OK. You have your website up and hummin’. Now, be sure to put your website’s address on anything and everything you mail to prospective clients: you demos, stationery, business cards, reminder cards, etc. If you still have reams of stationery left, then just include website address in letters you type and print. For all those demos, business cards, and reminder cards still sitting on your shelf, buy some labels, print your website address on them, and stick ‘em on.

Caveat Emptor!

There are plenty of places on World Wide Web to promote your voice over services, both free and for a fee—BUT BE CAREFUL! Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware) is operative phrase. Here are some free places to place a link to your website:

http://www.voiceartist.com/, http://www.radio411.com/addlink.htm, http://www.starsnsites.com/voice/index.html, http://audioworld.com/ As for paying for to listed with an on-line voice talent site, be sure site is legitimate. Unfortunately, like so many other things that start off well, a few bad apples begin turning up. Before you pony up any dough, be sure to speak/write to other talent listed on site to see if site has actually gotten them any work. Here are a few legitimate fee-based websites:

www.mktmania.com, www.voice123.com, www.gotvoices.com, www.1212.com, www.voicefinder.biz, www.voiceoverselect.com, www.interactivevoices.com, www.commercialvoices.com

In addition to fee-for-inclusion websites, there are fee-for-inclusion CDs, which are distributed to ad agencies, production houses, talent agents, radio and TV stations, etc. Again, CAVEAT EMPTOR! There are scam artists who have discovered that voice-over people can be very eager to promote their services. These scammers offer CD demos that, well, either never get made or sent. They sure take your money, though. So, be careful. Make sure any company you deal with is reputable. Ask for references. If it’s a start-up operation, wait until first CD is sent out and is in circulation for a while. Then call some of participants and see if they got any work out of it. Here two reputable CD demo services:

http://www.tmcentury.com/?products/HitDisc/hdemo.htm, http://www.vo-usa.com/contact.htm

If you know of any other reputable CD demo services, then please email me, pdrew@portone.com, and I’ll add it to my list and this article.

Groups and forums

There are a lot of voice over related groups and forums on Web. Go to Yahoo Groups and type in voice over, voiceovers, voice over talent, voice over artist, etc., and you’ll find many groups where you can drop in and learn from others. Participate if you’d like, but remember, anything you post in these chat rooms stays there pretty much for life. If you might regret saying something, then keep your fingers away from keyboard.

Marketing vs. talent

You may be greatest voice talent on planet, but, if no one knows who you are, well, then that’s wasted talent. So, get out there and promote and make your business a success.

©Peter Drew

1) Native Speakers: Does provider work with translators who are native speakers of languages? There are plenty of fluent, non-native speakers of second languages, but only native speakers have a perfect feel for their language. Working with native speakers will ensure that your translations sound natural to your audiences, and not like a translation from a foreigner.

2) Specialist Knowledge: It’s not enough to speak language. The people who translate your material must know your industry. Translating for a technology firm requires different expertise than translating for a pharmaceutical company.

3) Location: The best translators are those who work from their native countries. They are up-to-date with current developments and changes in languages. If you choose a translation firm that has translators in exactly countries you are targeting, you can be sure that your translations will be linguistically and culturally appropriate.

4) File Formats: To avoid extra work and costs, make sure you choose a translation firm that can work with exactly same file formats you use and require.

5) Technology: Find out what kind of technology translation firm uses. For example, state-of-the-art translation memory tools allow re-use of previously translated material. For example, if you make changes or update your material over time, you’ll only want those changes translated, and not complete documents.

6) Quality Assurance: Ask company for their quality assurance procedures. Find out if all translated material gets reviewed before it is sent out to you.

7) Check references: Find out which clients translation company has worked for in past. Call those references and find out how satisfied they are with customer service and translation quality.

Once you have selected a translation provider make sure you work together with them closely in order to maximize quality of your translations. One rule is to allow sufficient time. Rushing a job always risks compromising its quality. Also, make sure source material is well written. You can never generate a great translation from a mediocre source text. Provide as much background material as possible to help translators understand your product-specific context and learn your organization’s jargon.

Finally, it’s a good idea to remain available for questions and feedback during translation project. Good translators are like good students – they will always ask you questions.