Voice acting is often seen by marketers as simply the delivery of their message. But in reality, voice actors play a vital role in brand communications.
Marketing is all about perception, so it’s critical to cultivate a positive image in every aspect of your messaging, from color palette to the sound and tone of your ads.
That’s a whole lot of commercials competing for an audience’s attention.
To make your brand stand out, you need a strategy that’ll reel in and hold your target customers’ interest.
One of the most powerful ways to do this is through the voice overs you use across audiovisual marketing materials.
A fun, friendly, or compelling voice can cut through the noise, making your message all the more memorable.
Of course, the voice you choose needs to match your brand’s existing image—or the one you want to build.
And this kind of consistency isn’t just limited to voice over work either.
Your brand’s tone should carry across all marketing channels, from video ads and your website to social media and email campaigns.
When done right, it’ll help customers remember information about your brand more easily and recognize your brand across different contexts.
American voice actor Stace C.
Creating Human Connection
Voice acting plays a huge role in this, helping to define a brand’s “human character.”
Indeed, a skilled voice actor can bring warmth and charm to a commercial, making your message particularly appealing.
Their goal, as professional voice actor Stace C. puts it:
Is to bring authenticity and relatability to a brand’s message, even when dealing with corporate or industry-specific language.
Indeed, even the biggest corporations understand the power of a human connection.
They know that consumers are more likely to trust and support brands that feel approachable and align with their views and values.
And with the right voice actor helping them bridge that human connection, standing out in a crowded marketplace can be that little bit easier.
2. Voice Acting Can Be Persuasive
Engagement and brand recognition are great, but the ultimate goal of ads is to drive traffic and revenue.
Just as voice actors represent your brand, they can also use their rhetorical skills to guide behavior.
It’s easy to underestimate the importance of rhetoric and style in persuasion.
The same information can be perceived very differently depending on the way it’s presented.
For example, infomercials that rely on “but wait, there’s more!” and other tired tropes simply aren’t as resonant in 2024.
Even if it really is a great value, consumers are already accustomed to these sales strategies and will simply tune them out.
A person skilled in voice acting will sound less like a salesperson and more like someone audiences can relate to.
They can also change their approach depending on the field and the specifics of the ad.
Overall, they’ll be much more effective when it comes to convincing listeners.
3. Voice Acting Communicates Personality
As noted earlier, branding is all about building a personality and cultivating a strong set of positive associations with your brand.
Brand personalities are generally crafted by marketing departments in collaboration with other teams, but they also act as the face of your company.
While marketing has always involved personality, this has become even more important as consumers continue to look for brands that they can relate to.
For example, many companies now run Twitter accounts primarily to engage with customers outside of traditional marketing contexts.
Their goal when tweeting isn’t always to sell products—it’s often just to keep the brand fresh in the audience’s mind.
An effective organizational voice is connected to the brand’s products or values.
It’s also related to your customer profile—as a marketer, you need to consider who your target audience is and what they’re looking for.
Choosing the right voice artist is a key part of this equation. If you’re selling products for parents, you might want an actor with a soothing or comforting voice.
On the other hand, a luxury car brand will probably hire someone with an air of sophistication.
As voice artist Stace explains:
I approach the script as if I’m having a natural conversation rather than just reading words.
I also emphasize key words and vary my pace to create a more dynamic, human-like delivery.
By blending these techniques, I’m able to connect with the audience in a meaningful way.
This ability to make a brand’s message feel personal and engaging, no matter whether you’re targeting luxury buyers or mom-and-pop consumers, is what sets great voice acting apart.
Buyer Personas
Buyer personas are essentially profiles of an “average” customer who is likely to be interested in your products.
You need to know your audience in order to develop effective sales tactics, especially in today’s competitive landscape.
Customer surveys and interviews can help you gain a deeper understanding of their desires and preferences.
With the right voice artist, you’ll be able to build stronger customer relationships and get better results without increasing your marketing budget.
4. Voice Acting Helps Audiences Remember Your Brand
As mentioned earlier, one of the biggest challenges for marketers is getting audiences to remember their ads.
Marketers use slogans, jingles, and other elements to condense their branding into a simple, memorable statement.
Just as a catchy jingle will stick in the viewer’s mind, effective voice acting makes a narration much easier to remember.
Skilled voice acting makes a recording sound like more than the sum of its parts and perfectly complements your brand’s message.
Working with professional voice actors will help you fix your ads in the audience’s memory.
In other words, their speech techniques will make your marketing materials stand out from any other ads the viewer or listener has recently experienced.
This dynamic becomes even clearer in the case of celebrity endorsements.
Regardless of their specific vocal skills, their familiar voice will attract attention from the right audience.
In the video below, John Krasinski — Jim from The Office — provides voice over work for an Esurance commercial.
In addition to being a celebrity, he also provides an approachable, personable tone that perfectly matches the brand.
Just as Jim acted as the link between the show and the audience, here, he connects an emerging company with an audience that isn’t familiar with its benefits.
His existing rapport gives him a unique authority, even though viewers consciously recognize that he’s being paid to appear.
In this case, Krasinski gives Esurance a better chance of being recognized while also making the brand appear more engaging.
Of course, you don’t need to be a celebrity to contribute excellent voice over work.
Anyone who can grab an audience’s attention will be effective in an ad that matches their style.
It always helps to have the best products and lowest prices, but marketing is more about emotions than logic.
An experienced voice actor can trigger the right emotions through vocal variety and other skills.
Final Words
It goes without saying that each item on this list is interconnected.
An engaging speaker will be more persuasive, and they’ll do more to separate your business from other brands in your niche.
A cohesive marketing strategy gives customers the same experience regardless of how they’re engaging with your brand.
Putting a better spin on your message will make you more recognizable, relatable, and trustworthy to a wider audience.
If you’re looking for professional voice actors to help make your brand stand out from the crowd,check out our extensive pool of professional voice talent.
Not sure of the route you want to take? No problem. Get in touch, and we’ll help you find the best commercial voice acting talent for your needs.
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