How long have your friends and family urged you to use your voice for something? We've all experienced this. After nearly two years of receiving compliments, I eventually woke up one morning and decided to take the plunge. It was both thrilling and intimidating, and it felt uncomfortable. Having a solid support system is crucial while also silencing the doubting voice in your mind.
Conducting thorough research is essential in determining whether this path is right for you. Setting realistic expectations and understanding that this isn't an immediate solution to unemployment will be beneficial. This journey requires time, hard work, patience, and a lot of perseverance. Is it possible to achieve results quickly? Definitely! Many of our students secure work and agency representation just weeks after receiving their professional demos. However, you should be ready for the possibility that this process might take much longer. Drawing from my 35-year career and advice from talent agents nationwide, here are some crucial steps to launching a voiceover career...
Voiceover Coaching
Mastering the art of voice acting is the crucial initial step. Unfortunately, social media voiceover forums are filled with newcomers fixated solely on recording equipment. While buying a microphone is more exciting than investing in coaching, this isn't the right way to start your VO career. Without acquiring the performance skills necessary for booking commercials, narrations, and character roles, your sleek new microphone will end up as merely an impressive decoration to display to friends. What you truly want to showcase is your capacity to secure work and join talent agency rosters.
Work with an experienced voiceover coach on script performance, marketing, and professional demos. Some naysayers will suggest that I am recommending this because I am a voiceover coach, but if you called 100 talent agents in the country, they would tell you the same thing. Trust me. You won't be able to survive in this business if you don't have the performance skills down!
Professional Demos
Professional demos are your calling cards. Your number one marketing tool. It's vital to have about 5-6 audio clips on a demo, and the demo needs to be around the 60-second mark. Variety is key. You can't have the same read on a demo for every clip. Agents and producers like working with talents who have a range in their delivery. Stay away from doing your own demo unless you have a ton of experience in voice acting and audio engineering. Even if you do, it's still best to have a second set of ears listening to your reads and directing you.
Many new talents attempt to produce their own demos, and while that could work for some low-pay clients on Fiverr, it will not fly if you're interested in talent agency representation. I would strongly suggest avoiding DIY demos at all costs. Talent agents will be able to tell that you did it yourself within the first five seconds of listening to your demo. This isn't the best way to start a professional relationship with an agent. Instead, get your demos professionally produced.
Marketing
Once you have your demos, it's time to start sending them out. That means creating a good spreadsheet of prospective clients, agents, and producers. Creativity is needed when reaching out to buyers. Imagine all the emails and calls they get monthly from new voice talents. Your emails and phone calls need to be creative. When you reach out to potential clients, ask good questions about their business. Point out something interesting you read on their website. Make the call or email about them! Your professional demos will speak for themselves. Every call or email is only the beginning of building what will hopefully be a positive rapport with the client. Even if they don't hire you immediately, it's a big win when the client wants to talk with you. Every year, I get booked by clients for the first time when I had reached out to them several years earlier!
You'll need a space to showcase your demos, so a professional website will also be required. Something professional yet user-friendly, like a one-pager. Clients never want to feel like they've been dropped in the middle of an amusement park when they visit your website. If it takes them longer than 10 seconds to find your demo, they will move on to the next talent. So, make it easy for them by putting your demos above the fold on a one-page website. Make sure to include an opt-in form so the client can contact you.
Don't give up!
The voiceover industry is often labeled as overly competitive. Sound familiar? I've heard it countless times too, but it's simply not true, and here's why: Many newcomers dive into the voiceover field for about a month before giving up. Why? They ignore the advice of seasoned voice actors, coaches, and talent agents. Instead of undergoing proper coaching, they try to create their own demos and rely heavily on pay-to-play audition sites. After a month of limited success, they abandon the pursuit. So, consider this: these individuals were only your competitors for a brief period before they exited. Therefore, the industry isn't as competitive as it seems! My final advice is this: if you're truly passionate about a voiceover career, you must commit for more than a month. While some may succeed quickly, others may take months or even years. Think about other industries and how long it typically takes to see results. Voice acting is no different, despite what some voiceover guides or online courses might claim. The rewards are fantastic, but you must be prepared to invest time and effort without expecting instant miracles. Best of luck, and Happy Holidays!
If you are interested in training with the UVT Coaches, please visit our voiceover training course page at https://www.uvtcoaching.com/voiceover-coaching-programs
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