Most people would agree that a high quality video is essential for promoting a product or service in 2021. However, what many business owners may not be aware of is how professional audio can play into creating a marketable video. Voice over is one of the most practical and effective ways to communicate your company’s message in a video. Today, we’ll be diving into how to pick the right voiceover artist for your marketing video. 

Picking the Right Voice Over Artist 

In the world of video, professional Voice Over, or “VO”, is typically used to exhibit a company’s product or service in a more formal style. These types of videos most commonly include product or service demonstrations, animation, company overview, or screen capture video.

Regardless of the type of video you are planning to create with VO, it’s important to take into consideration the “tone” that your company wants to emote. The tone of your video can be summed up into keywords and searchable phrases while looking for your VO artist. 

Most commonly, American companies will start off by searching for either “American Male” or “American Female” VO artists. Unless you would like your video to be demonstrated with an accent, it’s common practice to specify that you would like a native American speaker for your video. Keywords such as: professional, warm, friendly, dynamic, bold, energetic, youthful, middle- aged, smooth, natural, or authentic should give you an idea of the direction you can head with any voice over for your video. Most professional VO artists can alter their voice to cover a large range of these tones. More often than not, the artist you go with will depend on if the examples you hear from them match up with what you’re looking for. That’s why keywords can help you connect with the right VO artist quickly.

While browsing through potential subjects and listening to their demos, always envision how their specific voice would sound on top of your video (if you already have it produced) or with the script you have written. It’s always helpful to find other videos containing VO artists that have a similar tone and cadence you are going for. References can be used to clarify how you want the voice to sound while communicating to your team or even to the Artist themselves. Lastly, if you do find a video reference of a VO artist that was in another video, try reaching out to the company that put out the video to see which artists they used. 

Options to Finding a Voice Over Artist 

Option 1: Through Your Video Production Company 

Something to keep in mind is that if you are working with a video production company on your video, they often have a well established pool of VO artists that they’ve already worked with and established relationships with. Voiceover artists are constantly contacting production companies to see if they need any work done, so they often serve to be great at vetting and aggregating VO artists. Always check in with your production company first before searching for your own VO artist.

The reason why we suggest this option first is because it can be difficult to communicate the exact tone and language of your script. Video production companies often serve as the middle men between marketers who need video content and VO artists, so you can be confident that they’ll be able to facilitate a smooth process from start to finish. 

Reach out to your video production company and see how they can help. 

Option 2: Search Through an Aggregator on the Internet

There are many extremely affordable options for finding Professional VO on the Internet. Below are some great options:

The websites and keywords we’ve listed in this article are a great way to not only narrow down your search for your VO artist, but to help you communicate how you would like your script to sound. Using aggregator websites for VO artists conveniently showcase reviews and star ratings to exhibit how the process of working with them is. It’s important to see that people have an easy time communicating with these artists. Nothing is worse than a deadline that can’t be met because you have an unreliable voiceover artist. Also, make sure that they are open to revisions, which should always be the case. 

Revisions

Revisions, or iterations, are the final step in the VO process. Usually around 2 to 4 revisions should be enough to get the tone and cadence right, but also expect some artists to nail it on the first try! Revisions should typically not cost extra and work into the artist’s rate.

It’s imperative that you are as descriptive as possible when explaining the changes you would like done. If it’s pausing on certain words, using certain inflection, or pronouncing something differently, it helps to write this out clearly, or even record your own voice with a recorder and sending to them how you would like it to sound. 

Revisions are sometimes absolutely necessary to get the voice and script to feel right in the video, so don’t be afraid to send them!

Conclusion

Having a professional voice over can add tremendous value to the marketability of your video. Not only does it clearly illustrate the key points of a video, but it also characterizes a definite tone for your business. 

Working through your video production company or through an aggregator service can both yield great results. However, if you have a timeline, we suggest working through your company. Remember to always go over demos and reels of the VO artists you plan to work with and see if they align with the tone and pace of your video. 

Happy VO Searching, and please let us know if you need help finding a VO artist. You can reach us at info@fogcoastproductions.com. We’re here to help!

Written By: Zach Klein, Biz Dev at Fog Coast Productions