Marketing. It’s part of the job.

Most small businesses struggle with balancing time. How much time you spend working vs. how much time you spend seeking the work. There is no magic formula, but you have to be aware of the fact that no matter how talented you are, if no one knows about it, you won’t have a business very long.

That means marketing what you have to sell to the people who want to buy it. global plug

Putting up a website and just hoping people find you is simply not going to happen. My business is global and as each day passes and more and more people buy domain names and throw up websites, it becomes harder and harder to get the right eyes on you and what you offer. Even if you throw a lot of money into SEO, there are larger companies out there using the […]

2018-02-06T06:48:07+00:00May 17th, 2015|Categories: Business, Marketing|Tags: , |

Am I on Twitter?

So, I keep seeing this question pop up on various social networking groups…

“Are you on Twitter?”

Well, yes, I have a Twitter account. @ISDNVoiceover

And I have people who actively follow my tweets. Or have at least clicked on the link to Follow Me. And many of them will probably see this post when it gets fed to the various places it gets fed to when it is published.

But am I ON Twitter? Not very much.

I still don’t get it. Unless I am using it all wrong, it seems like a pull website. Where I have to go to it and pull the information. OK, Facebook is that way too, but for some reason I WANT to go to Facebook and check out what is happening. I just don’t find myself drawn to Twitter the same way.

Perhaps I just need someone to break it down for me. Talk to me like I’m […]

2012-07-03T12:00:16+00:00July 3rd, 2012|Categories: Communication, Marketing, Musings|Tags: , , |

What will the future bring for video?

Humans frequently predict the future. It helps us plan for a rainy day. We think it helps us know what should we look out for that will ensure we keep moving forward toward our ultimate goals – whatever they may be.

It is very interesting to look back at predictions to see what the soothsayers said and what actually happened. This reading is sobering, amusing, thought provoking and sometimes just plain silly.

I found a website with 20 predictions that we are still waiting for – like the flying car and weather control.

http://www.manolith.com/2009/07/30/pending-future-technologies/

And to me an even more interesting website with 100 predictions from 1900 – including that there will be no C, X or Q in our everyday language.

http://blog.longnow.org/2007/04/18/100-year-old-predictions-from-1900/

So what is next for video – or more specifically video commerce? Justin Foster just posted a piece on MediaPost. He is co-founder and Vice President of Market Development for video commerce […]

Balancing Life and Work

The past few years have been interesting to say the least. After getting my mom to move across country in order to be closer to me so that I could start to help her as her need to be helped increased – I started to see a dramatic increase in personal time in my calendar.

As a rabid type A – most of my time has been spent working. As a free lancer and the sole means of support for my critters and my house – most of my time was spent working or marketing or bookkeeping or networking or something else that required large amounts of time in my “cave.”

So, learning how to carve out the time for my mom was a challenge.

Combine that with the down turn in the economy and there was a bit of a dip in work – which in retrospect was perhaps a good thing […]

2018-02-06T06:48:33+00:00July 11th, 2011|Categories: Business, Marketing, Musings|Tags: , |

Work. Invoice. Thank. Promote. Repeat.

It’s really a simple recipe. Do the job. Send the invoice. Thank the client. Promote the results (to the right places at the right time). Repeat.

OK, perhaps it isn’t all that simple. And I am still struggling – after all these years – with the thank yous and the promotion part of the formula. The repeat part is one of the keys to actually making a living in this business. And if your database is bloated with old leads you may be missing those repeat opportunities.

If you are just starting out, this formula is predicated by knowing what you do well and finding the people who want to buy what you have to sell. If you have been in the business for a while – or a long while – you may have the same problem I am trying to address – too many names in my contact list. And if […]

2-Sided Business Cards?

Back in September I left nearly all my business cards at FaffCon and suddenly realized that I would need some for the VO gathering in New York in December, so it was time to re-order.

When I looked at my standard order, I thought about the back – which has been blank.  One thing I have noticed over the years is that I like to jot down notes on the back of cards, but I don’t normally fill up the whole back of the card, so I decided to pay a little extra and add a short line or two of text at the top of the back of my card – with just a bit of smile to it – and plenty of room to make a few notes. I also went with color on the back that is a screened version of the logo on the front.

Do you do this? […]

2018-02-06T06:48:36+00:00November 16th, 2010|Categories: Marketing|Tags: , |

Marketing Maxim from Maxine

My dear friend and fellow voiceover talent Maxine Dunn had an article published on VoiceOverXtra discussing something near and dear to my heart – Cold Calling.

“Smiling and Dialing.” The act of picking up the phone and actually speaking to someone. People make a huge deal about the idea and the reality of “cold calls.” In reality – it ain’t that bad – and it can yield fabulous results.

http://www.voiceoverxtra.com/article.htm?id=5kegz3y2

Top message from the article:

Forget the “sales objective” training modules that lead you through a step-by-step trajectory to “get the sale.” People do business with people they know, like, and trust. So your cold call is opening the door and initiating that relationship.
Another great point from the article – once you are on the phone with someone – DON’T MULTI-TASK! Close your Facebook page. Stop checking email. Don’t click through your MyPoints offers. Pay attention to the conversation.
Good stuff Max! Thanks for the […]
2010-07-13T13:07:28+00:00July 13th, 2010|Categories: Business, Marketing|Tags: , , , , |

More from VOICE 2010 – Maxing out the Internet

This was one of my favorite sessions at VOICE 2010, because my good friend Peter O’Connell was on the panel – well, OK, it was filled with great information from the rest of the presenters too.

John Florian kicked it off with some of the top level statistics from the first ever survey of voice talent conducted to find out how voice actors use the internet to enhance their business. Look for detailed results in upcoming columns on VoiceOverXtra.

Peter encouraged us to focus on who we want to find us – and figure out what we want to say to them – and it ISN’T how great we are! We need to identify what sets us apart and tell them what is in it for them. We should all do a SWOT on our careers: Identify our Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

Doug Turkel came […]

The Power of Face-to-Face Networking

Over the years my local work has dropped way off. Luckily for my continued mortgage payments, work outside the market has and continues to increase. My website placement on the web is a great part of this, as well as direct target marketing, social media, various “agents” around the world and the introduction of pay-to-play websites.

My face-to-face marketing efforts had pretty much dwindled down to monthly MCA-I meetings where I would have the word Voice Talent written under my name on my stick on name tag. That is usually the extent of my “sell” at these meetings – primarily because most of them think that they can’t afford me. I should probably try to change that impression somehow. Or maybe they are right. But I should open the conversation.

But after a rather disappointing 2009 economically, where my electronic marketing efforts were dramatically reduced due to an increase in personal time […]

2018-02-06T06:48:42+00:00April 20th, 2010|Categories: Marketing|Tags: , , |

Twitter? Facebook? LinkedIn? Email? Smart Phone? POT? Blogs? SEO? What works?

It has been an interesting year – trying to find the right mix of media to keep in contact with my clients and potential clients. Depending on who you talk to, the mix of media can be one or more of the above, in any order and in every possible percentage. What works for you?

I’m finding that my Blackberry lets me get out of the studio, but getting out of the studio means less time to work my network of contacts. And being an early adopter of nearly everything technological (I had a Kaypro), I have had to try out social media as a way to connect.

Can’t say that it is really working for me yet – although I did manage to land a nice project through a Facebook happy coincidence. I joined an e-Learning group the same day someone else did who happened to be looking for female voice […]

2018-02-06T06:48:42+00:00April 5th, 2010|Categories: Business, Marketing|Tags: , , |
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