Corporate VO Part I: How to make yourself more valuable.

NOTE: This is the first post in a two-part article about Corporate VO. To read part two, click here.

When you tell someone you’re a voice actor, they probably think you narrate commercials and cartoons … and nothing else.  But they’re forgetting that all the videos they listen to at work also have voice actors.

You probably know… Voice over extends beyond commercials and cartoons.  And corporate work is one of the largest other areas (genres) in our industry.

In fact, there are 15 types of Corporate VO work – see them in this VO Genre Directory.

Consider: worldwide, people view 3 billion hours of live (and recorded live) business online video content yearly. Most or all of that is probably “unproduced” video (like filming a stage play, not like producing a movie), so it has little to do with voice over. But the number gives you the sense of scale. Produced video is expanding, too, and as companies become more experienced in video use, their practices get more sophisticated.

But they are relatively unsung, and your friends are unlikely to hear your work.

At least you’re in good company, and you’re performing an important commercial service. The pay can be good, and regular. And there’s a lot that you can contribute to make yourself worth it.

Here are some ways you can help:

–Do an excellent job as a voice artist. This goes without saying. Which is something we all might wish to say of some of the company owners and employees who voice their videos themselves. They might like the “personal” touch, but often they don’t realize that using professional voice talent can be fairly inexpensive and will make their company seem much more professional. Or they never even thought about it.

–To do an excellent job as a voice artist specializing in Corporate video voice overs, learn all you can about them. The videos, that is. Watch them on YouTube. Work with a coach who specializes in the genre. Catch the many TV shows on manufacturing processes. Understand corporate cultures.

–Learn all about your clients, too. The more you understand their needs, concerns, operations and processes, the more easily you’ll be able to jump in and assist with any project. Maybe even the planning or writing of a coordinated video series.

Some Corporate videos are produced in-house (by the company itself). But there are also production companies and individuals who specialize in producing videos for this market. As you market yourself to both, recognize that they sometimes represent differing budgets and levels of production expertise. Unfortunately, sometimes the in-house approach also represents a lower level of production values.

One of the first tasks undertaken by the writer of a Corporate script is to determine, “What does the company want to accomplish?” The video is then created to help that reach that goal, not the other way around. Your job in voicing a video is similar. Understanding the video’s purpose (and, hopefully also having some sense of the company’s objective in producing it) will help you determine the tone, the viewing environment and the viewer’s innate level of interest. Likely this is a question you’ll ask yourself, or the director or producer will have made it clear already. But if any question, don’t be shy to ask about anything you don’t understand.

The same is true of details, such as the pronunciation of industry terms or combinations of words that represent industry concepts. Sometimes it’s a question of which word to hit. For example, there’s a big difference of meaning between controlling pulp products’ moisture content in a “paper kiln” vs. firing ceramics in a “paper kiln.”

That sort of thing is why you should get the script in advance whenever possible, leaving you enough time to review it, line by line, to be sure everything is clear to you. If it’s not clear to you, it won’t be clear to the viewer.

Because there are so many companies and so many possible objectives, this genre contains a wide range of subgenres. You can view the 15 types of Corporate VO work in this Directory.

The list goes on and on. As we’ve said, the first task in creating a video is to determine what the company wants to do. For just about any objective, there could be a video to support it.

In Part Two, we’ll have more tips, including the importance of emotion in voicing Corporate videos. Yes, even cryogenic food processing calls for emotion in your delivery.

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To learn more about the Corporate Industrial genre or to schedule with one of our voice over coaches, call our studio at (212) 868-3343 or email [email protected].