The Most Overlooked Component of Highly Effective Internet Videos

Ever wonder why so many online and television ads seem to speak directly to you? Why that voiceover actor's voice was compelling enough to get you to reach for the phone or visit the nearest retail store?

By virtually all accounts, video content is poised to dominate the online marketing landscape for years to come. TJ McCue, of Forbes.com, states that Internet video traffic is forecasted to be over 80% of all consumer internet traffic in the next 4 years. 64% of consumers are more likely to purchase after watching branded social media video content. The increased ownership and ubiquity of mobile phones, online videos, and decreased consumer attention spans, have compelled marketers to shift their strategies away from conventional advertising approaches to embracing video content. 84% of social media viewers are watching via mobile. Brands have adjusted a significant percentage of their marketing budgets to leverage video content on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Youtube. In excess of 500 million viewers are watching Facebook videos every day.  

During the Fall of 2017, after months of researching the video production industry, our company decided to create a division of the organization devoted solely to video marketing. Like any good marketing agency, we dug deeper into the data to answer the foreseeable questions likely to be posed by existing and future clients: Why should we change our marketing strategy from what has worked so well to video and what kind of ROI can we expect? 

We explained the following benefits:

• Increased credibility
• Increased conversion rate and sales
• Boost SERP (search engine results page rankings), lower bounce rates, and increased traffic.

A significant discovery we made during our research was the importance of having the right voiceover actor to deliver the marketing message to the audience. We interviewed three voiceover actors, Mike Hathcote, Shaundria Campbell, and Domonic King for further insight into the industry. Domonic King's voice a deeper, more authoritative voice. Sometimes referred to as the 'Voice of God'. Mike Hathcote's voice is considered more the 'guy next door' and conversational. Shaundria's voice is categorized as versatile deep and sultry, yet friendly and approachable.

Voiceover actors are generally assigned to 3 vocal characteristic categories as explained by Voice.com:  

• Fun, Foreign Intrigue: Foreign accents have had a long tradition of appeal to American audiences. Actors like Richard Attenborough, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Salma Hayek, Idria and Mark Strong.   

          

               Mark Strong-https://youtu.be/GqzKiTKsA-I

• Deep and Authoritative: Actors with low-pitched voices, such Morgan Freeman, Sam Elliott, James Earl Jones, and Cate Blanchett are members of this group. These voiceover artists convey a feeling of integrity, physical strength, and competence. 

  

   Morgan Freeman-https://youtu.be/8aCtM9DJDd8
• Approachable Expert: Actors like George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Matthew McConaughey are
  members of this group of gravelly and expertly voiced experts that have an air of warmth, like a close trusted friend. 83% of respondents in Nielson's Global Trust in Advertising Report indicated that trusted recommendations from friend/or family were deemed a more credible source of product and service information. 

George Clooney-https://youtu.be/C_8TGTKdrlY

Voiceover actors are either unionized or freelance/non-unionized. Unionized actors receive the advantages of legal protections such as collective bargaining rights and long-term royalties from any projects. Like most screen actors, voiceover actors obtain work through an agent who is responsible for negotiating the actor's rates based on factors like, the size of the market in which the ad will be run, the client's budget, etc. A general sample of industry rates is listed below.

Voiceover rates

Radio

Local :15, :30 or :60 = $100 Regional :15, :30 or :60 = $200 National :15, :30 or :60 = $500

Television

Local :15, :30 or :60 = $200 Regional :15, :30 or :60 = $300 National :15, :30 or :60 = $1000

Internet

:15, :30 or :60 = $100

NON-BROADCAST PRODUCTIONS

Corporate, eLearning, Telephone, Video game

00 to 05 min = $150 06 to 15 min = $250 16 to 30 min = $500 31 to 45 min = $750 45 to 60 min. = $1000 60 to 75 min. = $1250 75 to 90 min. = $1500 90 to 120 min. = $1750 120+ min. = Request a quote

Word/minute estimate: 300 words = 2 min | 900 words = 5 min | 1,800 words = 10 min

2750 = 15 mins | 3,500 = 20 min | 5,500 = 30 min | 7,500 = 45 min | 9,500 = 60 min

LONG FORM NARRATION

Audiobooks, Podcasts

$200 Per finished hour

Pay-to-play sites such as voices123.com allow voiceover actors to submit their audio samples to over 130,000 jobs for review by over 40,000 clients-A one-stop-shop for voiceover voices. Voices123 has a standard free rate or a premium rate of $395 for the year.

ACX.com is another broker; however, targeted primarily to the audiobook industry. Voiceover actors can audition for over 1,600 jobs. If chosen to narrate an audiobook, the audiobook would be made available on platforms such as Itunes, Audible, and Amazon.

A number of established voiceover actors have their own acoustically designed homebased studio for ease and convenient recording, as reflected by the photo submitted by Mike Harthcote.

Incorporating the right voiceover actor can have a profound impact on your marketing campaign's impressions, click through rate, brand strategy, viewership, and most importantly ROI.

We look forward to working closely with Shaundria Campbell, Domonic King, and Mike Hathcote on future projects and thank them for their contributions to the article.