| If I say “voice over marketing”, what comes to your mind? Cold calling/cold emailing? Do you get a pit in your stomach? I have never cold called for my voiceover marketing but choose a different approach. For me, this approach has worked. I wanted to share a story of how voiceover marketing works (at least from my approach). First let me briefly share my simple approach – |
| Create and Maintain Relationships I actually lean way more into the maintaining aspect than the creating. I want the creating part to feel organic and never forced or expected. Just think how you’d feel if someone showed up to your house saying, “Hi! I’d love to be your friend. Here are a few things about me. I know you’ll totally love being my friend. I’ll stop by in another week and we can hang out.” The connection of a relationship is a two way street. How do I create relationships? Mainly via the jobs I book. I know that probably feels discouraging. “But Heidi, I’m trying to market so I CAN book more jobs.” I get it. My life tends to fall more into the long game strategy and that may not be your jam. But letting relationships spring from jobs lay a foundation that is long lasting and strong. Why? Because you’re checking off the fundamental marketing checkboxes – they now KNOW you, they can TRUST you (because they’ve experienced how you work and what you deliver) and hopefully they LIKE you. From there, I put a lot of effort into maintaining those relationships. I try to keep up with what they’re doing, where they’re at job-wise, etc. I also try to “check in” with them twice a year via email. I’ll send them a gift and personalized note. This helps to keep me top of mind and it allows me to make sure I’m keeping up to date with what’s going on in their world. I have a list of almost 200 clients (some left their companies/industry OR fell into the cold category) that I regularly send things to. That list changes and grows every year. I spend a lot of money and time on this (thankfully I have an assistant that’s helping me with my next mailout, which will be different due to COVID) BUT it’s worth it and here’s a story to prove that. I have done several jobs for an ad agency here in town. Through those jobs I’ve gotten to know the creative director and a couple other staff members. Every year, they get 2 “check-ins” from me. It’s been almost 2 years since my last project with them and I haven’t heard anything. Over the past 2 years, I’ve probably spent $100/person sending them “check-ins.” Seems like a lot for not hearing anything, huh? Well…a few weeks ago, I got an email out of the blue from the creative director asking me to record some voiceovers for a client of theirs. He said he knew I had a home studio and this job was something they needed turned around quickly and someone that could do basic editing. It wasn’t a huge job but because there were several videos, I’m netting $2100. Do you think he would’ve remembered me from 2 years ago if I hadn’t maintained that relationship? $100 + waiting 2 years was totally worth it. |
And stories like this happen a lot. This has taken me years to build up, so I know it’s not for the faint of heart but for me, it’s been the key in creating a sustainable and successful voiceover career. |
-Mike and Heidi |