Voice artists know that branding is important, but why? What does voice over branding do? Why do you need it?
If you google ‘what is voiceover branding’ you will get a lot of answers. It can be confusing and overwhelming. So, first things first…
Want to hear me talk about branding in more depth? Listen to episode 75 on The Voiceover Social podcast.
What is branding, really?
Let’s start by clarifying what we mean when we talk about branding:
- Logo is the mark – it’s the visual symbol people associate with you
- Visual identity is the system – what people recognise (your colours, fonts, images etc)
- Branding is the experience – how they feel about you and your services
- Marketing is how people find you – the things that you do to promote yourself
Despite what a lot of people think, a brand is NOT just a logo. It’s NOT just your colour choices. It’s NOT just the typefaces you picked out. It’s NOT just the tone-of-voice you use. It’s NOT just your website.
Yes, all these things help point people towards your brand and help it be recognisable, but they are only elements of what the whole brand is.
A brand is more than each of those things. It goes much deeper.
Branding has nothing to do with how you sound
This is an important one, and something I see all the time – even from some so-called branding experts – branding has NOTHING to do with your voice and how you sound. While your voice is the key to getting cast for certain jobs (let’s face it… if a director is casting for a male part and you’re a female, you ‘ain’t going to get it) but for your brand, the way your voice sounds should have no impact or influence whatsoever.
I’ll say it again – it doesn’t matter what you sound like – it’s how people experience you that counts.
This is especially important for those voice actors who are vocal chameleons. Crafting characters with as much range and variety in their sound as there are colours in the sky. If you brand your business based on your vocal sound you are severely restricting and limiting your brand. If you brand your business on the experience, your business services can be wide and far reaching and they can change as your business grows.
Good branding allows for business growth and change – it’s a flexible thing. Poor branding will restrict and confine you.
I can’t explain it better than these quotes:
“A brand is not a logo. A brand is not a corporate identity system. It’s a person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or company.”
Marty Neumeier, Brand Strategist and Author
And:
“People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.”
Simon Sinek, Author and Leadership Expert
What is a Voice Over Brand?
There are 3 main types of branding – corporate, product and personal.
Corporate Brands – typically used for big businesses. It’s the overarching recognisable name that individual products or services sit underneath. Think Apple, Nike, Google, Amazon.
Product Brands – these are the individual products that form the corporate brand – for example, the iPhone is a product brand of Apple. Nescafé is a product brand of Nestlé.
Personal Brands – This is all about the individual person, the skills and talents they already have and how they ‘package’ these to sell what they do. Think Oprah Winfrey, Beyoncé, Martha Stewart, Serena Williams.
Where do voice actors fit into this?
Voice actor brands are a combination of personal and professional brands. Snuggling in-between personal and business brands, they blend the individual’s personality with their professional services. That’s because personal, professional and product brands are really all about the same thing – the experience and how you feel about them.
Focusing on the feels can feel fluffy and pointless – but people remember how you make them feel far more than they remember what you actually do.
Poor customer service – we’ll remember getting annoyed, angry or stressed because the service was bad. And the opposite is also true – if a business makes us feel amazing, or they go out of their way to give us support and solve our problems – we remember that.
A few of my favourite brands that understand this principle are:
- Patagonia – a B-Corp outdoor clothing brand committed to reducing its carbon emissions, protecting workers and animal rights, not lobbying or avoiding tax payments and more
- Lucy and Yak – a clothing brand that are ethical, eco-conscious, size inclusive and they have a wonderfully diverse range of humans in their product shots and marketing
- Goodness Marketing – an ethical marketing business who supports other small businesses
- Systems with Charlotte – Charlotte Goss has helped me improve my CRM and Email marketing, automating tasks that used to take hours, and saving me time
- Tridos Bank – another B-Corp who (among other things) has a policy against financing companies that are involved in producing or trading in weapons
Each business is passionate about what they do, yes, but it runs deeper than that. They want to make the world a brighter, better place. What they do for a living is more than a job. The business they run is not just another company doing X, Y or Z. It’s a passion. It’s something they have to do.
Back to ‘what is a brand’
Think of it like this.
If you want to buy something from an Apple store you probably already know the following:
- You know the shop will be minimal with meticulously laid out items
- The shop will be white and clean
- There will be lots of the latest phones, tablets, laptops and desktops on display, all ready for you to touch and try out
- There will be lots of staff in casual clothing, all with iPads & headsets, all ready to help you
- There are no tills or checkout lines – no pressure to buy at all
- If you do ask a staff member about a product, they will know everything about it. They will know the difference between all the models, from the technical specs to what colour it comes in and what accessories to add. But they won’t ‘sell’ to you, they have a conversation with you.
- If you do buy something, you know it will be beautifully packaged
The fact that Apple also has a logo shaped like an apple with a bite out of it doesn’t matter at all. All the logo does is point us to the right shop. The Apple brand and its stores are all about how you experience Apple. The way you are treated by Apple staff and how Apple trains those staff (we know we are not going to get the same expert knowledge from the 16 year old who works in PC World or Target). It’s about knowing that when you buy from them it will not be cheap. It’s about knowing when you walk out of that shop with your product you’ll be feeling excited about it and know no one else sells anything quite like Apple.
Whether you love or hate Apple, we all know who they are, what they do, the standards of service they aim for.
That overall feeling and experience. THAT is the brand.
Why does a voice actor need a brand?
We go back time and time again to these big brands because we trust them. We like how they do things. We like the way we feel when we’ve come into contact with them. Those brands make us feel good!
It’s the same for voice actors. How you connect to your clients, and why they choose to work with you again and again. It’s the trust your clients feel when working with you, knowing their project is in safe hands and the positive feelings they have when their project is complete.
It’s about creating an experience your clients will have with you.
It’s how they feel at every point they come into contact with you – whether that be your website, when you’re in a recording session, your social media posts, emails, invoices, business cards, if they meet you in-person.
Branding is how people think about you when your name pops up in conversation.
Your job as a voice over artist and business owner is to create a brand that speaks and connects to your ideal client. That creates a strong impression and results in a positive connection experience. That creates a relationship with you and your business that means they want to work with you. It’s about the feeling of trust built up over time that means your clients will come back to you and recommend your services to other people.
If you don’t have a solid brand, it’s difficult for clients to trust you and believe your service is worth the price you charge. If they don’t feel this, they will probably choose someone else.
Every encounter matters.
“I’m already working as a voice actor – I don’t need a brand”
Just because you’ve not spent time on working out what your branding is, doesn’t mean you don’t have one. If you’re out there working – you are a business, and if you’re a business, you have a brand whether you like that or not. Those experiences people have working with you – that IS your brand.
Remember – your brand is not your logo, colours or typography – it’s the experience you give people that’s your brand.
By consciously developing your brand, you’re guiding how people perceive you and your services rather than leaving it to chance. You’re making deliberate choices about the experience you want to provide instead of letting it happen haphazardly.
How do you start to build your voice artist branding?
There are a few key elements that make up a powerful brand. Each are important and each help to define that overall brand feeling and experience.
- Your values and aspirations – what you do and why you do it
- What makes you different – is it a unique service, a unique way of doing things?
- Your ideal client – who are they, what are they looking for, where they go to find it?
- Your brand personality – are you lively, fun, classy, calm, exciting, innovative?
- Your brand tone-of-voice and messaging – how you communicate with people
- Your brand’s visual identity – how does your brand look?
If you want to create a brand that leaves a lasting impression it’s important to know all of these elements. Look at each one and you will begin to discover what your brand is and (equally as important) what your brand is not.
Your brand is the personality you want to convey to the world.
It’s not about what you do – it’s about how and why you do it.
This is why branding is so important. You may do audiobooks, Voice of God or gaming. You could be a vocal coach, an accent specialist or an impressionist. What makes you stand out from the crowd, from all the other voice actors who offer the same thing as you is HOW you provide those services and WHY. That is your uniqueness. That is what makes you stand out. That is why your client will want to work with you. That is your brand.
Want to dive deeper into voiceover branding?
Listen to episode 75 on The Voiceover Social podcast.
Need help developing your voice actor brand?
If you’re ready to stand out in a crowded marketplace with branding that truly represents the value you bring, I can help. My branding and website services are specifically designed to help voice actors stand out brightly and confidently.
Together, we’ll craft a brand experience that attracts your ideal clients and showcases your talents. Get in touch to learn more about how we can develop your distinctive voice brand.