direct marketing

VO Sales Funnel Fail

July 18, 2022 by Laura Schreiber

How Something That Seemed So Right Could Go So Wrong

When I first heard about the sales funnel for voice over, I was elated. Basically, their funnel drew me in and it worked instantly. I had several thoughts. First, I loved the idea of paying less for pay to plays. I thought by starting a funnel I could change my pay to play strategy. To be clear, I do not think there is a voice over reality in which pay to plays cease to exist, I simply wanted to be less dependent on them. Next, I loved the idea of positioning myself to be found by the people who were hiring me. In all my years as a full-time actor, I spend A LOT of time doing direct marketing, and we all know this can be a craps shoot, a big roll of the dice. The sales funnel was appealing because I had hoped that through the marketing expertise of the folks I hired the people who needed me would find me and I could focus on what I love to do most, recording and coaching. It sounds great, right?

Perhaps I was also very willing to try because I very much liked and trusted the team I was working with. Rob is very well-known in the industry for his legal expertise and his daughter Mary seems quite savvy. I have put my own kids to work for me in the past and I loved that it was a father-daughter team and their vibe was great. I felt like we could make magic together.

Maybe I Jumped the Gun

In retrospect, Rob and Mary’s sample size at the time that I worked with them was NOT big enough. They had great success with ONE other voice talent who made back his investment in the first month. One. They also had their funnel running to draw in voice over actors and coaches like me, and it worked. Rob told me repeatedly that he had to turn the funnel off within days of running and as he was so booked and the he would have to do the same for me. Perhaps I should have waited until they had worked with more of these other talents to see what their results were before signing on for a three month deal. Or perhaps I should have opted for their one month option. I can say with certainty that signing up for a three month sales funnel with only one person prior was based on a lot of optimism and not a lot of numbers and I have never before in my business career made a snap decision like that.

So you must be wondering how a gal who has made spreadsheets for every single choice in her career, from who to do demos with to which microphone to buy, could make this choice so capriciously? One propelling factor was the lofty financial goal that Rob had set for the funnel. It was so high that I would have covered my daughter’s college tuition in one month, and my son’s by month four. When I heard the numbers, I felt determined to try. Who could pass this up if I could really earn that much from the funnel? I do, after all, have goals that I am determined to reach and this funnel sure sounded like a quick fix.

My Actual Experience

While working with Rob and Mary was as expected in terms of their bed-side manner, and they were responsive and kind, Rob over-promised and under-delivered in terms of the result of the funnel. It was actually shocking. We would look at the same numbers, and they would have a completely different analysis of them. Keep in mind the funnel was supposed to bring in dream clients with large budgets. It was supposed to weed out the undesirables. This was NOT my experience. My experience with the opposite. My dream clients were no where to be found. I had multiple people sign up for calls and not show up. I sent follow up emails and texts to those no-shows. After several weeks I had THREE total calls. One lady thought it was a job interview. One call was actually someone who was interested but did not move forward. The third was a man who had been on unemployed and just took a job as a janitor. He had a very limited budget and knew nothing about voice over and it seemed exploitative to even be talking to him.

Sadly, the funnel was not achieving its goals. It was disappointing. Rob, Mary, and I had a different perspective on how the funnel was working. We parted ways and I was thankful for the funnel to end. I lost both money and time.

I know another long-time VoiceOver professional and coach who started a funnel just after I did. Instead of directing her funnel toward coaching clients, she was going after automotive clients and attempting to market her automotive demo. Like me, she also stopped her funnel and parted ways with the team.

Final Thoughts

The most established member of our accountability group, Kim, has long cautioned that the VO community is always looking for “the next big thing”, and when it comes out we all jump on the band wagon. This happens every few years. It happened with voiceovers.com. I think, in the end, the sales funnel was like that for me. I was looking for the magic bullet, a quick fix. Instead I learned a lesson about listening to those who have been around and seen more. Next time I will slow down and wait for the hard data.

Sales Funnels For Voice Over

March 17, 2022 by Laura Schreiber

Marketing to Voice Over Clients

Note: this is not a story with a happy ending. If you want to skip to the follow up blog, click here.

In voice over, we talk about marketing endlessly. How do we get clients? Voice actors love to talk about marketing. We love to talk about our CRMs. Building client relationships is another hot topic. A few weeks ago Robert Sciglimpaglia started talking about sales funnels for voice over. Diana Birdsall, fellow VO Coach and I got super excited. Why? After years of emails and LinkedIn outreach, sales funnels are different. And why work with Rob and his daughter Mary Brainard? Put simply: they are fantastic.

You might be wondering how a voice actor/attorney and his daughter teamed up to do this? Well, Rob explained that it was always his dream to work with his daughters but none are lawyers. Mary actually studied English and Psychology in college. At present, Mary does copy writing and marketing for companies with six and seven figure budgets. Mary and Rob decided to team up and bring Belair Creative to the voice over community so that we can benefit from their marketing expertise. In just their first month on the scene, business exploded for the father-daughter duo.

Explaining a Sales Funnel

A sales funnel is a fancy word for a sales process. If you picture a tube or a pipe that is wider at the top and narrow at the bottom, that is what a funnel looks like. In a sales funnel, as people move through the funnel, there are more people at the top and fewer at the end. This is because not everyone wants or needs you services at the moment they are pulled into the funnel. You can work to maintain contact with all who have come into the funnel through follow up emails, calls, and social media. Also, it came up in our clubhouse chat that funnels should really be used for experienced voice actors who have their business up and running. If you are new to VO and just starting out, this is not the system for you. You can try this once your booth is set up, your website is up, and you are ready to seriously invest in your business.

Knowing Who to Target

Just like when you mark your script and you have to understand who you are talking to, in marketing you have to understand who your ideal or dream client is. Some other people might call this a buyer persona, although Rob and Mary did not use that terminology. Anyway, instead of sending out endless emails in hope of a reply, Mary uses targeted videos well-placed in social media groups so that they land where you want them. Often, clients need talent but don’t know where to find them so they end up on casting sites. By going directly to them, and finding the clients where they are, we are making ourselves easy to find.

Some Sales Funnels Have More Steps Than Others

Every clients is on a different path in their journey. Some might be ready to buy your services today. Others might be ready to purchase next month. Maybe some might never be ready to take action. It’s possible funnels have more steps because they want to qualify the potential clients. Other funnels have more steps because there are different types of funnels. Some have a survey, a questionnaire, or a form. The main goal could be information for a mailing list. Another main goal could also be the sale of services. The funnel is based on what you want to accomplish. Belair creative does a three level funnel that includes video, a survey, and scheduling an appointment.

When Mary and Rob work with voice actors, they are aware that different talents need varying degrees of handholding when setting up their sales funnels. They basically set up a system so that someday we can maintain it ourselves. Through the funnel, we can learn where our clients come from. We will get data both from the CRM and from social media. In order to run a solid funnel, you need to know who you are talking you and what you want to specialize in.

The Downside to Sales Funnels

We asked if there is a downside to sales funnels. Mary said she thought a lot about this. She said if you set it up and did not use it that would be a downside. Or, if you got too many new clients and you could not manage them all, that would also be a downside.

Why Sales Funnels are Unique and Some Final Thoughts

As Diana astutely pointed out, so many voice actors are on pay to plays and do direct marketing. What we all want is jobs in our in box every morning, right? We asked Rob why this is the next great thing. He said that in addition to finding clients where they are, so much of the funnel process is automated. From follow-up emails to scheduling appointments, automation helps drive the campaign. Mary also offered that doing a funnel allows you to be more in control of your business. You get unique, specific data about who is purchasing your services. By reaching out you are building relationships and staying top of mind. Getting clients is really important, and that is what funnels do.

In business it is really important to be careful who you take advice from. There have been many conversations about being cautious of “the next big thing.” We have all scene recent promises that sounded wonderful and did not pan out. You probably know already that I do not have a crystal ball. I can’t guarantee that every funnel will get who we need to get. What I do know is that you can waste a lot of time marketing to the wrong people on your own. Rob has been loved my many in the VO community for years, and once you meet this father daughter team, you will see why Diana and I were so delighted to share them with the community.

The Beauty of VO Marketing

July 17, 2021 by Laura Schreiber

Jonathan Tilley Was Out Guest

I have to admit, that when Diana Birdsall and I got Jonathan Tilley to come on our weekly Clubhouse, I got a little fan-girled out for a quick minute. If you don’t know Jonathan, he is quite fabulous. He runs a genius marketing course for voice actors and other creatives called League of List Builders to teach about direct marketing to clients. Diana and I both took his class years ago, and as full-time professional talents and coaches, have used his methods with great success to build our own businesses. Jonathan also teaches about specialty topics like Instagram marketing, selfie techniques, lighting….so basically he is a marketing g-d and everything that comes out of his mouth is pure brilliance plus he is lovely and kind and so fun. See why I was excited to have him on our panel? So in case you missed it ( and I don’t know why you would miss it but if you did…) here is a recap based on my notes from Jonathan Tilley’s panel with us:

What is the beauty if marketing?

Our chat with Jonathan started out with this pivotal question. Jonathan talked about the importance of authenticity and being a real person to the people we reach out to. We talked about how our goal really is to make connections so that we can ultimately build relationships and get to know people and actually make deep connections. Our marketing should be friendly and down to earth.

Instant Gratification Doesn’t Work

Researching the people we are marketing to is essential. Jonathan gave the example of Starbucks. If we wanted to find a Starbucks, we wouldn’t just set out. We would take the time to see which Starbucks was closest to us. In this world where we all want everything right away, marketing is the one time where we need to take our time and learn about who we are marketing to, whether or us a podcast, ad agency, or video production company. We need to know a little about them BEFORE we reach out.

The Subject Line Matters

After years in voice over, I can tell you it is still hard to know what to put in the subject line. Jonathan says it should be clear and professional. The subject line should say who you are and what you offer. After all, this is a way people often make sure an email is not spam, so if you are a “Female Professional Voice Talent” say that.

Making a Personal Connection

Jonathan talks about how everyone loves compliments, and the best way to engage is to make people feel good with something that you genuinely feel. So, if you are reaching out to a video production company that you would like t work with, look at the work they have done on their website and social media. Write a personalized letter to them and tell them what you liked and why it resonated with you. A heartfelt compliment goes a long way!

Promoting Yourself Without Seeming Like a Spammy Braggart

This is a tricky one for a lot of people. We want to sing from the clouds how great it would be to work with this ad agency/vide production company/agent but then it’s about us and not about them. Jonathan talks about how making them feel good starts with showing that you understand what problems they are dealing with and what the solutions are. Speak the clients language: “On an ideal day you get work done under budget and ahead of time. I’d love to make your day a little easier. I specialize in……some brands I’ve worked with are (insert 3 examples). That is the kind of language that is client centered and works for them.

As a tip, Jonathan suggested googling production house nightmares and dream stories. He suggested it would be a great way to get insights into their pain points and desires.

Follow Ups

Jonathan recommends monthly follow ups. I have to say, I was surprised by this. For years I have done quarterly follow ups. Jonathan reminded us that it often takes a minimum of 5 correspondences to get a potential client to engage, so whether they reply or not, monthly follow ups are best. These correspondences should also be individualized and interesting. Remember, our goal is to build a relationship.

Jonathan also shared another fun way to follow up is to share testimonials from clients cleverly interwoven with a behind the scenes glimpse of what was really going on. So if you have a rave review that talks about your stellar performance, but in reality you were a ball of phlegm sipping throat coat between each line, it balances the testimonial.

What if You’re New and Don’t Have Street Cred?

We had a few folks ask Jonathan how to reach out to potential clients when they are brand new to voiceover. They had been told “fake it til’ you make it” but wanted to know how you have credibility without a client list? Jonathan encouraged everyone that nothing should stop you from going after your dream clients. All you need is a demo, a website, the internet, and time. Typically, you want to attach an MP3 of your time. You need to carefully craft your personalized letters to talk about how you can best support their needs, and shine, regardless of your time in VO.

As An eLearning Narrator Your Audience Matters

March 2, 2021 by Laura Schreiber

Last Night on Clubhouse

Last night I had the delight of participating on a Clubhouse panel with some other fantastic, professional voice over actors from the US and Canada. Our focus was on marketing, and even as a panel member, it really got my wheels turning. I could not help but think of the specificity of my recent outreach, especially in eLearning. I have worked so hard to build my business as an eLearning narrator, and I think in order to really reach prospects, you need to think about who you are working with. From the very beginning of the process through the completion of the booked work, understanding your audience is essential to success as a working female narrator in eLearning.

From the Marketing…

Often our relationships with eLearning clients, whether they be independent instructional designers or larger companies that create content, begin because of marketing efforts. Sometimes our direct marketing is the first interaction a new eLearning client has with a voiceactor. You would never want to send a government client with classified, sensitive content a jovial and silly email that would not resonate. Likewise, you would never want to send a cosmetic company a super serious message that shows no personality. All of our outreach needs to have the end user, the eLearning client in mind. Our audience matters in every single correspondence.

Social media content, across platforms, needs to have the target audience in mind as well. This can be a bit trickier, as it is harder to control who sees your posts. You can, however, try to catch the eye of a specific group of clients or prospects by being clever about your target audience. If, for example, you are posing on Instagram and you want to reach out to instructional designers, both the content you use and the tags that you include in your post matters. Another way to grab your audience is to tag influencers and professionals in that field. Quote them. Have a conversation about them. If you want to work in eLearning, you need to be part of the dialogue.

Another tactic I often use is brochures. I use them to reach out to clients in eLearning when at eLearning conferences when I would love to show my website and samples of my work but cannot because we are in a huge convention center. I find that having a very branded prop is useful in establishing myself as a professional in the field and helps draw the prospect in. Again, in terms of being mindful of the audience, since conference have a range of content creators, the brochure needs to be professional and have all the essentials.

To the Audition…

The eLearning audience must be top of mind when auditioning. You always have to know who you are talking to, and what the audio is being used for. Imagine if you sent an upbeat and humorous toned training to a group of CPAs, it would not fit. Conversely, let’s take the example of the cosmetic company again, because I happen to love doing trainings for them. Imagine if you were doing training for hair stylists about hair brush options available and instead of sending a relatable, warm tone you sounded like a detached CPA. That also really would not work. When submitting eLearning auditions as a female narrator, the audience drives the read you give. It informs the tone, the texture you add, the variation in the pace. An energetic happy read has a very different pace than a professional, thoughtful read. Again, the audience in eLearning matters.

The Booking….

When you book an eLearning job, understanding the audience or the enduser is so important. For example, I was recently cast in a training for a local hospital: RWJ St. Barnabas, right here in NJ. It was a caller training. When I first read through the script, in my practice read, I sounded warm, gracious, and welcoming. I then re-read my roll: “Bad Caller.” I was the example of what not to do. Everything I just rehearsed had to be thrown out the window and the opposite read was needed. I was talking to the same people, but I was the example of what not to do, and I had to be the best “Bad Caller” they ever heard. Your job as an eLearning narrator is to make it obvious. They should not have had to figure out what was wrong with my phone skills, so I had to make every effort to clearly connect with the listener. Keeping the audience in mind should inform and transform every eLearning performance.

The Rapport with Your Clients

As a voice over actor, understanding your audience is what makes life easy for your clients. If you don’t get it, the narration will never be right. It makes it easier for everyone for you to clearly connect with the audience you are speaking to in eLearning.

How I Use My Barnard Degree Every Single Day in Voice Over

January 19, 2020 by Laura Schreiber

The Comments…

A beautiful spot in the middle of Barnard’s campus that I loved so much.As a full-time voice over actor, I have the joy of working as a creative all day every day in an industry that I love. You have no idea how many times people have said to me, in my family and in passing, “It’s a shame you aren’t using your degrees.” This always leaves me scratching my head. I am so appreciative that I had the opportunity to go to attend Barnard College, the undergraduate women’s college at Columbia University if you don’t know it, and to go to graduate school at Columbia University. As a small business owner I use all that I learned in my years at Columbia throughout the day every single day. When something becomes part of the fiber of your soul, part of your identity, and shapes the way you approach all that you do, it’s sort of hard to think of how you could exist without it. But still, because this has come up A LOT, let me try to flesh this out a little more specifically.

Writing the Business Plan and Analyzing the Data

Here I am in my suite over Ollie’s on 116th street my junior year. The one thing not part of the Barnard curriculum was how to keep a clean room!

From the moment I thought I decided to pursue voice over, the research skills that I crafted at Barnard were used. Before I began actually working in voice over, and well before I began working with coaches and studying the craft of voice over, I spent months researching other industry talents. I was listening to demos and making spreadsheets. I was curious who was booking what. I listened to see where others with voices like mine were booking work-wise. I tracked where certain demos lead certain talents. I had spreadsheet upon spread sheet. This was research that I generated for what I needed to know to ensure that this was a business that would make sense for my family. Where did I learn this creative approach to research? Barnard. Where did I learn how to analyze data? Barnard. And where did I learn how to use the data that I collected in Excel to make a compelling argument in one way or another? You guessed it, Barnard.

But just gathering and analyzing data was only the beginning. I was setting out not to just be a voice over actor, but to be a solopreneur. In order run my own business I needed a working business plan. I remember thinking all those years ago that the business plan would be fluid and would change, but that I needed it to guide the choices I made early on and to make projections about my income. I used a strategy that I learned in graduate school called “Planning Backwards.” Anyone who has ever taught is probably very familiar with this, but I set short term and long term goals for myself and then I wrote a business plan around them. Again, everything that I did in terms of my business was all based on the way I was trained to do in my years at Columbia.

Researching Brands

I loved meeting friends at the steps in between classes. I had so much fun setting here and socializing. This was quite a hot spot!

Brand research is necessary when auditioning, when booking work, and when determining which companies to reach out to when direct marketing. When auditioning, it is important to understand the brand that I am reading for. I research their current add campaigns and try to understand the overall gestalt of what they are trying to put out. If whatever I have been sent is a departure from previous work, I try to figure out how that fits in too. When I book work, again, I strive to understand where it fits into the big picture of the brand. I immediately go to the brand’s website and social media pages. When I direct market to companies, I spend a lot of time getting to know a brand so that I can individualize my outreach. Again, all of this thorough research and these strong investigative skills come from my years at Columbia.

Understanding the Jargon

I loved my time in the Theta Psi chapter of Alpha Chi Omega. The women in our sorority were campus leaders. My AXO sisters are brilliant and incredible and I am lucky to call them sisters, including my actual sister Julie! Here we are at the Revlon Run Walk for Women in Times Square in 1999.

In addition to my commercial work, I do a lot of eLearning. There is a lot of complicated jargon in these training modules.Sometimes I feel like a kids back in school, because for me understanding the text is very important to my delivery. Because I read so much in school and spent so much time in academia, I am thrilled by this part of the job. In addition, I have also taken professional voiceover training to improve my read rate and this has helped with some of the complicated reading. The amazing Kim Handysides has created a curriculum for this, as I confess that in all my years at Columbia we did not do much reading aloud. In fact I can only recall one History seminar taught by the great, late Professor Yerushalmi where he had us read primary source documents aloud in class. Typically, we read on our own and analyzed together, so I find that on-going professional development is still essential in this area.

Running a Business

Here I am In Low Library for the Senior Awards ceremony in 1999 at at Commencement. On the top I’m with my sister Julie. In the bottom I’m with my husband Harlan (GS 96′). On the left I am with Professor Peter Juviler of blessed memory who was my thesis advisor. I am so grateful to have worked with him.

As a full-time working mom, I think credit my years at Barnard and Columbia with my ability to run my own business. In school we had a very challenging course load every semester, were involved in on-campus activities, and had off campus internships. I was juggling a lot of balls at a young age and I was not alone, I was surrounded by a campus of high-achievers and this was the norm. Those years of scheduling not just my classes, but carefully planning when I would write my papers, study for exams, work, volunteer, etc, well-prepared me for life as a working mom. I did not expect to sit on the steps eating burgers from the law school barbecues without a care in the world forever, I had a sense of urgency that I always had to be somewhere and that my time was limited. I feel that sense of urgency every day now and I am so thankful for the years I had inside the gates on 116th street. They are a part of who I am and I know that I am better for it.