VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Frank F]

...and nearly put me in the hospital. O.K. after reading the latest article in/on VoiceOverExtra
http://www.voiceoverxtra.com/article.htm?id=attyrhmp several hundred comments were made about "marketing more", and the second consensus seemed to be to offer MORE or different services to clients and customers. Hence the thought; what additional services can YOU offer clients and potential customers?

From my brief overview of VA's comments, these are the highlights:

- Increase marketing,
- Increase networking,
- Lower fees *(?),
- Increase online presence,
- Spend more on training, coaching, agents, etc. *(?),
- Re-branding an already successful image *(?),
- Update demos,
- and, Diversify *(?),

* (Questioning the value of this idea)

Although your perceptions may vary greatly from mine, I question the value of some of the thoughts presented. Are these ideas not what we should have been doing everyday?

What MORE can a VA offer, and what is the value? I believe in doing your best at what you, not being a "jack of all trades, master of none".

What constitutes your Marketing Plan? How much are you allocating toward reaching potential customers and maintaining current clients? Where are you going use your marketing skills and how? Just saying, "I am going to market more" will not get you more customers. One must design a workable plan of attack and discern the value or quantize the value of each measure of the plan.

Spending money on coaching and training is a good idea IF you are able to quantize the value of what you spend versus what you will earn thereafter.

Re-branding a successful brand image or one which you have been known for may not be essential. Determine the value BEFORE you proceed with potential changes.

Just random thoughts while being idle here in hills of Utah. Your thoughts and ideas are welcome and expected?

Toodles

F2
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Be thankful for the bad things in life. They opened your eyes to the good things you weren't paying attention to before. email: thevoice@usa.com

[louzucaro]

I gotta agree with you on most of these points, except for the one about coaching / training.

That stuff is really difficult to quantify, regardless of the subject matter. You can't put an ROI on having learned addition, for instance, because you use it all the time. Even a general skill, if it relates to you being better at what you do to make a living, is probably a worthwhile investment IF you can afford it, which I believe is the "if" you should be asking yourself for that particular item, especially since there's no way to predict, with something like training for v.o. or acting, how it'll affect your career in the future.

But back to that list...why on earth would you re-brand an already successful image? I didn't read the OP so maybe I'm thinking out of context, but that seems like a no-no.
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Lou Zucaro
http://www.voicehero.com

"Well, yeah, there's my favorite leaf!"

[Claire Dodin]

I can explain the "Diversify".
Most people who are reporting a downturn are people who work mainly in radio ads (at least in the UK).
Those who also do corporate and other sectors are not as affected or not affected at all.
That's the idea. If you work across a wide range of mediums, you are less likely to feel the hit when one goes down.
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www.clairedodin.com

[Lance Blair]

I'm focusing heavily on corporate, and when I get a new client I spend a lot of extra time including personal consultations in their office to have meetings over the branding and style. This works very well in Atlanta where the place is oozing with corporate work and it's easy to access everybody. For example, with one client I won the gig and when we met and brainstormed they decided that they wanted me to do a completely different read for their first big marketing push, and then save the initial style for other projects.
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Skype: globalvoiceover
and now, http://lanceblairvo.com the blog is there now too!

[Deirdre]

In a jolly way, I'm getting more persistent with the people I'd like to be working with.
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DBCooperVO.com
IMDB

[todd ellis]

why re-brand a successful image? this one seems ludicrous to me. imagine swapping the golden arches for the magenta ellipse ... or ... something.

several years ago i noticed the trend of MOH customers asking where to buy quality and/or inexpensive players ... after a bit i started researching & eventually became a dealer for one of the machines ... i don't make a lot of money on the hardware, but i offer the service bundled in a neat, plug-n-play package. at one point not long ago MOH was almost 80% of my business ... i did a POOP load of it.
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"i know philip banks": todd ellis
who's/on/1st?

[Chuck Davis]

Diversity is a keyword for me this year. Not only in terms of the client base I'm interested in serving as a VO but also in the services that I can and should be offering. While VO is my primary focus I am also very experienced writer and producer. Going forward this year I'm doing more to include those components in my marketing and promotions efforts,

I should have been doing that all along....

Nothing like a tough economy to force alittle self reinvention!
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Wicked huge.....in India.
www.chuckdaviscreative.com