VAMFR 009 | Marketing and Self-Promotion for Voice Actors, Part 1
VAMFR 009 | Marketing and Self-Promotion for Voice Actors, Part 1
Welcome to episode 9 of the Voice Acting Mastery: Field Report podcast!
In this episode our correspondent, DanWill McCann, shares with us the first part of his special report on how to market and promote yourself as a voice actor!
Chances are that if you’re listening to this podcast, voice acting is as much a passion for you as it is for DanWill. His goal, as I’m sure yours is too, is to turn that passion into a satisfying and lucrative career. So far, DanWill has learned that it’s important to approach voice acting like one would approach building any business. If you want your business to grow, you need to learn how to market and promote your product. In voice acting, the product you have to offer is you! Once DanWill understood that, he quickly realized how important marketing was going to be. It became one of his top subjects to focus on, behind improving his acting abilities and mastering microphone technique.
To research this topic more thoroughly, DanWill decided to head out to WonderCon, a convention presented by the same company that produces the famous San Diego Comic-Con. WonderCon takes place every year in March, so armed with his trusty recorder, he ventured forth to learn how professional voice actors approach marketing and self-promotion.
Every major pop culture convention has an area where you can get autographs from guests of the event. The Autograph area is usually populated with talented visual artists, on-camera celebrities, and some amazing voice actors. These performers are there to autograph items, sell merchandise, and interact with fans. If they have time and are approached politely, they’re often willing to talk shop about the industry. This year, WonderCon had several famous voice actors attending the event, and many of them were kind enough to take a moment to talk with DanWill about how they approach Marketing and Self-Promotion. These performers were well established in the industry and each of them had recognizable and beloved characters on their resume. They were grateful that their work was appreciated and were happy to share their experience and insight to help aspiring voice actors just like you and DanWill learn to market themselves better.
DanWill collected tips and advice from 5 actors. He spoke with Lex Lang, known for voices on Lego Star Wars, Skylanders, and Rurouni Kenshin, which happens to be one of DanWill’s personal favorites. DanWill also spoke with Lex’s wife, Sandy Fox, who has voiced characters for Disney and Universal, including the iconic Betty Boop whom she has been performing since 1991. DanWill sat down with Dino Andrade, who voiced the Gnome Death Knight in World of Warcraft and the Scarecrow in Batman: Arkham Asylum. He also chatted with Rikki Simons, who gave voice to the ever popular Gir from Invader Zim. DanWill even had a great talk with David Sobolov, whose voice you may recognize as Drax from Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy animated series and as Grodd from the popular TV Series, The Flash. It was very kind of these 5 accomplished voice actors to take the time to share their experience and knowledge with us, and we at Voice Acting Mastery can’t thank them enough. DanWill personally found some gems of advice from each of them and he thinks you will too. With their help, DanWill hopes to shed some light on some of the different methods of approaching marketing and self promotion as well as explore the various tools at our disposal. There’s so much to cover, so let’s dive in!
The VAM Field Report will be released on the 1st Wednesday of every month so stay on the look out for it!
Download VAM Field Report Episode #9 Here (MP3)
I’m right in the middle of trying to put together my site, demos, cards, marketing, etc… and I was starting to feel overwhelmed and stuck.
This episode is exactly what I needed to hear! I took extensive notes and will be listening again (and again) for anything I missed. And I’m getting back to work on my site right away. Thank you so much!!
~Sarah
Hi Sarah! I am really glad to hear this episode helped you. I know I struggle with keeping my publicity tools up to date, which is why I wanted to collect the thoughts of these folks who made it and share them with you all. Please know that from what I have found, we are all in this struggle, regardless of how successful or how long we have been at it. I hope the next two episodes have more details you will find useful! Keep at it! Best wishes!
~DW
Excellent! I’m so glad you’ve found it helpful!
Thank you for the podcast! Citing previous episodes is especially helpful!
I’m looking forward to part 2 because I don’t really have experience with social media. I DO hope you go in depth about how to balance/separate the business and personal aspects of using these services. I honestly have avoided it altogether due to being unsure of how to do this.
Will blogging also be a topic in this series of podcasts? How do you blog effectively, not overwhelm your readers, but then cover all of the topics you desire to cover? For example, if you work on the production side of this business, and do voice over, would you need to have a separate blog for each? What are the best methods you have seen?
Any advice in a future podcast on these things would be huge! Thank you for taking your time to do this.
Thank you for listening, Jeremiah!
I am glad you liked this episode. I hope the info on social media you are looking for will be covered by the next episode. I will talk about the balance I have found, but I think each person will have their own balance. Let me know what you took away in a comment after that episode and maybe we can discuss it further, in case I miss anything.
As for blogging, I am not a good one to cover that topic and I don’t know if the other reporters are looking to tackle it. I can see where there is some crossover, but as it is not a strong aspect of Voice Acting, I am not sure if it would be a topic in this podcast. Crispin might have more to add on this.
I look forward to chatting with you after Episode 10!
~DW
Thank you for your response. In setting up a “business plan” for voice acting, any information is especially helpful. I’m looking forward to hearing episode 10!
I agree with DanWill. I’m looking forward to seeing how he handles the social media aspect of marketing in his future episodes!
As far as blogging, I don’t necessarily see that as a terribly effective tool for marketing yourself as a voice actor. Casting directors don’t have time to read people’s blogs. They just want to know if you’re talented or not and what your latest projects are. I would focus on more direct lines of marketing. Blogging is a means to a different end in my opinion.
Carefully taking notes on this one! Thank you for the valuable information, I’ll put it to use soon.
Lovely episode as always.
Thank you for listening!
~DW