Dave Courvoisier's Blog

Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category

When do you become an “expert”?

That word makes me uncomfortable.

That’s why, when I started my teleseminar Saturday morning  (Leveraging Social Media for Your VoiceOver Business) on behalf of the VoiceOverDirectory, I began by saying I’m a fan of Social Media, I enjoy Social Networking, I’m familiar and comfortable with New Media…I’m drawn to its potential…but “expert”?  Nah!

Social Media is too new, and so ever-changing for anyone to be able truly be an “expert”…at least by my definition, which I’m conveniently not stating here.

My talk was more about trends, indicators…mapping out a few directives that seem to be working FOR NOW…and why voice actors really shouldn’t ignore the opportunities afforded by New Media for furthering their brand, their personality…the relationships that may lead to enriching their personal lives, and advancing their business.

Amazingly, I talked almost non-stop about that for almost a half-hour, and still felt there was much left unsaid.

I’m a geek at heart, which means I’m a genetically hard-wired metal detector, perking up when a wayward  fragment of social media metal shows up on my radar.  But I know (that’s right, keep telling yourself, Dave) that Social Media is only one of the tools in my job-searching toolbox.  It just happens to be the one that captures my fancy (hey!…I found a gold doubloon!).

Maybe I’m on to something.  Maybe not.  Maybe it’ll bring me more VO jobs…or not.  Or maybe — just maybe — all this flailing around may lead me into an unexpected career vector that has little to do with voice-acting.  All I know is along the way I’m learning a ton, and meeting some of the savviest people on the planet.

Below is about a 2:30 excerpt of my teleseminar.  I recorded the whole thing on a trusty Logitech webcam…and the audio you hear is from the onboard Logitech mic (not the greatest).  On this segment I blatantly break a number of my own rules, stated so smugly on my new website: OnCamTips.com. But, there may be some value in watching this anyway: a segment on the rationale for voice actors to consider authoring a blog of their own.

I have no idea how many listened in, but quite a few responded afterward to say they’d like the resource material I promised to make available if they’d just send their e-mail address to me.  I think they were just being polite…;-}

BTW, write me at CourVO@CourVO.com, and I’ll put you on the mailing list for that resource material, too.

My thanks to Mark Davidson and Austin Alexander of VoiceOverDirectory for asking me to speak, and arranging this teleseminar so professionally. 

Also my gratitude to a couple of voice-actors who are social media VO giants in my eyes:  Trish Basanyi (@Trishsvoice) and Terry Daniel (@TDaniel39).

CourVO

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‘Heard that one before? 

Think about it.

We Google EVERYTHING indiscriminately, and come on…admit it…you’ve Googled yourself just to see what turns up.  In fact you should — regularly.

Why?  Because your brand, your reputation, your integrity, and your image on the internet could be the most telling statement about your life from this point on.

Remember the old saying:  “The only words you can take back are the ones never spoken?”  Well, the internet is that way now with images, words, impressions, videos, and references to you. 

My wife and I have tried to impress on our kids that every single image and video they post on FaceBook is gone to the ages, the moment they upload it.   And yes, even “unfriended” people can manage to see your profiile with the right hack. 

Why do you think employers feel they’ve found such a bonanza with the online social networking sites?  They don’t need your resume — you know…that document you’ve carefully crafted to make you look good from HS graduation ”to present”.  If they want to know what you are REALLY like, they Google you.

Hence, Google is your resume.  Guard it.  Protect it.  Guide it.  Heck, you can even manipulate it to your advantage.  Uh-huh, it works both ways.

Thursday morning, I spent an hour with a group of UNLV college students in a class called:  “Introduction to Interactive Media Design”.  The professor had invited me to speak to these mostly Junior and Senior Journalism students about real-world application of social networking sites.  How does a working journalist apply New Media to traditional media?  Do they mix?  Can they work together?  Should they?

Here’s a short clip.

I enjoyed being there for an hour, ’cause many of the same concepts I shared with the UNLV students, I’ll be expected to articulate to my co-workers in the KLAS-TV newsroom next week.  My boss has tapped me to help my news colleagues understand how all these social networking sites can have ANY possible relevance to news gathering.  I think it does, but I digress to my night job.

Voice Acting as a business is largely conducted online.  Hence, the “GOOGLE IS YOUR RESUME” concept applies. Your website, your profile on pay-to-play sites, your participation in forums, LinkedIn, YouTube, shared e-mails, Voice-Over Universe.  All that contributes to your online, hence your real-world personna, because until they visit your home town, that’s all people have to go by.

So…again:  Guard it.  Protect it.  Guide it.  Heck, you can even manipulate it to your advantage.  Uh-huh, it works both ways, and I’ll get into THAT in my next blog.

CourVO

‘Would love to know if anyone’s used this service, and whether it’s brought success in any way.

It purports to get your name and your work in front of all TV and Radio Stations (and more) on a regular basis.  The one testimonial on the site said it got him a $98,000 job.  That’d be sweet.

Check it out HERE.

CourVO

‘LOVE Seth Godin’s blog, his books, his perspective, and especially the way he turns most conventional marketing theory on its ear.

See the following video (only 1:18 of your time) to see what Seth thinks of social networking’s value to marketing.

CourVO

For the past few days, I've been seeing a very ostentatious face and message on Twitter.  I even hesitate to mention it here in a bad light, because there IS no such thing as bad publicity, and I REALLY don't want to give this guy any help.

Twitter will accept a certain amount of self-promotion.  There are a ton of people into marketing on the service, but everyone kinda knows when you cross the line,  Twitter is more for sharing, being human, helping, and just being conversational.

For this guy, it's all about hyping his voiceover service.  Here's what a typical "Tweet" looks like:

Most all of his Tweets have this exact flavor.  All CAPS!!!  Shouting, hawking, and being obnoxious in my opinion.  I don't know "Big Ray Petty" as his website identifies him…and I'm not sure whether I should be jealous or puke.

Twitter is largely believed to hold much promise as a marketing tool in the New Media sort of way.  Many people claim to have capitalized on that, but they're marketers, and you're never quite sure if they're hyping or making money.

So then, along comes @RaunchFoxxx (Gak!…even the twitter name he's chosen is obnoxious), and he's openly inviting people to use his VO service.  Maybe it's working.  I dunno. Maybe I should be doing a bit more of this kind of in-your-face marketing for my own voice-acting.  NOT!!!

CourVO

Safely snuggled away for months in my list of tasks I'd like to get done "soon" is one that began with a Marketing pitch from Bob Parsons.

Bob is the force behind…has been the force behind… well, he's just a force — sometimes in his own mind, but a legitimate force on the web, nonetheless. 

His current claim to fame is GoDaddy.  Which is no small matter.  It's one of the top domain-search/hosting/everything web sites in the world.

Many months ago, he was singing the praises of the .mobi domain name.  'Said it was the next big thing since the Ford Focus.

Anyway…I bought.  I bought  http://courvo.mobi.  And I've finally launched.  You can click on that link, and look at the site in a regular browser, but it's meant to be seen within the usually limited confines of a cell-phone screen…no "www" needed, really, although that works too.

Go ahead.  Try it right now on your phone. 

You'll find a meager menu, a few facts you already knew about me, and some contact info.  It's just enough for me to be able to show someone a quick view of my business… on the phone…at the airport, with no laptop on a layover in Fargo, ND.

I'm not sure of it's marketing potential yet, but it wasn't expensive, and it wasn't hard.  It may actually come through in a pinch sometime.

Let me know what you think.  I'd be glad to tell you how I did it.

CourVO

….and I always hated having to put the worm on the hook.

Well, maybe the analogy doesn't EXACTLY hold water, but that's the way it feels to me most of the time.

In the sense that today's fisherman employs ever more technologically-advanced gadgets to find and lure the prey, the analogy works just fine.

Today's freelancer has a host of mostly online tools to get the attention of his/her target, and just as many to reel 'em in.

Take LinkedIn for example.  I think my profile page looks pretty "full", but honestly I'm a pup.

Read the rest of this entry »

…along with everyone else's could make a pretty darn interesting e-book.

 
That's kinda the thought behind a request being made by VoiceCasting & VO Planet's Michelle Summers.  Her appeal  — posted on VoiceOverUniverse — reads like this:

I am writing a FREE e-book to give to talent who could benefit from information such as this. I would like to include your feedback on auditions techniques, marketing strategies or both. Please email me your submissions and include your name. If you like - you can also include your website, email as well as any services that you offer that could be helpful to voice over talent: coaching services, production services, equipments, whatever... Thank you so much for your time & help in this matter!

Not the altruistic type?  Thinking maybe why should you give away precious trade secrets?  Well, think of it this way:  it's another way to market yourself as an expert, and get a little mileage from a minimal effort that may turn into a LOT of mileage for a minimal effort.

CourVO

It's not easy keeping up with all the resources available to today's voice actor (what a wonderful conundrum!)

But one of the online hot-spots I MUST pay more attention to is Rick Party's VoiceOverUniverse.  I mean everybody's there, now…right?

Feel free to join the group I'm sponsoring there:  "Ask an Anchor". 

I may be on the short side of voice acting experience compared to some of the heavies on this site, but I figure I have at least as much on-camera experience as anyone there (30 years). I'd like to develop this into a valuable resource for the voice actor who every once in a while who gets the opportunity to be on camera.

I've just entered two discussions about head-shots.  I wrote neither of them, but both have wonderful info about this topic, and sometimes collating info for ease of access is as good as authoring it (aat least that's how I'm justifying it  ;-}   )

How to get a good still headshots (which I have permission to re-purpose from Acting Coach Bob Fraser)…and another borrowed article from V123 on whether it's even smart to USE a headshot on your website.

Please feel free to leave comments here or on that group site.

Thanks!

CourVO

You know how you just get a mental block about completing a task…and then when you finally get over the hump, you realize the obstacle was you…not the job?

I'm there.

If I thought approaching blogging a year ago was a hurdle, I was mistaken. That turned out to be fun.

No no,  launching a newsletter — THAT is proving to be even more of a mountain.

And I know it's not a big deal.  I've blogged about the software, asked for guinea pigs who want to be on the mailing list…but now I find I'm too busy… Yeah!…that's it!  I'm too busy!

The truth is, I've found some other online newsletter services, and now I'm waffling over the pros and cons.

One of the services I just found out about is MyEmma.

The other is: DeliverySuccess.

The one I've already signed up with is:  ConstantContact (which seems to be the choice of most of the VO pros I get newsletters from:  Susan Berkely, James Alburger, T. David Rutherford, Terry Daniels, etc.) 

What's the diff?  Not sure.  'Haven't spent enough time with the other two yet.  But I thought someone else who really wants to get stuck in a brain drain might benefit from my thought quicksand. 

But just wait!!!  You'll be getting my newsletter soon…. then you'll see!

CourVO