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Business Basics
For Voiceovers - Pricing and Value For Voiceovers
By
Alison Pitman
I'm
hoping that this article will appeal not only to the
voiceover artists themselves but also the voiceover
seekers as well. Hopefully the information will be
as pertinent to them. The topic for this article is
voiceover pricing, which is often a neglected part of the
marketing mix but as we all know quite a crucial aspect.
If you look at any of the voiceover forums, it does cause
immense problems & I think it causes problems on each side
- voiceover seekers don't know how to price a project
-what budget to set.
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At the same
time voiceover artists struggle to set a rate for a
particular project. They don't want to price
themselves too high and obviously they don't want to
undercut themselves so it’s a tricky balance of finding a
happy medium where both parties feel comfortable and they
both feel that it is a good price for the VALUE they are
adding and receiving.
It always surprises me that
some voiceover seekers, even though they are searching out
the services of a professional voiceover are not willing
to pay a fair price for the services offered. They must
have some awareness, a notional idea of the benefits that
using a pro voiceover will bring to their brand, their
company, their product/service yet they're not willing to
pay for it or willing to pay a fair price. So why is
that? And what is a fair price?
I think some of the problem
may stem from the impression that voice over is an easy
job - anyone can do it. And with the Internet and more
accessible technology it’s easy for anyone to set
themselves up as a voiceover talent. And this mentality
seems to have reached some voice seekers who are unaware
of the true costs and investment that is necessary to
provide you with your professional radio commercial
voiceover, your e-learning narration, your corporate video
read. And its also important for you, the voiceover
artist, to remember how you have got to where you are now
and how each element needs to be thrown into the mix to
arrive at a pricing strategy that gives you and your work
value. So if you or a client starts to question your rates
here are some things to take into consideration when and
why the price is what it is.
1. Firstly, TIME. This is a
significant factor. I have a huge problem with job
postings that start - "this is a quick easy job, will only
take you 5 minutes if you know what you're doing" followed
by a budget of £10/ $20. I don't know if I'm the only one
who finds this sort of posting extremely rude and just
plain naive. No, No No !! I've just spent those 5 minutes
opening my email client and reading your job posting - it
will take me another 5 minutes to reply to it, so there's
10 minutes already. And all those minutes are billable.
It isn't just the time it takes to record the voiceover.
What about the time it takes to communicate with the
client, to discuss the script, the style or delivery, the
quote, the turnaround time, the license usage etc. Then
you record, edit, convert the audio to the format of their
choice, upload it to their server, wait for feedback, do
any re-records if necessary, edit, convert, upload
again. So no, a 5 minute voiceover does not take 5
minutes.
2. What about the other costs
that you've incurred - what about your home studio? Some
voiceover artists make this cost quite transparent in
their pricing by charging a studio fee. For others, they
prefer to factor it into their final quote. Quality
recordings come at a price. Even though equipment has
become more affordable, it will need updating and
replacing as your career continues to grow and succeed.
This all needs to be factored into the investment you've
made and continue to make in your voiceover career.
3. Training, and coaching -
consider the investment you have made in attending
workshops, purchasing voiceover books, taking part in
local college courses.
4 Demo production
5. Maybe you have a royalty
free music library that you offer to your clients - how
much did that cost?
6. And what about the basic
running costs that every business incurs - stationary,
printing cartridges, postage, envelopes, telephone calls,
broadband connection. And your marketing materials -
websites, postcards, e-newsletters, all have costs
involved.
7. Memberships - online
casting websites, union memberships, SAVOA for example
8. Travel costs to studios
and auditions.
All of these and no doubt
many more costs all need to be considered for your pricing
strategy.
These are to remind you of
the value you have placed on yourself and your voiceover
career so that when your fee is questioned you are
confident that the value of your voiceover recording
justifies every penny of your quote.
So how do you come up with
some concrete figures to put on your rate sheet?
If you're a union member than
this is fairly straightforward- unions do tend to set
minimum rates and guidance. And I assume these are
followed by clients who employ union talents.
If you're not then you have
some options: Go to the voiceover forums - a lot of fellow
voiceover actors have very generously shared their own
ratecard. This is hugely helpful and will help you decide
how you want to set your rates, do you do it per word, per
finished minute, per page. You'll notice this will vary
from voiceover artist to voiceover artist as well as the
method changes depending on the nature of the project and
the market it is being used in. Also visit the online
casting sites such as voices.com who have a downloadable
PDF document with rate guidelines for different projects
and different markets, and I believe
www.Voice123.com
also have a document that sets out their average rates for
projects.
There are also pricing
strategies and psychologies that other businesses employ
when they are setting prices - here are some of them which
you may want to consider using when creating your rate
card. I want to thank Ivana Taylor (strategystew.com) for
these ideas from her 8 Pricing Strategies article on the
www.smallbiztrends.com
website.
1. The 9 and Zero effect.
People associate the number nine with value and zero with
quality. Look at the difference between fast food and a
gourmet restaurant. A burger meal can sell for about $4.99
while a gourmet entree at the best place in town may go
for $30. So the psychology of pricing isn't so much about
gaining additional sales because the price appears to be
lower, it's about what the price communicates about your
offering. So which do you want to communicate? Value or
Quality? Now you can price accordingly.
2. Prestige Pricing. Higher
prices connote higher quality. Luxury brands are the
perfect example of this strategy. A latte at Starbucks has
a higher perceived value than a basic coffee with cream.
Simply improving the look, packaging, delivery or promise
of your product you can justify a higher price and support
a prestige pricing strategy.
3. Quantity suggestive
Pricing. Consumers are receptive to purchasing items in
suggested quantities. When you suggest how many you want
your customers to buy and give them an attractive price,
they will do what you tell them.
4. Stuffing the bundle. But
wait there's more! Consumers perceive more value when
there is more stuff included in the bundle. You can even
call this a form of value-building. TV infomercials are
notorious for this strategy. They introduce a main product
and keep adding more and more items to the mix to build
value - while simultaneously "discounting" the retail
price.
Well I hope this has given
you a few ideas about pricing and I hope that your clients
will have a better understanding of the true costs
involved, that they're not just buying a voice - but all
the expertise, technical ability and branding value that
the particular voice brings to their project.
Alison Pitman
Professional Voiceover Artist. Provider of audio
recordings for business including, podcasts, website
audio, phone system recordings, training and
presentation narrations, corporate video narrations,
product tour audio, radio and television commercials
and much more. Please visit my website to hear my
demos
http://www.thephonevoice.com/
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