voice over talent

What Makes an Effective Commercial Voice Over

Doing an effective commercial voice over means being an influencer—and doesn’t everyone want to be that? A commercial voice over promotes a business or a brand and its products or services—it influences. In other words, it’s selling, and an effective commercial voice over can mean more sales.

Maybe you’re a client needing commercial voice over talent, or you’re a talent wanting to do more of them. Now the marketplace has expanded far beyond radio and television, more traditional mediums. Social media, including YouTube, along with podcasts and websites, mean more opportunities to promote a business, and more need for great commercial voice over.

The voice of a commercial voice over must be many things to many people but needs to sound like the most important person—and voice—to one person. The best commercial voice actors have finely honed the art of talking to a person in a relatable way—and not as though it’s a stadium full of people.

The Right ‘Type’ of Commercial Voice Talent

The agency or script writer knows exactly who the target audience is for any commercial. It’s the group of people who’ll buy that product or service, usually heavily researched if it’s a major corporation or brand name. Creatives know for sure whether a millennial, GenX or mature adult will be buying, so it only makes sense to cast someone in that same age group. The target audience needs to hear a voice that “sounds like” them, at least age-wise.

Be Informed About That Script

If you’re auditioning, do your homework and think about the industry you’ll be talking about, the tone of past commercials and their target audience. What does the advertiser really want to happen here, and how can you finesse the way you deliver the words to accomplish that mission? You want to carefully analyze and interpret those words like a scientist, with thorough preparation and thought—not just jump into the booth and read whatever comes to mind.

You’re telling a story, connecting with the target audience, engaging, and massaging the words. And guess what: The client may listen to only the first 10 seconds of your audition, because after all, they’ve probably got at least 50 other auditions that also deserve their attention. That’s why thorough preparation is so important to a successful commercial read.

Types of Effective Commercial Reads

Hard Sell

You know that commercial that shouts at you from the radio or television, and maybe you turn it off. But maybe it’s selling the thing you’ve been considering buying, so now, it has your attention. And maybe there’s a timeline or deadline to get “this once-a-year price.” Maybe the read is really fast because of so many details considered “necessary” to fit in. And maybe it’s not only loud, but highly energetic and a big forceful.

Soft Sell

This type of commercial voice over predominates in the current marketplace. And that’s why so many voice talents see “not announcery” in the specs detailing what the client wants in a read. Miss that mark, and that voice talent’s audition won’t get through the gate. The read is subtle, non-aggressive, sensitive, realistic, and much more conversational. It may be delivered with very little inflection, almost flat, and may require the listener to use their imagination.

Stay ‘On Trend’

Before you dive into the words, think about what you’re hearing from other commercial spots. Successful commercial voice talents keep their ears open to trends. The voice of 10 or 20 years ago is certainly not the voice of the 2020’s. Like fashion, voice over styles change, too.

Be Truthful with Yourself

Don’t be afraid to practice sounding like someone whose commercial voice talent you admire. Record yourself in the booth and listen back. Then do it again, and although it can be painful, be your harshest critic and practice until you’re happy with that read.

The most successful commercial talents break the rule about “no comparison” to other voices. At the top levels, voice talents often audition for the same job, and then they hear “who got it” when the spot plays. If you can go back to your initial audition and compare notes with the actual booked spot, veterans say that’s a great way to learn what you did right—and wrong, especially if you kept the copy and specs.

Get Pro Help for Your Commercial Voice Over

The biggest money is always in commercials, so it’s no wonder the market is so competitive. There’s no shortage of great voice over coaches, so spend a few sessions brushing up if you’re seasoned, and plan to do that a few times a year. And if you’re new, getting excellent coaching out of the gate is absolutely critical. It can save you time and despair and help keep you on track. Sometimes, your favorite commercial voice talent also does coaching, so check out their websites to see if that’s the case.

You can learn to deliver effective commercial voice over every time.

How to Choose a Medical Voice Over Talent

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Looking for a medical voice over talent? Maybe you work for one of the more than 6,000 hospitals in America. Maybe you aim for the future phenomenal success of your newest life-changing medical device, or a new pharmaceutical medication. And now you need the very best health or medical narration voice over talent you can find for a video that can help achieve your goals. You want a professional voice talent who’s done this before, many times, and for whom long or difficult words or terms aren’t a challenge.

Why not start—and end—your search with someone who “speaks medical” for the very specific audience that will consider your video? You may have heard a certain voice over artist’s medical narration demo. You like it, but you wonder about a few things, as you should.

Know Health and Medical Industry Categories

You need a strong, experienced, knowledgeable medical narration voice talent, whether you’re seeking it for a:

Hospital or health system
Pharmaceutical company
Medical device developer and manufacturer
Health insurance company
Research laboratory
Health or medical association or organization

Ask Questions of Your Medical Voice Over Talent

How much experience do they have?
Will the product they deliver to you sound as good as what’s on their demo?
Can they read pages (and pages) of long-form copy, or are they better suited to commercial reads?
Do they understand this audience? If you’re a hospital or health system, you’re targeting consumers, or maybe you’re producing a training video on safe handling of medical waste. If you’re a medical device company, you may be targeting investors, or buyers including hospitals and physicians’ practices.
Does your talent have a quality, professional home studio, or will they need to go elsewhere to record—and you’ll foot the bill?
Who will edit your medical voiceover?

Know Your Medical Voice Over Talent’s History

You want someone who shows up in the booth well prepared to do your job. Why not look at the list of clients your talent has shown on their website—they should have a website—and reach out to one of them. You can ask, “How was it to work with this talent?” or “Did they understand your directions well and follow through on them?” Or ask “How was their pricing—was it competitive?”

Consider their time in the voice over industry.

You’ll feel so much more confident with someone who’s been doing voice over—successfully—for a longer time. This is true if you’re giving them medical narration copy. It’s not for beginners. These types of projects can sometimes require updates or changes, several months or a few years from the time of original recording. You want to be sure the talent you work with today, will also be the talent you work with later. You need help now when you need something “right away.”

Pay attention to their preparation.

You don’t want someone who walks in and hasn’t taken time to evaluate and mark the copy. Medical narration is particularly challenging, with multisyllabic words, and often, longer sentences because, well, the terminology is just lengthier, often with repeated complex words in a row. That’s not copy that can easily be delivered perfectly in one take without preparation. Your medical narration voice talent will need to read through the copy several times and be sure of pronunciation and syntax. It’s better to learn the correct way to pronounce now, than to put everyone through frustrating repeated mistakes and edits. A professional medical voice talent won’t be embarrassed to ask about something they don’t know right off the bat.

Think about who’s going to be listening.

Does your audience expect a male or female, someone young, in-between, or mature? Do you want no accent at all, or would a local or regional accent help deliver a more effective read? Do you want a talent with a higher pitch, or someone with a deep, commanding timbre?

Meanwhile, a voice over artist known for comedic reads may not be the best delivery for an audience of MDs or PhDs, for example. Leave that casual style for commercials or animation.

Choose the Best Medical Voice Over Talent

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a seasoned medical voice over talent who also has years of writing for the nation’s top health and medical publications and websites, as well as for hospitals and health systems? Who’s written for pharmaceutical companies, medical device developers and manufacturers? And who’s crafted copy for health insurance companies, research laboratories, and health or medical associations and organizations?

Because she’s written so much about medical careers, as a result, Steph understands the structure of those organizations, who does what and why. Therefore, she understands the specific language that is so definitive of healthcare and medicine in the 21^st century. She’s interviewed hundreds of doctors and patients. Steph’s written so many of those longer and complex words and terms. Those may intimidate a less-experienced medical voice over talent.

Find a Medical Script Writer

In addition, while we’re on the subject, if you seek added value with your medical voice over talent, ask Stephanie to write your script because she’s done many. She’s a seasoned writer with 20 years’ experience in this art form, too.

Above all, for her, there’s just something about taking one of your most challenging health or medical scripts, and “knocking it out of the park.” She’ll do it efficiently, correctly, and sounding great, in her next recording session with you.

Boost Your Business Using Localization Voiceover

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Voiceover is an incredible way to enhance your business’s marketing and communication strategies. Localization voiceover can generate emotion and engagement when used correctly if you are using any kind of video or audio content. Your goal as a business owner is to ensure that your messages come across clearly to your audience, and the voiceover is no exception. Depending on where your audience is, you might have to consider language barriers.

Business is becoming more global daily, and you want to ensure that all audiences can access your messages. Subtitles are well and good, but it will always be easier for an audience to hear their native language rather than trying to read along. This is where localization voiceover comes in.

What is Localization?

Localizing is when the voices for audio or video are translated and voiced in another language or accent to better match the intended audience. The entire process involves:

Transcribing a script for the original audio
Translating the script
Editing the script as needed
Choosing a voice actor who best matches the translated lines
Recording the new lines
Editing the final recorded content

When translating and editing a script, localization can help make audio and video clips relatable to the target market. Localizing the original dialogue is problematic because it is modified to fit the speaking style, pace, vocabulary, and dialect considerations. Phrases that may not have exact translations are phrased in ways that the new audience can understand.

There are different types of localization. There is standard localization voiceover and then dubbing. Dub is a more active form of localization where multiple voice actors re-record original dialogues. The number of speakers depends on the number of voices in the original audio clip. Dubs are more time-consuming and expensive to produce but offer a higher quality viewer experience.

Critical Benefits of Localization Voiceover

Choosing to go for a localized voiceover has many benefits. You can reach a much wider audience by translating and modifying your messages to be more understandable. People will be more likely to engage with your content or buy your product if the marketing is in their native language. This includes sharing your messages on foreign social media channels.

Another obvious benefit of having a wider audience is that your business can grow beyond its domestic borders. With global messaging comes global clients, and showing foreign consumers that you are willing to speak their language will make it easier to conduct business with them.

A third benefit is that a localized voiceover showcases your professionalism. By opting for a quality, professionally done voiceover, existing and potential clients can tell you value your outreach efforts. A well-executed voiceover shows you won’t cut corners regarding your foreign clients.

Types of Projects that Shine When Localized

While localization is a great tool, there are certain areas where it can bring out the best parts of a project when done right. These include:

Movies and TV shows: Voiceovers cover narration, exposition, and internal monologues. This doubles for any promotional material for movies and TV shows, including trailers and social media posts. You can use localization for all of these purposes.
International sports events: Any sport with an international following can use localized voiceover. If an event will air at a specific time or has a pay-per-view planned, then localized voiceovers can help drum up promotion across the globe.
Educational videos: Explainer videos and educational programs also benefit from localized voiceover. Especially with the internet, a larger audience has access to learning opportunities. Companies making videos or university courses turn to multilingual, online content to round out their educational programs.
Video Games: Much like TV and film, video games offer immersive experiences to their consumers. As games become more advanced and dialogue plays a more significant role, voiceover plays a much larger role in making game worlds seem more relatable and immersive. More games offer foreign language dubs, making localizing a crucial aspect of modern game design.

See What Localization Voiceover Can Do for Your Business

No matter what type of project your business is considering, localization voiceover is an option to consider to enhance your marketing and communications strategy. Speaking someone’s native language is bound to catch their attention, and localization is the way to do that. It can bring about a return on investment by attracting a wider audience and help you tap into international markets. Professional localization can help keep new and prospective customers engaged while assuring international markets that you take their business seriously.

Stephanie Stephens