When prospective clients and customers see your web site, ads or brochures, you want them to be captivated and impressed. You hope they'll read not just headlines, but all way through copy. And you want this scintillating copy to motivate them to take next step, and make a purchase or contact you for more information.

Is it working?

Do prospects read your marketing materials? Does copy convince them that they need your products and services? Do they understand value you provide?

Do they contact you?

What's key to writing marketing copy that grabs your prospects' attention, overcomes common objections and leads to a sale or an inquiry?

When you finally call a plumber to fix that leak under sink, does he spend ten or fifteen minutes talking about how long he has been in business, wrenches he uses or process he uses to solder a joint together? Of course not.

You have a problem and, in most cases, you need it solved immediately. You don't necessarily care how he does it - you just want your leaky plumbing fixed. Of course you want to spend as little as possible, but you see plumber's fees relative to damage you're incurring from leak.

The Internet is revolutionizing voice-over business. Today quality remote recording of voiceovers can be done virtually anywhere. With a PC, mic, and Internet connection, almost anyone can set up shop as a voice talent.

A few years ago, a remote session entailed a voice over talent standing in a commercial production house studio, say, in L.A., taking direction over telephone through a “phone patch” from, say, New York City. The next innovation in remote recording was satellite link. It sounds great on either end, but it’s very expensive, so it’s suited only for sessions with biggest budgets and most expensive talents.

A few years after satellite link came more economical ISDN, which stands for Integrated Services Digital Network. ISDN is a digital hookup via telephone system. Each location is connected to other through a piece of hardware called a “codec.” An ISDN hookup is preferred by agencies and clients with budgets large enough to accommodate additional cost of recording an out-of-market voice over artist.

The latest, and, so far, most liberating technology available to voice over talents is now ubiquitous .mp3 file—the same file type used for swapping songs over ‘Net. A voice talent anywhere in world can set up a home studio and be in business. The talent records voiceover, with direction via phone patch, if desired by client, into a PC equipped with simple audio editing software. Next an .mp3 file is created and then sent as an email attachment to agency and/or client. No expensive satellite or ISDN linkups. No commercial production facility. Simply put: no middleman.

Is this a good thing? Not entirely. The home VO studio explosion can be likened to desktop publishing frenzy of 15 years ago. Just because you have a powerful printing press in a box on your desk doesn’t mean you’re automatically going to produce coherent, well-designed publications. Everyone thought they could buy PageMaker, print some business cards and letterhead, and, voila, an instant living publishing newsletters. Of course, vast majority of these desktop publishing newbies discovered it takes more than technology to succeed. First and foremost, it takes talent, training, and experience to use tool, software, effectively—and most important—profitably.

With that caveat out of way, and assuming you have chops to make a go of your home voice-over business, let’s look at how Internet also has revolutionized promotion of voice over talents.

Drumming up business

Before home studio, voiceover artists had to go to studios to record. Promotion included distributing your demo on cassette or CD to production houses, ad agencies, talent agents, and casting agents; making phone calls; sending reminder cards with your latest credits; sending thank you gifts to clients at holiday time; and networking with anyone and everyone. Actually, to be successful, you still have to do all of those things, but now you have additional promotional opportunities via World Wide Web.