Choosing The Voice for Your Advertising By James Morris
Introduction Choosing the right voice for your advertising is a big decision. It’s not just about how you want your brand to sound; it’s about what message you want to communicate and how you want people to feel when they hear it. Here are some tips for picking the perfect voice for your brand:
Voice = Personality Your voice is the most important feature of your brand, so it’s crucial to choose someone who will reflect your company’s personality. While you might think that hiring an actress with a magnificent voice would be enough to represent your business, in reality, it’s not quite that simple. The best way to communicate through your marketing materials is to have a versatile and charismatic individual who can handle all aspects of the job—from writing content to recording narration and even creating commercials. There are many ways we can use voice in advertising: narrating commercials or videos; voicing over stock photos or video footage; acting in live-action ads; etc. You may want someone who has experience doing all these things or just one specific type of work like impersonating
celebrities, for example (a skill called “voice matching”). Voiceover artists bring an element of authenticity into any creative project because they’re real people talking about real products— not actors pretending as though everything were happening right then when really nothing was happening at all other than what was being filmed during production time!
It’s About the Message, Not the Accent Choosing the right voice is all about finding someone who can embody your brand and what you want to say. The accent is not important. If a voice sounds like they are from another country, that’s fine. The accent doesn’t matter; it’s about the message and personality we want to communicate with our customers. Our voice isn’t actually our business or product’s voice; it’s the voice of our brand and how we want people to feel when they hear us speak. We need an authentic audio experience for both internet search results as well as television commercials for radio ads so that consumers know exactly who we are and what we represent when they hear us talk about their needs—and this is especially true in today’s global marketplace where multinational companies operate from around the world!
Consider the Audience I know you’re probably thinking, “Duh! This is obvious.” But with advertising, this can be one of the most important steps for determining what kind of voice you want in your ad. There are a lot of factors that go into determining who your audience is: age, gender, culture, and education level are just some examples. For example, an older generation might expect a higherpitched voice because they grew up with many classic cartoon characters (think Bugs Bunny). Likewise, if you were going after parents with children under the age of 10 years old as your target market, then high energy might be what they expect to hear from their ads—especially if there is a heavy emphasis on fun themes like toys or video games.
The Power of Humor Humor is a great way to make a point, engage an audience and make them feel like they are part of the conversation. It’s also good for not taking yourself too seriously. Let’s say you want to advertise your “Voice” service as being something that will transform your life into something better than it was before. You could do this by explaining how the service works and what benefits it brings to people who use it. But to get people excited about listening and engaging with you on this topic, maybe humor is needed. This is where humor would come into play: • • •
We can use humor as an icebreaker when trying to strike up conversations with strangers. Humor can help reduce tension between parties that have opposing viewpoints. Humor allows us all to express ourselves without being too serious or formal.
You choose the voice for your ads based on what you want to communicate. Choosing the voice for your advertising depends on what you want to communicate. • • • •
You may be trying to communicate a message, such as “Let’s Go Camping!" You may be trying to communicate a personality, such as “We’re cool and fun!" You may be trying to communicate a feeling, such as “Feel confident about using our product." You may be trying to communicate a product or service, such as “We sell inexpensive cars” or “Our service improves your life.”
Or maybe you want something else entirely. The voice you choose for your advertising is an important decision. It’s the last element of a complete marketing message, and it can make or break the effectiveness of your ad. I hope that I’ve given you some insight on how to choose a voice for your business so you can connect with your customers.