OK, voice over ain’t ditch diggin’
What? Are you crazy? Of course I want jobs!
Whaddayatalkinabout?
Well, in most voice over jobs you work as a private contractor.
So unlike in a job job, you may have several different employers each week. And several different bosses.
A steady stream of these jobs is the life blood of a voice over career. So jobs is a good thing, right?
But if you are just chasing jobs, you need to change your focus.
Here’s what wrong with jobs.
Besides doing the actual voice over performance, each job has a certain amount of overhead. You have to communicate with the client, determine their direction, file formats, delivery requirements, input their company in your accounting, invoice them and keep track of payments.
Oh, and did I mention 20, 30 40 auditions you did to land that job? Then the next gig comes along and it’s the same routine. So how do you improve on this situation?
You don’t want jobs, you want clients.
Here’s the answer in one word: clients.
Always strive toward turning a job into an ongoing client. Here are some benefits to clients:
- Often you don’t re-audition
- Jobs just drop from the sky
- You understand the style they want
- The technical specs are always the same
- You learn their payment patterns
- You know all their contact info
I have this one client named Methuselah… Ok, just kidding, but I’ve worked for the man for over a decade. He sends a script, I quote the job, he pays with Paypal in advance, I know what he wants so I nail it in one take and upload the file. Back comes an email: Great! Thanks!
So how do you find this Methuselah guy?
Finding clients with direct marketing
You should be using direct marketing to build your career anyway. But the key is to look for ongoing media production companies. I use yp.com and search for two categories: advertising agencies and video production services.
Send them an email telling them you’re a voice over cat. That should keep you busy for a while. An added bonus is when these companies talk to their clients, they will pitch your voice. Free promotion.
Finding clients on the pay to play (P2P) sites
To find potential clients on voices.com and voice123.com try sniffing around at the bottom of the job postings. Look for companies that are producing many projects. It’s easy on voice123.com:
no additional projects
many additional projects
It’s a bit trickier with voices.com. Look if they have feedback or not. If they have feedback, you can click on the name to see how many jobs they’ve produced.
no rating, no projects
feedback, some projects
35 feedbacks, many projects
If you have limited time to audition, consider auditioning for these repeat clients first.
Once you catch them, don’t let them get away
So you do some work for a company, then what? I suggest dropping their name, company and email into a mailing list service like aweber, constant contact or mailchimp.
Then send an occasional update “newsletter” to these clients. Keep it short. List a few recent jobs and include a link to you web page and demos. A picture or logo helps to jog their memory.
voice over clients = voice over jobs
Of course you’ll always have one-off jobs in the voice over trade. But work toward building a clientele that provides a steady stream of work. You find it much more efficient and less stressful.
An added bonus is the joy of building relationships with creative people all over the country and around the world. Turn jobs into clients. You’ll be glad you did!
How do you retain clients? Let me know your thoughts in a comment down below.
See you soon! Until then… keep talking!
William Williams
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