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Improve Social Marketing With Custom Audio and Voice Overs

By Stephanie Ciccarelli in Featured

So you’ve got a visual presence, are on all of the social networking sites and send messages like crazy but you’re finding that the human element, although seemingly everywhere you look, is oddly… missing.

How is it that you can have a photo, an about me paragraph, and hundreds of virtual friends but still miss the boat?

One thing probably nobody has told you about social marketing and social networking (that is, up until now) is that you can’t just have a visual presence online and expect to be the beneficiary of overwhelming success because of some strategically placed keywords and an enviable list of hobbies.

What you do need, however, is a way to talk to people naturally to give them a taste of who you are and what you sound like. People enjoy hearing the voices of other people, particularly if that person is of interest to them or has something to of value to offer.

Sounds good, you say, but how can you get down with the crowd when marketing to them without sounding salesy?

Custom Audio & Social Marketing

One way is to record an audio message of yourself talking, perhaps even go as far as making a podcast, and post it on your social networking sites. Places like Facebook and MySpace give you the opportunity to share audio on your profile for others in your circle of acquaintance to listen to.

Listening to someone talk can be very reassuring, and for those being listened to, has the potential to be very profitable.

This marketing technique, when blended with public relations, can be extremely effective. Using an audio recording as part of your approach to deliver a genuine message to spur on your company, product or service opens the door to a greater sense of community and shows that you’re reaching out and want to be part of the action.

What better way is there to build trust, virtually connect with others and develop a following online than to make yourself accessible using your voice, the most powerful tool in your arsenal?

You don’t have worry about too much in the technology department to provide an authentic sample of your personality when recording. You can easily make a no-frills MP3 recording on your own using free audio recording software, but if you want to kick it up a notch, I suggest spicing it up a bit with some music, sound effects and even the help of a professional voice actor.

Voice Overs & Social Marketing

To really give them a treat, you might consider working with an internet voice talent on the recordings, perhaps even using their voice to brand your company.

Now, if you are intimidated by audio recording, production or editing (maybe all of the above), it’s a no-brainer to go with someone who can look after all of it for you while adding significant value and letting you shine.

Your voice is a very important aspect of who you are, and when you’re in the trenches of online marketing and staking your ground in the vast landscape of social networking, it may be one of the only things that sets you apart from competitors in the same field.

This is of particular importance if you happen to be the voice or personality at your company that is known to your customers and the public.

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Stephanie Ciccarelli is the Vice President of Marketing and co-founder of Voices.com and frequent contributor to the audio marketing resource, InternetVoiceTalent.com

How To Build Trust & Increase Conversions By Using Voice Overs on Your Sales & Landing Pages

By Stephanie Ciccarelli in Featured

Your website is a useful tool for making sales in your sleep, but could it be making even more money for you during those twilight hours?

Every good marketer knows: The MEDIUM is the MESSAGE.

When someone is reading your sales copy and about to make a purchase, all they really get from you socially perhaps is some cleverly written text that outlines the features and benefits that state why they should go ahead and take their credit card out of their wallet.

What if you could up the ante and reach those prospects on a heightened, more emotional level?

You can! How?

Use surprisingly affordable professional voice overs on the landing page or sales page.

Voice overs help to build trust and make an instant connection with the people who visit your website.

Adding a voice over isn’t just another bell or whistle to your website, you’ll be ingeniously employing another medium to help you communicate your message, in this case, delivering your message using audio via your website.

By getting up close and personal at the point of sale, you’ve found another way to persuade prospective customers to buy, and as a bonus, have also given the world a better idea of who your company is through audio branding, using the human voice to start a favorable relationship that is profitable and engaging.

And… like most people, you’re probably strapped for time and likely haven’t given too many “outside the box” ideas any consideration, but that’s where voice overs could really strike gold.

The majority of people haven’t considered (let alone know about) strategic placement of professional audio on landing pages & sales pages.

What could be better than a more personalized approach to welcome the visitor to your site and set the tone for a potential sale?

You can achieve that human connection by using the intimacy and power of the human voice by way of a voice over recording that puts your customers at ease when they are deciding whether to continue on, their visit ideally resulting in a purchase made at your website.

In short, adding a voice over to your sales & landing pages will:

1. Make your website more human
2. Encourage prospects to buy
3. Give the impression that you are present

You’ll notice a dramatic difference in how you can communicate with prospective buyers and establish a personal relationship without having to do the initial networking.

You may also see an increase in your conversion rates which is after all what you’re going for, right?

What should your voice over recording say?

Take a good look at the copy on the sales or landing page. Your voice over should be a conversational representation of the words on the page without “reading” the words on the page.

What I mean by this is that your voice over should elaborate on the points, not regurgitate them just as you would present a PowerPoint presentation. You may not read the slides verbatim, however, you do regard the bullet points on the slides as a guide and touchstone to move the conversation along and way of reinforcing the principal message leading to a successful conversion.

Once you have scripted your message, most messages being about 1 minute to 3 minutes in length, the next step is to have it professionally recorded either by an experienced “voice” actor or by you in a decent sound studio.

You can hire freelance professionals easily online, just post a job on a voice talent directory.

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Stephanie Ciccarelli is the Vice President of Marketing and co-founder of Voices.com , the voice over marketplace. A vocal major and graduate from the Don Wright Faculty of Music at the University of Western Ontario, Stephanie is able to translate years of classical music training, theory and performance into practical applications within the voice over industry. Specializing in public relation and copy writing, her presence and persona embody the Voices.com brand through partner sites like PodcastingVoiceTalent.com.

© Copyright 2012 All rights reserved. Jayde Online, Inc.

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