Marketing Lecture – More Thoughts

If you missed class on Monday, November 9, 2009, you missed an important lecture on Marketing – which is part of your final project. I want THREE legitimate marketing contacts – people who would want to listen to a voiceover demo with the potential of selecting you to do a job. Company name, Contact name, Contact title, address, phone, email. I’ll be checking on this, so make sure they are REAL.

I had some more thoughts and have written them down here.

This business is not about your voice. It is about knowing where you fit – what you have to sell. It is about having a demo that showcases this effectively. And it is about finding the people who want to buy what you have to sell. That’s called Marketing!

The Final Project is about helping you learn how to create an effective demo – if and when you get to the stage of producing a demo. And the project is also designed to help you think about how to market that demo.

We are creating material for a Commercial demo. So you need to think about who might want to cast a voice for commercials. (A Talent Agent is NOT a legitimate marketing contact for this exercise and you will be marked down if you include a Talent Agent.)

So, who makes commercials? Advertising Agencies? Production Companies? Recording Studios? The companies themselves? Maybe some, maybe all - but which of these groups have the most potential?

You need to follow basic Marketing 101 steps. You are not really selling, you know. Your goal with marketing is to know your customer so well that your services sell themselves.

Marketing is about understanding what you do and what your potential customer wants. It is about bringing your “product” to this market (in this case your commercial demo to people who make commercials), and even finding new products for new markets.

Marketing is your strategy and includes a whole bunch of activities:

• Business Development - Wikipedia defines this as techniques and responsibilities which aim at gaining new customers and at penetrating existing markets. It is ongoing. Techniques used include:
  • assessment of marketing opportunities and target markets
  • intelligence gathering on customers and competitors
  • generating leads for possible sales
  • drafting and enforcing sales policies and processes
  • follow-up sales activity
  • formal proposal or presentation management and writing
  • pitch and presentation rehearsals
  • business model design
• Product Development – getting real good at what you do
• Market Development – getting to know who wants to buy what you do – targets non-buying customers in currently targeted segments. It also targets new customers in new segments
• Market Research - give you information about your customers, competitors, and overall industry
• Competitor Analysis – who does what you do and how well do they do it
• Pricing Strategy – where do you fit in the price range of what you do
• Customer Service – making sure your customers are happy
• Brand Development – what makes you different
• Company Identity – make sure people can see how you are different in an instant

First Part of Final Project Assigned

For those of you who missed the class last week when we went over the First Part of the Final Project.

Please refer to Page 20 of your Workbook for the details.

In preparation for your final project, you will select 12 potential spots for possible development into a hypothetical commercial demo. If you have a specific immediate need to develop material for a different kind of demo, please see me to discuss it.

Select 12 tear sheets, transcribed copy, or commercial copy from another source that would be suitable and appropriate for your voice. You may write your own copy if you know that you are capable of created realistic professional copy. You must submit 12 different pieces of material for consideration. You will be marked down if you submit fewer than 12.

Develop a grid that includes the following for each potential spot…I will explain each of these items during class. Do this for 12 potential spots! If you miss class, you will need to confer with your classmates.

This is an example of the kind of grid you can create – either horizontally or vertically – and either electronically (use Tables) or hand drawn.

Hero Subject/Product	Pacing	Attitude	Point of View	Extras?

Your goal for this part of your Final Project is to find 12 pieces of potential copy that will offer you a VARIETY of each of the items in the above grid. You want variety in product or subject – variety in pacing, variety in attitude, POV (Announcer/Spokes/Real) and music and/or sound effects.

I will discuss this grid with each of you privately. Our goal during this meeting is to end up with six (6) spots for your final project. (See separate instructions in workbook.) 

Homework for Monday, Nov. 9, 2009

Reading Assignment: Read Chapters 17 and 18. Inside the Multimedia Industry and Demos.

As mentioned in class, the Demo chapter is starting to get dated – with all of the discussion about Audio Cassettes. Just another example of how quickly things are changing. It is in fact VERY dated, but you could just change the word cassette to CD or MP3.

 

 

Homework for Wed., Nov. 4, 2009

Written Homework: Voicemail/IVR Grid on Page 13 to be filled out and turned in.

Recording Homework: Select a novel (fiction is preferred, but if you may also do a non-fiction book) and read for at least a half an hour – running a recorder on it so that you can play back a few seconds in class – not for critique, but just so that I know you tried this exercise. Listen back to what you did and see how many times you stumbled, hesitated, said the wrong word, etc. and didn’t realize it. Then bring the book to class – and we will have you read aloud from the book for a couple of minutes during class.

Homework for Monday, Nov. 2, 2009

You have two pieces of written homework from the Workbook to turn in on Monday, November 2, 2009.

Marketing/Training/Communication Grid – Page 12 in your Workbook is the first one. We played a bunch of these in class, both on tape and online.

And I want you to review the Describe Your Voice Project on page 4 of the Workbook – revise it with any new information you have learned about your voice since beginning the class and turn that in on Monday as well.

Additionally, I want you to start listening to Voicemail/IVR systems and have that grid – page 13 filled out for Wednesday.

Additional Assignment – Due Monday, November 2, 2009

Forgot to remind you to do the other Watching/Listening Assignment. You turned in the Documentary Grid, but you need to do the Grid on the next page as well…Marketing/Training/Communication.

Since I forgot, you have the weekend to poke around the internet or bring old training videos back to mind.

 

Homework for Wed., Oct. 28, 2009

Only two more recorded assignments to go (well, except for your final project).

Reading Assignment: Read Chapter 16 – Industrial Narrations. Determine which of the following “scripts” in the chapter is most suited for your voice. Record that and have it ready for playback in class.

• Quality Hospital
• Workerbee Company
• Nature Series
• Pride Corporation

Read all of the scripts in the chapter of course – as you have with the previous chapters. But only select one of these 4 for playback in class.

While you do not have to fill out a character description for this assignment, you still need to give thought to who you speaking to in order to figure out some sort of relationship. You need to know the level of interest the audience might have to what you will be saying. You need to know their level of understanding of the subject matter. Sometimes you are an expert talking to other experts. Sometimes you are talking peer to peer. Sometimes boss to subordinate. Sometimes, as in mainstream documentaries, you have a much broader demographic.

Written Assignment: Fill in the Grid on Page 2 of your Workbook – “Where Do You Hear Voiceover Artists?” Think about what you hear every day as you go about your daily routine. You hear voices everywhere these days and most of the time it is paid work. Additionally, think about who might be seeking the talent and those who might be paying the bills.

“Radio Theater” on Stage

This link was passed along on the vo-bb forum. This is a wonderful presentation of the last chapter of  “The Island of Dr. Moreau” displaying the fine talents of the troup complete with foley, music and of course voices.

http://www.youtube.com/v/Bt_5XkXgVlw&hl=en&fs=1&%22%3E%3C/param%3E%3Cparam

Our last day of class will be the “production” of a radio play. So watch this and get ready for some fun. Ours will not be as elaborate of course, but get the “real” thing in your head.

Homework for Mon., Oct. 26, 2009

Well, we took so much time on Wednesday finishing up the Mid-Term reviews that we are about a day behind my plan! So, Katie – I hope you stop by to see that the assignment has changed!

Reading Assignment: Read Chapter 16 – as with the other chapters, read aloud, record as you go – stop frequently to critique what you are doing. But as for what to record for playback, that will be discussed on Monday.

Watching/Listening/Writing Assignment: Watch TV Documentaries – see the Grid in the Workbook titled Documentaries – watch and then fill in the grid for Monday. Also be watching and listening for corporate narrations, training, eLearning, marketing, communication, information type material – lots of it on the Internet. You will be filling out the grid on the next page after Documentaries for Wednesday’s assignment.

So you don’t have to record anything for playback on Monday. But be prepared to record for Wednesday.

Homework for Mon., Oct. 19, 2009

Can you believe it, we are half-way through the semester. The mid-term assignment will wrap up the work on commercials. We’ll start with long form reads and other miscellaneous voiceover work after next week, so feel free to start reading ahead in the text. And start listening for longer – non-commercial type voiceovers on TV, in your workplace and on the Internet.

Mid-Term Assignment:

As we discussed in class, you are to find/create a script for a radio or TV spot from 25 to 55 seconds in length. You can record one off the air, or create one using an ad from a magazine that you have reviewed and possibly rewritten for the ear. You may also create a spot from scratch, but please only use this option if you are absolutely sure that you can create an ad that is believeable.

Find copy that you think your voice is suited for. You may do a character read if you think that is your strongest area, but overall, it must be something that is within the realm of possibility of actually being produced for broadcast.

Written Assignment:

Part I: This is slightly expanded from what we have been doing the past two assignments.

• Identify the Hero Product and/or Hero Client
• POV (Point of View) – tell me if this is an Announcer spot, a Spokesperson spot (Boss, Employee or Customer?), or a Real-Person spot
• Key Messages/Copy Points
• Attitude – this is new – what sort of approach would work for this spot – warm, edgy, straighforward, traditional announcer, goofy, energetic, etc.
• Extras – this also is new – you need to start thinking like a producer. If you “hear” music or sound effects (SFX) with the read, please tell me what kind of music and describe the SFX. DO NOT ADD MUSIC OR SFX TO YOUR RECORDING! This is an acting class, not a production class.

Part II: Develop the 6 W’s – scroll down to an earlier assignment to get the details on how to do this if you have forgotten. Please, please, please, follow the format so that I can quickly scan your work and figure out what you are describing.

Part III: On a clean copy of the script you have either transcribed or written, please mark the script (in pencil).

Recording Assignment: Record your voice reading this spot and have it ready for playback when you are called in class. Again, voice only!