You know, every now and then I take a look back at my life and come to a realization that it’s no wonder that I became a voice actor. Honestly, the signs were always there, pretty much from the beginning. I was a loud baby, I pick up accents easily, I give people whiplash because I change my voice mid sentence for fun, I’m loud, I love cartoons, video games, and pretty much all animation, and did I mention I’m loud?
Everyone that knows me knows that my first love is character acting. However, there’s one thing above all else that has bothered me. Even more since I’ve started doing more work within the business sector of the industry. As a business, the best thing you can do is build a voice for your brand. So why is it that, more often than not, businesses use different voice actors for commercials, phones, and corporate videos?
Voiceover and Business
You’d have to live under a rock to not realize how important voiceover is to the business and corporate sector for the world. I won’t insult your intelligence by giving examples. However, I can’t believe how many businesses won’t hire the same voice talent to craft the voice of their business. We always talk about the importance of continuity in brand colors, logos, slogans, marketing material, but I see that idea slip a lot when it comes to voice over.
Building Your Business’s Voice
Now, I understand that a lot of voice actors specialize in specific aspects of our industry. But, a lot of talent that specializes in the corporate sector can fulfill quite a few of the needs of businesses. It seems to me that someone that works in that sector would jump at the chance to work with a company to build their voice.
When you have a recognizable voice for your business, it starts to feel like a friend. Especially when you hear the same voice in the advertisements, IVR, hold messages, and voicemail greetings. When you hear multiple voices, it has the very real potential to become disjointed and confusing. It’s like hiring a different voice actor to play Bugs Bunny in every episode of Looney Toons instead of keeping Mel Blanc in the booth. It would feel like a different character in every episode. Instead, utilizing one voice actor lets you know that you’re watching the same character in every show, or in this case, the same business.
If you take the time to come up with a cohesive logo, color scheme, and supporting business imagery, you have a solid foundation for the persona of your business. Working with a voice actor to create a voice is the other half of that. Do you want it to be edgy? Do you want it to be sweet? A company I’m working with wanted something super sentimental, warm, and inviting. Voice talent can help you achieve all of that and more to help give your business its best chance of new or continued success. And that’s it. I apologize that there wasn’t more substance to this, but this is something I’ve been thinking about for a while. It was nice to muse about it on the page. Whelp, until we meet again, take care!