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VOICE OVER CAREER Pivoting To Persevere - And GROW - As The Voice Over World Spins Through The COVID Crisis June 29, 2020  By J. Michael CollinsVoice Actor, Coach & Producer We're all in this together. It may seem trite at this point, or like a line from one of far too many pandemic commercials, but it's true. The
voice over community around the world is having a shared experience,
from the darkest days of quarantine lockdown to the first glimmers of a
return to normal, we're all experiencing the ups and downs, the
uncertainties and successes, together. Here's
a confession: I had my doubts. For me, the seriousness of the situation
hit home the day the NBA and NHL shut down their seasons. When sports
leagues with billions of dollars on the line just ... stop ... it has a
way of bringing home what a serious disruption the world was headed for. For the first time in my career, I felt like I couldn't see the chessboard, and was unsure of what would happen to our industry.
After
a weekend pity party, however, I did what I always do when it comes to
business - set aside emotion and made reasoned, logical judgements
about how to adapt to change.
Our industry has been turned on its axis more than once, and somehow,
through every crisis, it seems to persevere, and even grow in unexpected
ways, rewarding those who embrace change, and sometimes punishing those
who do not. PIVOTING TO PERSEVERE
I made an immediate decision to pivot away from areas I thought would be
impacted negatively by the crisis. My focus shifted to aggressive
pursuit of e-Learning and medical narration, and equally to aggressive
pursuit of commercial and corporate work centered around messaging about
the crisis. Like
many of you, some of my best clients went into a temporary holding
pattern, but setting aside the fear and following the work where it was
going allowed me to overcome and easily offset those losses with new
work. SEEKING QUALITY-MINDED CLIENTS
In
addition to shifting my focus to areas that would grow during the
crisis, I adapted my approach to finding work in general. One very early
trend I saw at the beginning of the crisis was a flight to quality. You
might expect companies to be slashing budgets and looking to lower-end
sources for VO talent in these tough times, but many more have become
hyper-focused on getting their messaging more finely tuned than ever.
The slightest misstep can make a company seem tone-deaf, which in the
current moment could be unrecoverable. So instead of lowering rates and trying to double-down on auditions and
marketing, I turned my attention to quality-minded buyers who were
looking for a voice that could communicate reassurance, compassion,
steadiness in a storm, and sensitivity to shaken consumers. In many
cases, this meant vulnerable industries like healthcare companies,
airlines, phone and cable providers, social media companies, and
behemoth online retailers. Right now, they need voices who can cut
through the noise and make the consumer trust them. I
targeted e-Learning buyers who need training on new best practices and
procedures stemming from the crisis, and medical narration
buyers (well, for natural reasons they became the fish that just
jumped into the boat).
SPECIFIC FOCUS ACTIONS ... I
focused on quality over quantity, and high-percentage pursuits over low
percentage ones. Also, I...
Direct
marketing tactics changed as well, emphasizing on-call availability and
the ability to offer a professional Source-Connect equipped home
studio, to put their minds at ease about directed sessions.
Lastly,
I took a little extra time with auditions than I usually would, to
really try to understand the psychology behind the messaging, and the
psychology of those being targeted by the message.
And,
I've learned to pad an extra 20 minutes or so to any crisis-related VO
session, as there are more creatives than ever who want more safeties
and wilds just to be sure the message is perfect. WHO WILL SURVIVE? Agents
who hustle will continue to thrive. Online casting will continue to
evolve and play a substantial role in the mid and low end of the market. Your personal branding, visibility, and SEO presence will matter more
than ever. Your marketing will need to be more clever and subtle than
ever, to stand out from the crowd, and, as the work spreads out, the
middle class of VO talent will continue to be the fastest growing
segment.
Ultimately, like in 2001 and 2008, our industry has once again risen to a
great challenge - perhaps its greatest yet. Because of the
foresight of those who have used the past decade to adapt to technology
and prepare when the world needed people who could remain productive
while isolated, the business of voice over will once again weather the
storm, and come out stronger on the other side. NOW, A TREAT ...  Meanwhile, if you're still locked down and haven't completely fulfilled
your quaran-teen quota of extra pounds yet, here's my lovely wife Anna
with a recipe for her homemade authentic Dutch Apple Pie! FROM ANNA:
--------------------------- ABOUT J. MICHAEL In more than 20 years as a professional voice actor, J. Michael Collins has worked with many of the world's largest companies, brands, sports leagues and organizations - in both the classic agency-based VO world and online casting marketplace, where he has become a leading authority. He is also recognized as an industry-leading voice over coach and award-winning demo producer, and is a multi-time Voice Arts Award nominee and winner as voice actor, demo producer, script writer and casting director. Email: jmichael@jmcvoiceover.com Web: www.jmcvoiceover.com CLICK HERE FOR MORE HELPFUL VOICE-OVER CAREER ARTICLES |
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