Developing a Marketing Plan for Your Voice Over Business

The industry of voice over has grown more competitive over the years but more diverse due to revolutionary marketing demands for new technologies and advances and trends in the voice over industry. Whether you are a freelance voice talent, sound engineer, voice over casting director or producer you have to realize that you run a business of providing service. As a voice talent, think yourself as the business. Then how do you package and sell your services? Like any other business industry, you need to draw up a marketing plan or strategy to structure your business and understand the rates of financial returns for every investment (equipment, technology and acting/voice training) you spend on.

First, let’s define what marketing is —- these are all plans, strategies and activities to sell a product or service to a target audience.  The following is a basic framework or template of a marketing plan:

The next step will be to provide the details to your marketing framework. The following points and questions specific to the voice over market should help you develop the details for each item of your marketing plan.

After you have outlined the details of your marketing framework further sort this out to two levels – Strategic and Tactical. Often these two words are intertwined in any business plan but, are distinct in terms of implementation. It is not enough or substantial to think of strategy and tactics as long and short-term plans as both defines on how you will achieve your goals and objectives.

Strategy is your bridge to getting from where your business is right now to where you envision it will be. Strategy is your general resource and allocation plan. Tactics show how you specifically and tangibly will achieve your business goals. These are your specific set of activities to achieve your business goals. Most industries frame their tactics as activities aligned with each strategy. What are some of the elements of these two marketing levels?

Remember that once you realize that your voice talent/skill is your business then you understand that focusing on the quality of your business – you are your brand, is your best marketing strategy.