When I meet new people and they ask what I do, the usual response is: ‘I’ve never met a voiceover artist’. Yet being in the voiceover world, it feels like there are so many of us. A lot of people think that voiceover is just TV and radio adverts. However, have you ever considered that the self-scan voice at your local supermarket uses voiceover? The fun voice of your child’s bear? The sat-nav that gets you home? Voiceover is all around us, this is why it’s so valuable in business, to get companies’ messages across and tell their story. Here are some of the more common ways voiceover is used and how it could enhance your business:
Video
The use of video marketing in business has increased significantly in the last few years. Ranging from short explainers and testimonials to full social media campaigns. Granted, some of these videos don’t need voiceover, but there are others where it isn’t being used and it could make a significant impact. ‘The value of voice has never been greater. The 20th century workplace depended on text to communicate, but today’s business world relies on audio and video to get a message across.’ (trint.com).
“Possibly the biggest reason for the popularity of audio and video content is that it forms an emotional connection with the viewer. Every person’s voice is unique, like a vocal fingerprint. There’s an intimate connection that’s made when people hear other people speak – this makes voice an incredibly powerful tool for content.”
–trint.com
According to invideo.io, video marketers get 66% more qualified leads per year. This means that video content is giving consumers the information to feel well informed about a product/service.
I appreciate that a high percentage of people view videos with the sound off and just read the subtitles. Although this may be true, there are many instances, like on a business homepage, where someone wants to know what a company does. Having a video that has a human speaking to them will make all the difference to their impression.
‘In Video’ also highlights that the top reasons for people not using video in their marketing is lack of knowledge/time or not knowing where to start. Could it be time that you spoke to a video production company about how they could help your business?
eLearning
The demand for eLearning and online training increased 33% in 2021, according to survey respondents to the voices.com annual trends report 2021. The eLearning market has always been big, but now more companies than ever are seeing the benefits of using it.
“Educators will be looking for professional-quality content for their students, and companies will be reimagining their internal training programs with a newly remote workforce. We’ll see content producers meeting this demand by creating eLearning and training content in droves in 2021. The eLearning industry will be full of innovation, creating new ways to provide virtual classrooms and to keep the attention of their learners.”
–Voices.com Annual Trends Report 2021
For those of you not using voiceover for your courses, think about this: say your employees had to do mandatory online health and safety training. But the thought of doing it made them groan, as they have to sit and read slide upon slide of information. Now imagine if the course had an engaging narrator who guides them through, encourages them to try again if they get a question wrong and congratulates them when they get it right. How might they feel now about having to complete it?
Telephone and On-hold
Another place that voiceover can be valuable to your business is on your telephone system. I have spoken to so many people who tell me they dread having to record the voicemail messages for their company. Unfortunately, this comes across in the voice and can sound like they are ‘reading’.
Your voicemail greeting might be the first impression someone has of your company. Therefore, by using a voiceover artist to record these messages, your business will have a much more professional feel. Check out my IVR and on-hold samples on my corporate clips page for examples of this. Voiceover artists can record short out of office messages to whole on-hold systems, with hundreds of individual prompts.
Medical Narration
Medical reports and findings often use complex terminology. The text could be going out to doctors who use this language all the time. However, it could be seen by people who have never heard of these processes before or English isn’t their first language. Without doubt, using a voiceover artist who has experience of these texts, can make the information much easier to digest.
Conclusion
To sum up, voiceover is everywhere, whether you realise it or not. Undoubtedly, the pandemic has increased demand for content to market businesses effectively, and voiceover is an efficient accompaniment to that. Furthermore, it is important to choose the right voice for your projects. They can make or break the message your business is trying to convey. I am always happy to provide a free sample demo to see if I am the right voice for you.
Sources:
https://invideo.io/blog/video-marketing-statistics/
https://static.voices.com/wp-mainsite/uploads/20201210150516/Trends_Report_2021.pdf
https://trint.com/resources/q4kpn21r/value-of-voice-why-video-and-audio-content-is-on-the-rise
Feature Image by Maranda Vandergriff on Unsplash
Microphone photo by Will Francis on Unsplash
Video shoot photo by Brands&People on Unsplash
Woman with pencil photo by Jeshoots on Unsplash
Answerphone photo by Julian Hochgesang on Unsplash