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Unlock Social Media Super Powers with Voice Over Animation

My Voiceovers, Voiceover Styles

Group on phones voice over for mobile appsSay “animation” and most people think of  series like The Simpsons or Family Guy. Both are definitely hilarious animated TV shows (and contain equally fun voice over characters). But the kind of animations that lengthen website visitor time and unlock your social media super powers are bite sized, often fun snippets that showcase you or your company.

We’re talking about animated videos for your brand. The type of video that, once paired with a voice-over narrator, is shareable on social media. The reason behind their popularity is simple: we live in a world now where storytelling is everything. People don’t just want to buy a product or service – they want to buy into a brand too. They want to know the brand’s character, story and hear the brand’s voice. And that’s exactly where animations, matched beautifully with a voice-over artist, come into play.

I’ve worked on hundreds of this type of animation, and apart from being fun to work on, I also see their value. The internet is packed to the brim with wordy, fluffy content. So now, social media users and agencies are striving to put stuff out there that’s different from the rest. Animated videos are a perfect example of visual and voice coming together as one, so it’s kind of a no-brainer that this is what more and more brands are seeking.

Storytelling is Key to Great Voice Over

I read an interesting article in Psychology Today that talks about the importance of storytelling and why it’s become such a thing on social media now. The author says that humans have always been storytellers. Since the beginning of (our) time, we’ve used stories to both educate and entertain. Whether by rock paintings or poetry, it’s always been a thing. It’s just that now, that thing has evolved into animated videos with voice-over characters.

The other thing to consider is that as humans we’ve also evolved to want more from our storytelling than rock paintings. It’s not so much about what the story is anymore, but how it’s being told. And that’s where commercial voice-over artists like myself come into play. I take on your brand’s character and tell your story to your intended audience in a relatable way. 

Not Just a Pretty (Sounding) Video

Not only do animated videos sound and look good, but they also achieve quite a few goals in the process. An article on Medium.com suggests that whether you’re trying to explain how something works, bring in new customers, or simply reiterate a fact to the database you already have, an animated video is the way to go.

Explainers and videos are important on websites, in fact, people spend 100% more time on a page that has a video. Surprisingly, 59% of senior executives would rather watch a video than read text.  These senior executives aren’t videophiles out of laziness, but rather because of pressures of time (or lack thereof). Packaged, visually and vocally appealing info is quicker and easier to digest than a wall of words.

Another great benefit of animated videos, is their shareability on social networks like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and their ability to heighten your Google ranking. Perhaps the biggest bonus of all is that animated videos do exactly what storytelling was created for: to entertain and educate, at the same time. They use funny characters with their own personified voice-over narration, unique animations, and a quirky and offbeat tone. And by doing so, they capture your target audience and hold their interest long enough to get the point across.

To show what an end result should sound and look like, I’ve included a few examples of animated videos I’ve worked on below. Sometimes friendly, sometimes quirky, they’re always effective. 

Case Study: SAGE Event Planning

Eventsage.com is an online event planning service, and this animation educated people on why their service was needed. In this video, I helped paint the picture of someone getting super stressed with their own event planning. More importantly, I explained why they should turn to a professional service for help. The emotion we were playing on here was stress, which is harder to convey in text, yet risks coming across like an infomercial if portrayed by a screen actor. The emotion in my voice paired with quirky and clear cartoons, however, captures and resolves it rather nicely.

Case Study: Dun & Bradstreet

Interconnected systems by Dun & Bradstreet aren’t necessarily the easiest thing to explain… but we achieved it in this  animated video matched with my kinda quirky voice-over narration. I particularly loved the clean good puns in this explainer video. If you get to the ‘nutshell’ part, you’ll see what I mean.

Case Study: Xpertdoc

This video I worked on for Xpertdoc isn’t necessarily as quirky or funny as other brands’ animations, but it is still an very effective tool for their business. It’s clear, it’s concise, and it informs the viewer of the service in an engaging and easy to follow way.

Need Help Telling Your Own Story?

In my time as a voice-over artist, I’ve voiced thousands of characters. Not necessarily always the type from The Simpsons, but brand characters instead. Whether you’re looking for a tone that’s serious, or funny, or something in between, performing great explainer video voice overs is one of my personal super powers.

Looking for a voice-over talent for your own business or brand’s animation? Contact me and let’s chat about giving your project a voice.

Filed Under: My Voiceovers, Voiceover Styles Tagged With: animation videos, brand animations, branding, commercial voice over, corporate narration, explainer videos, female commercial voice over, female voice actor, female voice over, great voice over, social media, social media agencies, voice actor, voice over actor, voice over artist, voice over narration

This is how “voice actor websites” can rock your w-w-world

Voiceover Business

(Credit: Huff Post)

Hey, voice actors. Is your website limp, lifeless or barely there? Does it suffer from lengthy load times, apparent invisibility to Google or other seo struggles that could steer precious potential clients away from your online storefront? Well then, I’d like to direct your attention to a team I have come to consider partners in my success: Joe Davis, Karin Barth and Brian Fulsang of voice actor websites.

When I came across Joe in May of this year, I was in a quasi-desperate state. I had invested a chunk of change in a marketing company that was doing-me-wrong. They demanded a contract, used secretive and sneaky seo practices, remained unaccountable regarding the use of their time (aka my money) and for all that, were ineffective. They were the Snidely Whiplash to my Perils of Pauline….er, Kim.

(Credit: tvtropes.org)

In swooped my Dudley Do-rights….ok, right, I’m carrying this metaphor too far. In came Joe. First, he gave me more information about how my website operated (or didn’t) in one phone call than I got from the Snidely team in six months. Then, after I finally got the former team to itemize some of the things they accomplished for me, he verified what I had thought. I was being bamboozled with tech talk and railroaded with keep-her-in-the-dark-itis.

This was not what I’d signed up for.

I switched to Joe’s company. I learned that my website itself needed cleaning up, revamping, and solid branding. Its load times were slow and not uniform across devices. My demos weren’t even showing up on mobile phones! As in – completely invisible. And that according to Google’s eyes, other sites (they who shall not be named) were more of an authority on me and my business than my own site was.

Tsk. Tsk.

Where to begin?  Three years ago I threw my old site up without a solid plan – other than the fact that I wanted blue to predominate and that it should feel soothing or calm when you landed. For my new site, Joe directed me to Karin, who asked me to fill out a questionnaire and send them links to other sites I liked.

Then I got to browse color combos. I went a bit nuts with those. They were so beautiful. I pulled out color combos for home renovations and wardrobe choices as well as my new site 🙂 I narrowed it down to three and forwarded them to Brian, my new graphic design guy. Not content with just my questionnaire responses, Brian and I chatted on skype and he pulled more info from me. Not the best at waiting – it makes my eyeballs itch – I dove into other things and a short while later Brian sent me a mockup of my new site and logo and it was unlike anything I could have envisioned myself.

Pkhoooh. (Sound of old ideas exploding and falling away)

It was beautiful. Mountains and waves and a color pallet, that I picked, but hadn’t envisioned in those combinations. I asked if could add a photo element to the graphic that I liked. He did and saturated it in what were becoming my branding colors. We played around with a few elements and it came together more. I loved the collaborative feel. I had some input, but Brian really knew how to take my input and turn it into something that I love even more, every time I look at it.

Then came Skype time with Karin. We talked content. She explained that some people would only stay on the home page and scroll up and down and that we should make certain they found everything they needed on that first landing. Then she pointed out that more pages were an asset for anyone who wanted to spend more time on my site. That we should have an About page, so they could get a bit more insight into me, my career & my life in general, a Demo page (in addition to the demos on my home page) where people could listen and download all kinds of stuff in both mp3 and video format, and a Contact page. Other things people like to see? Testimonials from those who you worked with/for, great or recent Clients, and since I blog, a page for that.

I also had two other pages I wanted to add. Although it’s not a part of my regular marketing scheme (meaning I really don’t market this much at all – yet), I do coach online and in my hometown, so a Coaching page was warranted. I also wanted a page for the charity work I do. The pro bono VO and so we put together my Giving page.

Content loaded and coded, we Skyped and went through it together. Again, the collaboration was incredible. On my original site (the one I created three years ago) it took forever to get my instructions understood and changes modified. With the Voice Actor Websites team, I always got quick responses and solutions that were better than what I’d originally asked for. Plus, they were super to work with. My new beautiful site went live in less half the time it took the original site to make it out the birth canal and at a cost commensurate with the price of the old one.

If you’re thinking of updating, branding or rebranding, improving the seo of your site or anything else related to the online marketing of your voice business, I whole-heartedly recommend checking out Joe and his team. They totally rocked my vox!!

A voice over artist for more years than millennials have walked the earth, Kim Handysides is thrilled with her new voice over website. 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Voiceover Business Tagged With: actor, branding, eLearning coaching, narrator website, online marketing, seo, voice actor, voice actor website, voice over, voiceover, voiceover talent, web site, website, website design

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