How to Get Started in Voice Acting for Commercials

Have you been told that you have a wonderful voice people would want to listen to again and again? If you think your natural voice talent can bring you a profitable career doing voice-overs for television and radio commercials, you may be both right and wrong. I say this because the profession of voice acting, especially for brands, organizations, and businesses, demands more than just talent.

To be an exceptional and successful voice over talent, you need to possess the needed acting, networking, and technical skills to succeed in storytelling work.

Assess yourself and scout for opportunities.

Do you really want to be a voice artist? Do you have enough resources to transition fully to audio recording work, or do you plan to do this on the side for now? Do you plan to take on just local work, meaning just local radio and television stations, or do you want to expand to nationwide opportunities? Answering questions like these help you to gauge yourself as well as the prospects available for you.

If you haven’t had training, get some audio recording and acting lessons.

This comprises the preparation phase of being a successful storyteller. No matter how great your voice sounds, you will need to have someone else, an expert preferably, to inform you how   you can optimize on your strengths and work on your weaknesses. This is why it’s always important to get lessons or short courses on voice acting if you want to do voice over for TV or radio commercials.

Prepare a demo CD or MP3 for commercial voice-overs.

Before you can land audio narration opportunities for commercials, businesses will want to listen to your demo first. Ideally, you will want to prepare different demos to illustrate the nuances of your voice and the flexibility of your voice acting skills. You may send an actual CD via courier or an MP3 file to prospects, or you may post demos on your site. Prior to sending your demos, you need to send an e-mail ahead of time, preferably with your resume, so your effort doesn’t appear spammy.

Get as much experience as you can to build your resume.

A resume will allow companies to review your experiences as a voice actor. Since you are still     starting out, now is the time for you to acquire the experience you need to land better opportunities in the future. Voice acting work for commercials abound, as you can find many brands and companies looking for fresh voices to advertise their products and services locally, nationally, and even internationally. To succeed, however, you need to build on what you have,     expand your network, and keep learning.

The world of commercial voice-overs, especially on a national scale, has always been competitive. But, you can always start small while you’re trying to build experience. Before long, you will have already achieved the success aimed at by every voice-over talent out there.

Looking for a Spanish voice actor for commercials and beyond? You’ve come to the right blog. Check out the rest of my website to listen to my demos or get in touch with me. I’d be more than happy to help you on your next Spanish radio or TV commercial!