In this article, we’ll take a close look at the role of voice acting in marketing.
By the end, you’ll be ready to start searching for the perfect voice actor to represent your brand.
1. Voice Acting Can Make Your Brand Seem Less Corporate
Most consumers already see hundreds of ads per day — far more than they can remember or even pay attention to.
With that in mind, the top priority for marketers is simply giving viewers a reason to pay attention.
Standing out from the competition will improve your brand recognition and get people interested in your product or service.
To that end, you need a voice actor who matches your existing image (or the image you’re interested in building).
Of course, this isn’t limited to voice over work.
Customers should see the same tone in video ads, on your website, in email marketing, and more.
This will help them retain information about your brand and recognize you in different contexts.
Additionally, developing a distinct brand image will make your brand seem less corporate.
Even the biggest corporations try to build content with a friendly, approachable style.
A skilled voice actor can make an ad seem more relatable to your audience.
This also speaks to the importance of a holistic mission that permeates all levels of your company.
A brand image isn’t simply something added to marketing materials — contemporary consumers want to engage with businesses that operate in accordance with their values.
2. Voice Actors 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 top voice actor 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
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.
If you’re selling products for parents, you might want an actor who has a soothing or comforting voice.
On the other hand, a luxury car brand will probably hire someone with an air of sophistication.
Buyer personae 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 more engaging customer relationships and get better results on the same 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 actors can make a recording sound like more than the sum of its parts and perfectly complement 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.
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.
Did you like this article? Have questions? Know any good examples of commercial voice acting? Please feel free to comment below.
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