Any marketing campaign aims to create a meaningful relationship with your audience, cementing your brand as a trustworthy source in their minds. While many companies focus on creating memorable visual elements and narratives, it’s also crucial to use the right voice. Using apt and authentic voiceovers in your marketing helps to enhance the emotional impact of your message – and creates true connections with your future client base. Read on to discover more about just how voiceover can be used to develop your brand identity and message!
What are voiceovers?
Before we continue, it’s worth examining exactly what a voiceover is. Defined as a voice recording that delivers narration or dialogue for a piece of content, a voiceover can either be paired with visual elements to create a video or stand alone in the case of an audio recording. Either way, voiceovers represent a unique opportunity to speak directly with your audience, either bringing to life a story by providing narration, delivering a script, or conveying information about your brand or product.
Voiceovers are often used to take existing video content to other countries. By selecting a voiceover artist who speaks the language of your chosen country, you can keep the existing visuals and use voiceover to connect with an audience from a different language background.
By selecting the right voice (in terms of style, accent, dialect, and, of course, the language itself), voiceovers can serve as a vital tool in any marketer’s armory to add depth and emotion to advertising content. It’s no exaggeration to say a voiceover can bring your content to life, ultimately making it more engaging and compelling for the audience.
Voiceover artists – and where to find them
Voiceover artists are not the same as actors, who appear physically on-screen and perform the role of a visual character. Instead, voiceover artists bring the script to life using only their voices. To do this, many professionals have undertaken specialist training to perfect their vocal range and control, as well as practiced skills to hone their diction and enunciation skills. In addition, they’ll also have a clear understanding of the technical side of voiceover production, such as how to use the recording equipment.
This unique skillset allows the artist to embody different characters and personalities, including speaking in a range of accents and even dialects, to ensure the script resonates with its intended audience.
To find the perfect voiceover artist for your marketing campaign, look for an agency with a solid reputation for providing voiceovers. Whether you need the right voice for your English-language content, or you want to ensure you connect effectively as you branch out into other countries, by choosing an agency with multilingual voiceover artists you can be sure to connect with audiences on an international basis. Additionally, it’s worth ensuring they have a diverse range of options to choose from so you can select one that aligns with your brand identity and the voice you want to project to the world.
Creating an emotional connection
As we have discovered, voiceover artists are highly skilled. As such, they’re able to convey a range of emotions and help establish that all-important connection with your audience. In fact, research backs up the need for vocal communication when it comes to creating connections. Although we are increasingly used to communicating via text, researchers were surprised to discover the strong social bonds and boosts to wellbeing when participants in the study communicated by speaking, rather than messaging – even if they were saying the same thing! This is a testament to the power of the voices, and its unique ability to convey emotion and forge meaningful connections.
Of course, these are desirable qualities in our interpersonal relationships, but the unique potential of the voice can also be transferred to businesses’ ability to communicate with their audience. After all, a successful marketing campaign relies above all on the ability to connect and leave a lasting impression.
Why sound matters
It all stems back to human evolution: If you had good hearing, you’d pick up on the threat and save yourself from whatever harm was intended. By solely relying on your vision, you may well have left it too late. That’s why today, our auditory sense is the one that is always switched on – your ears never stop hearing.
This constant attentiveness to sound has powerful implications for voiceovers. Since, as humans, our auditory system is always ready and alert, incorporating a voiceover into your marketing material means your message is heard, as well as inadvertently received with a greater sense of immediacy.
Plus, in recent years our attention spans have gradually waned, as people tend to increasingly consume short-form content. Voiceovers offer a way to capture attention quickly and effectively, so even if your audience is watching on the go, your message can be heard and remembered.
Voiceovers and subtitling
Did you know that 38% of Americans claim to prefer watching TV with subtitles on? Gen Z, in particular, are big fans of watching TV with subtitles switched on. What on earth can this have to do with voiceovers, you might ask? Well, when you incorporate a voiceover into your content, you’re ensuring that, even when viewers are watching on mute, the audio is automatically transcribed into subtitles.
This automatic transcription ensures that your message is still effectively communicated, regardless of how the viewer chooses to consume the content. In fact, this approach works in harmony with the growing use of subtitles and provides an extra layer of accessibility and potential for engagement.
Voiceovers: Your talking brand asset
Voiceovers also play a crucial role in establishing your brand’s identity. By using the same voiceover artist for all your marketing material, you’re providing a recognizable auditory signature that reinforces your brand’s personality and message – much like a logo. By making your voice a central part of your brand, you ensure that your content stands out and your message is heard loud and clear.
What’s more, just because your voiceover is recognizable, doesn’t mean you have to spend a fortune working with a famous figure. It’s a question of consistency, not celebrity status: Simply choosing the same voice for all your content quickly cements that voice with your brand in your audience’s mind, essentially creating an audio shortcut – once they hear that recognizable tone, they’ll instantly connect the sound to your brand, making your content more memorable with an unmistakable auditory signature.
Voiceovers are more than just an added extra in marketing content; they are a powerful tool that enables engagement, forges an emotional connection, and develops a brand identity. With the right voice, your brand can cut through the noise, establish a strong presence, and leave a lasting impression. Whether you’re creating a promotional video, advertisement, or social media reel, investing in professional voiceover services can transform your marketing strategy and ensure your message is heard loud and clear!
