How Can Your Business Use Voice Over?

What do Startups, Fortune 500's and Non Profits Have in Common?

These three types of businesses might seem really different on the surface, but they do have some things in common? So, why is a voice actor writing about businesses on his blog? Well, because any business, including startups, fortune 500 companies and nonprofit organizations will at some point in time need a voiceover. So, that’s the answer. Thanks for reading, that’s the end of the article……...aaactually wait a second! While I have you here, let me talk to you about the many different types of voiceovers that businesses may need. That way you can see what style of voiceover your business will need.

Promo

Promos are the voices you hear on TV, advertising your favorite TV show or TV network. So, if you are creating a television show or network you’ll need a promo voiceover to make it really stand out from the rest.

eLearning

This is becoming more and more popular as technology advances. Every company that has employees, has to train those employees. So many companies are using eLearning videos to train them. This is usually a video that is presented to an employee to teach them how to complete a certain task or to inform them about some part of the company. To create a compelling training video, companies turn to voice actors to voice their videos.

Commercial

This is the generic word that is used to describe voiceover that promote a product or service. If a company comes out with a new product that they want to advertise or TV or radio, they’ll use a voice actor to narrate the project.

Narration

Narration refers to long form voiceover. While commercials are usually anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes long, narration voiceover can be a couple of minutes or a couple of hours long. If you are an author and you would like your book to become an audiobook that people can listen to, you can contact a voice actor to read it in the style you are looking for.

Phone Message

When a client or potential customer calls a business, they expect to hear a live voice or a pleasant recording. Voice actors form an important part of the first impression of a caller. Many companies record their own voicemail greeting, but a great way to increase customer satisfaction is to have a voice actor record a soothing or upbeat voicemail greeting that will please your clients.

In Store Video

When you walk into a store of a business, there may be store representatives waiting to help customers. A great way to increase customer satisfaction and make sure customers stay in the store, even when representatives are busy, is to create an in store video. Brick and mortar businesses use voice actors to help make entertaining and valuable content that will keep customers engaged while they’re shopping.

Podcast

A great way to spread the word about your business, or to provide great content for your community is through a podcast. A good place to start is to get a professional intro or outro recorded for your podcast. This will let listeners know that you care about their listening experience and the quality of your podcast.

Video Games

What started out as an entertaining, but low quality experience has evolved into Hollywood like movie experiences within a video game. The best video games use a ton of voice over and need actors to voice the characters in their video game. Since the animation and graphics have become so realistic, the acting within the game must also be top notch.

Live Announcer

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to 36th annual……..” I’m sure you were able to fill in the rest. Awards shows are known to hire great voice actor to be the live announcers at their events. Unlike a lot of other gigs, there are no re-takes. You only get one shot to get it right, so companies that host live events want to make sure they choose a great voice.

Character Animation

Walt Disney made character animation mainstream when he provided the first voice for Mickey Mouse. Now we see it all over the place and in so many kids movies like f-f-f-f - sorry, I’m so sick of it, it’s tough for me to say...the f-f-f-Frozen movie that kids can’t get enough of (by the way, I’ll gladly take back that last statement if somebody reading this wants to hire me for the Frozen sequel). Cartoon and animated TV shows and movies use character actors to voice their original characters.

Mobile Devices

Cell phones are making TV look the way that TV made radio look some years ago: irrelevant. We consume so much data and information and entertainment on our smart phones. We all carry around little computers in our pockets and all those apps and programs need voices to make them relevant. Apple’s Siri may be the most recognizable mobile phone voice, but every single company that wants to grab the attention of a mobile user needs a professional voice for their company.

As you can see, there are many ways to use the human voice for your business needs. Voice actors are crucial for success in any company. Did I miss any ways that voiceovers are used? Let me know in the comments below.