It's one of the most important aspects of your voiceover business. It’s what sets you apart from everyone else and makes people want to listen to you, trust you, and hire you. We’re going to look at how your vocal brand affects your career path, how it can be used for different types of jobs, and how to develop an authentic sound that works best for you!
What is Vocal Branding?
Vocal branding is the process of defining your voiceover brand. It’s an opportunity to differentiate yourself in the voiceover industry, build your voiceover business, and build your career as a professional in this growing field.
Vocal branding can be done at any stage of your career — whether you’re just starting out or have been working for years — but it’s important to start early so that when you do get around to creating a brand identity for yourself, and once you have, there will be no confusion about what it should look like.
Why do I need a vocal brand?
You need a vocal brand to elevate your voice over business. A vocal brand blends the image and essence of you as a voice actor, created through what you say and do. It's the combination of all the things that make up your VO Biz—the logo, branding materials (like websites), social media profiles and videos, etc.—and it creates an impression in people's minds about who they're dealing with when they hear or see those things.
It can be hard to know if this is something you should even consider doing. If you want people to remember who you are after hearing your voice & working with you, you'll do it with a killer vocal brand. But, it's not just about creating a brand. It's also about maintaining that brand—keeping it consistent.
"Becoming self accepting & vulnerable is a journey." - Anne
How Do You Create a Vocal Brand?
To create a vocal brand, you must first define who you are and what makes you different. You need to be consistent with this message in all of your communications--from social media posts to press interviews.
In addition to being yourself and authentic, there are several qualities that make up a strong vocal brand: clarity (the ability to speak clearly), confidence (the ability to project authority), uniqueness (being different from the competition), memorability (making sure people remember their interactions with you).
Stay Consistent
Once you've developed your vocal brand, it’s important to be consistent with it. If you are going to change something about your voice or mannerisms, do so slowly over time rather than suddenly making huge changes in one fell swoop. You need to be able to adapt your vocal brand for different situations (e.g., speaking at a conference versus giving a live presentation) without losing what makes you unique.
Putting It All Together
Be yourself! It's easy to get caught up in the idea of creating a new persona for yourself, but don't go overboard. You should still be able to recognize yourself in whatever branding comes out of this process.
Thanks for reading!
Keep on rocking your business like a #VOBOSS
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About Anne Ganguzza
Recipient of multiple Voice Arts Awards for Outstanding Narration Demo - Anne Ganguzza is California-based Voice Over Coach and award-winning Director & Producer specializing in target-marketed voiceover Demo Production. Anne's production team creates SOVAS-nominated demos across several genres, including Commercial, Corporate Narration, and eLearning, and her VO BOSS podcast is the winner of SOVAS Outstanding Podcast in 2022.