VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

jordanreynolds · Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2011 1:19 am Post subject: Marketing/Branding Decision Help

Hey everyone!

I'm having a hard time making a decision here. I'm about to "launch" my VO career. A.K.A. Producing business cards, marketing materials, referring people to my website, etc.

The decision I am trying to make is which domain to use. I have jordanreynolds.com and jordansvoice.com. I have put all of my design and work efforts into the jordanreynolds.com domain. the jordanreynolds.com domain is also much more rooted amongst social networks and contacts. My email address is jordan "at" jordanreynolds.com.

Now, for marketing reasons, my gut tells me to go with jordansvoice.com. It's 1 less syllable, more catchy, and says what I do right in the domain. It would be quite the overhall to migrate my web designs/email/etc over to the jordansvoice.com domain. So I thought an easy "solution" is to have jordansvoice.com autoforward to jordanreynolds.com.

So 2 questions.
1. For marketing materials should I use jordansvoice.com or jordanreynolds.com?
2. If I use jordansvoice.com as only a forwarder (but my email address still being jordan@jordanreynolds.com) Will this confuse people?

Thank you to anyone who reads and provides their input!!!

http://jordansvoice.com
http://jordanreynolds.com

Scott Pollak · Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2011 6:50 am Post subject:

my vote is for jordansvoice.com, for all the same pluses that you mentioned.

BTW. even though the jordansvoice website isn't finished, I like the look and cleanness of it. I like most of the demo, too. Overall, good stuff. There are a few things on it that I don't think do justice to your voice, but that's for another discussion at another time.
_________________
Scott R. Pollak
Clients include Pandora, NPR Atlanta, Wells Fargo, Cisco, Humana, Publix, UPS, AT&T, HP, Xerox and more.

www.voicebyscott.com

Bruce · Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2011 9:11 am Post subject:

There probably aren't a bunch of people named Jordan in the VO business, but the growing opinion I'm seeing here is to market your name, not a slogan. Sure you'll want a slogan (branding statement) to flesh out your marketing, but using your name speaks of your pride as to who you are and what you offer. It speaks to your unique style. I wouldn't make it any more difficult for people to figure out who you are by masking yourself behind a made up url.

Now, to just slightly dull the issue, very few people are going to type in "j o r d a n r e...." etc. They're going to click on a link instead. Nonetheless, when someone sees your url or your email addy, there's no confusion as to who you are when it's spelled out right there.

B
_________________
VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005

I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

Lizden · Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2011 10:09 am Post subject:

Mike Sommer · Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2011 12:11 pm Post subject:

jordansvoice.com Has a nice ring to it– short sweet and to the point.
_________________
The Blog:
http://voiceoveraudio.blogspot.com/

Acoustics are counter-intuitive. If one thing is certain about acoustics, it is that if anything seems obvious it is probably wrong.

jordanreynolds · Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2011 12:21 pm Post subject:

Chuck Davis · Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 4:31 am Post subject:

I vote for Jordansvoice.com as well. You know what you're getting into before you click.
_________________
Wicked huge.....in India.
www.chuckdaviscreative.com

Scott Pollak · Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 7:19 pm Post subject:

imaginator · Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 6:48 am Post subject:

...am with liz and scott, but applaud your choice, jason.

my own name is mis-spelled by long-time friends, my bank, 90% of my clients, and even the IRS. so "rowellgormon.com" was never an option for a second.

fortunately, the checks still clear.
_________________
rowell gormon
www.voices2go.com
"Mr. Warm & Friendly Voice...with Character!"
Rowell Gormon's Clogged Blog - http://voices2go.com/blog

Steve Knight · Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 1:54 pm Post subject:

On the other hand some, (like me) use the last name as sprt of a branding tool

www.steveknightvo.com

Dan-O · The Gates of Troy Joined: 17 Jan 2005 Posts: 1638

DougVox · Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 7:59 pm Post subject:

What Dan said.

Especially:

derlor · Joined: 05 Sep 2008 Posts: 20 Location: Los Angeles, CA

Interesting topic.

When I think about on-camera actors, they all market themselves as themselves: JohnSmith.com or JohnSmithActor.com. But in voice over, one can market themselves as JohnSmith.com, as JohnSmithVoiceShop.com, or YourFriendlyNeighbor.com.

It really does change the marketing strategy.

Mike Sommer · Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 4:37 pm Post subject:

You can be whoever you want to be. That's why I love the illusion.
_________________
The Blog:
http://voiceoveraudio.blogspot.com/

Acoustics are counter-intuitive. If one thing is certain about acoustics, it is that if anything seems obvious it is probably wrong.

jordanreynolds · Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 10:47 am Post subject:

Thanks for the other tips everyone. Well, I guess I don't know how "big" I'm going for. Obviously as big as I can get Wink

. What's nice is that jordansvoice.com and jordanreynolds.com both take you to the same website. For my VO career I think I'll stick with promoting with the jordansvoice.com domain. If I expand outside of that (on-camera work, etc) I'll promote jordanreynolds.com to that market.

Cool, thanks again!!