a fantastic guest everybody asked fabulous questions and
58:45
you gave very thoughtful informed detailed answers which is exactly what everybody was looking for so thank you so much for that thank you everybody for
58:52
your wonderful questions and thank you very much for watching this ask me anything strategist YouTube video please
58:58
like this video And subscribe to my channel connect with me on Instagram and Linkedin if you’d like some help
59:04
navigating the voiceover journey in the industry go to Vost strategist dcom book a free 15minute consult and hopefully I
59:10
can help you navigate this Wild and Woolly thing that is the voiceover industry all right thank you very very
59:16
much for coming thanks again Peter everybody stay cool stay safe and happy voicing
59:27
Al righty

Tags: marketing, marketing podcast, podcast, podcast episodes, podcast guest, voice over podcast, voice over training, voice over workshop, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice, voiceover blog by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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