Linkedin Archives - Mary Morgan

This is a topic that goes on and on and on and on because there’s just too much information and commitment involved. Thus, it’s the reason why every year new books are published on the subject of marketing with hundreds of pages of new data collected.

Few people want to hear about it because it’s a lot of work. Finding names, emails, or phone numbers is one thing, but these days it’s not enough. With the internet you have a plethora of options to help in your quest of building a good client database. This means finding a company by name, and finding who’s the creative director, production director, casting director, audio director or producers in audio production. Then it’s finding a contact number or email for the specific name associated with one of the titles above, and putting together a clever introduction by phone or letter. If you choose the latter DO NOT use “Dear Sir or Madam”. That’s long gone and guarantees your note to the trash before the potential client can bother reading the next sentence. Remember folks, time is money in this industry. And don’t make your letter all about you:

“I’m a voice over. I’m the voice of this brand. I’m known for this and that, but I’ve also done this, this, this, this..”

Things have changed now and the absolute best way to get notice is to show you care about the client as a human being, not a prospective paycheck. Here’s where the research starts.

Let’s say you want to work in commercials; start by googling advertising companies in your area. Don’t search all over the country, start simple, the nearest city (even if its more than 150 miles away). You might start a search like this, for example: “advertising agencies” + Houston

As you can tell from the screenshot, you have some places to start, and that’s just one page. I experimented further by finding a company name: Adhere Creative.

Next, I want to find who’s in charge of creative direction or production. You can try googling such as: Adhere Creative, Creative Director; see what happens. You can also use LinkedIn which is a great way to find direct names to contact. Here’s another snip shot to show what I mean. I type the name of the company, then search under people associated with it. The first that comes up is a name with the profession of Executive Partner/Director of Marketing. Perfect! Alas, here’s where it’ll get tricky.

Here are your options:

Attempt to connect with the name on LinkedIn. Chances are they may not accept but you can try.
Call Adhere Creative and ask what’s the best way to get in touch with the name you’re looking to get in touch with. You might get a phone number, you might get an email, and you’ll more than likely get an answering machine. Either way, prepare how you want to present yourself and be sure to get to the point.
If you find an email address and prefer to use that instead of calling them then pay attention to all the info below before you send an email.

Try to find out what you can about the person you’re emailing. Don’t look at it as stalking, this is research. Let’s go back to the example on LinkedIn.

The name associated with Adhere Creative is Matt Lee (I don’t know this person. It’s just an example). I click on his page seeing there’s a summary of who he is, what he’s done, his knowledge and work experience. Browse the whole page, don’t skim. Is he part of any groups on LinkedIn? Yes: Social Media Marketing. Continue down the page and you notice he’s got an impressive resume of who he’s worked with in the past and present. He’s been a PR intern, a Digital Strategist, an Artist Manager, a Marketing Manager and now a Partner. This guy knows what he’s doing and has the background to prove it. What kind of skills have people endorsed him with? He’s a many of many talents! Contact information is usually only visible if you’ve managed to connect with the individual. But you can sometimes find websites, social media pages or birthdays. Lastly, does he care about anything outside advertising? Yes, he cares about arts and culture, children, poverty, and alleviation. Here’s a clue. He’s not just a busy executive, he’s a human being who cares about important causes.

Now, all that was a ton of work but it’ll do you wonders in the long run. When you email this person, you start with your introduction (this is an example only, NOT a template):

Dear Matt Lee,

Greetings (or Hello), my name is (insert your name here). I found your information through google and wanted to get in touch with you because I’m a voice over and I’d like to help with any upcoming projects that need a voice.

I’m stopping there because after that, it’s your job to put together a short paragraph acknowledging the person as a human being. “You have an impressive resume on LinkedIn”, or “I really enjoyed how thorough your summary is on LinkedIn” or “It’s mighty impressive that you’re a Partner at one of the coolest ad agencies in (insert city name)”.

(Continue praising their accomplishments for 2-3 more sentences, then get to the point of why you’re contacting him. What can you offer that would help him on future projects. Do you have a website? Referrals? Demos? A home studio? Don’t ask for a job, explain that you’re interested in being a service to them).

(Then end with how you’d love to discuss more of how you can help them as a Voice Over by including a good email address, or phone number and that look forward to hearing from them.)

Sincerely,
(Your name)

I know what you’re thinking. Good heavens that’s soooooo much work for one person and there are potentially hundreds of thousands of names in this ocean of advertising. Well guess what, that’s just one market. Do you want to work in animation? Audiobooks? Narration? Political ads? Video Games? Automotive? Radio Imaging? Promos? Elearning?

Pick the markets you want to be part of and spend 3-4 hours (or at the very least 1-2) a day finding companies associated with them. Create a LinkedIn page, try making connections there. Don’t treat it like Facebook or Twitter. I’m very, very strict with whom I accept as a connection on LinkedIn because it includes my contact info which is for business only. I only connect with Voice Over talent who share a certain list of names that I trust above all else. The rest are people who work in the markets that I’m interested in. Do you have a Facebook business page? If not, make one. But don’t turn it into a personal page. YouTube? Make a page there too. You never know when you may have a commercial, video game footage, narration clips, animation clips, or other samples to share (remember to get permission first unless the client has already posted on YouTube already). Twitter is an absolute must.

Social media is where it’s at my friends. You can find people easily and they can find you. If you don’t want to be on social media then clients can’t find you and they won’t be interested in hiring you.
I don’t advise posting anything political, judgmental or negative of any kind on your pages. It WILL come back on you. I’ve seen it happen more than enough times and it’s not pretty or pleasant. Look at what’s happened recently to actors like Kevin Spacey. He completed a movie that was scheduled to open in a month and after misbehaving was revealed online he was replaced by another actor who filmed all his scenes in less than 6 weeks. Years ago that would cost too much money and seem impossible. Now it’s not. Don’t jeopardize future opportunities!

Get to know potential clients as people first. Acknowledge and show respect for them and all they’ve done. Make it about them, not all about you. Be open to ideas and discussions. If they’re not interested, be courteous and wish them well.

Make 2018 your best year!

The internet is a treacherous playground, but it’s also fantastic and an absolute necessity for any business in general. And not only that, Voice Over work is more plentiful than ever because of ads, interactive games, industrials, web series, and so much more being broadcast online. It’s the perfect time to take advantage of pursuing VO work. You’ll most definitely need to make friends, build relationships and research, research, as well as research some more. By that I mean finding ways to connect with people if they don’t want to connect online (there are quite a few), so you’ll have to explore other ways to approach them without making them feel uneasy.

Now please understand that I make no guarantees whatsoever at having expertise in social media. I’m still learning the best ways to try and build connections. This means whatever worked for me may not work for you. So again, research, research and research some more. By the way, having an open mind wouldn’t hurt because EVERYONE has opinions and while you may not share them, it’s best not to antagonize others. It can backfire severely and never be forgotten. In the end, you’ll have to be the judge of what feels right for you.

Do you have profiles on Twitter? Facebook? Linkedin? Do you have a personal website? If yes, great. I’ll share some tips below on how to use them to your advantage. If not, I strongly advise that you create profiles for all the above. Social media is exhausting to keep up with and sometimes it REALLY sucks. But this is the age we live in. If you’re not keeping up with the times, you won’t get far.

So for this week’s post let’s start with Linkedin:

This is one of my favorites because I make it all about business. I strongly advise that you do the same. Warning: there’s a TON of research involved. Don’t use it as you would Facebook. I’m also picky with who can see my connections, because there are people out there who will use you for your contacts. And before you join any groups or connect with industry specialists, make sure your profile is as super-professional as possible. I recommend a good headshot for your profile pic and not something silly or the photo of a celebrity who isn’t you. My page isn’t perfect, but I have an honest picture of myself, some referrals, endorsements, links to other social media sites, and of course a website with links to my demos.

When your page looks good, find groups that interest you and try joining them. If you want to be in music join music-related groups and try connecting with musicians, composers, audio engineers, jingle producers, lyricists, etc. If you want to be in film then join film-and acting-related groups and then try connecting with producers, casting directors, production crew, screenwriters, etc. If you want to work in video games then find video game groups that focus on your area of interest (audio, programming, development, design, artwork, etc.), then try connecting with coders, designers, producers, creative directors, HR recruitment staff, and more. Now in voice over you have a plethora of choices when it comes to groups and even more choices with whom to try and connect with: audiobook companies/producers, animation companies/directors/producers, video game companies/directors/audio designers/sound designers/audio engineers, advertising agencies/creative directors, and yes there’s still more. Also, don’t limit yourself to one city, state, country or continent.

Voice Over is universal, so take advantage of opportunities to search for all the above at locations across the globe. Start with big cities. If you’re in Texas the cities would be Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, San Antonio and El Paso. If you’re in Louisiana then search New Orleans, Shreveport, Baton Rouge. If you’re in California (Lucky you!) then search the mother of all cities for entertainment: Los Angeles. Then search San Francisco, Sacramento, and San Diego.

Or if you’re wanting to focus on certain markets then you must research where the jobs are plentiful. For instance you’re based in the USA and want to focus on commercials, fortunately they’re everywhere, but think of places like New York City, Chicago, Dallas, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Portland, Atlanta and so on. For audio books, the Audio Publishers Association is in New York, but audio book publishers are located on the East and West coasts. For narrations, primarily the East coast. For video games, the major cities would be Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta, New York City and in Canada (Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto.) For animation, it’s most definitely Los Angeles, but also look in Atlanta, New York City, Austin and elsewhere. Thanks to Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and more networks on the way, original animated series and animated movies will be on the rise.

But don’t forget to search other countries. I’ve worked with clients in Slovenia, Russia, and other locations. I have friends who have worked with clients in India, Ireland, South Africa, Dubai and beyond. Important note: dollar values will be different everywhere. Be prepared to negotiate.

After you’ve connected with someone, send a brief message saying “Thank You”, but personalize it so that you don’t end up looking like someone sending the same note to everybody. By personalizing, look at the person’s page, who they’ve worked with, their experience and then compliment them on their skills. Then end by saying something like, “Please keep in touch”, your name and a link to your website. DO NOT ask for a job. The goal is to connect and build relationships, not to beg. These are human beings with emotions like everyone else in the world, please be respectful of them.

On the subject of groups, you have more than a plethora of choices. Some will accept you, and some may not. As always, try not to take it as an insult. Give it time for people to get to know you on social media or in person at a workshop or convention.

Here are some general VO groups to join:
Voice Over Professionals
Global Online Voice-Over / Dubbing Artistes, Studios, Agencies
Voiceover Casting Directors and Agents
All Star Voices
International Voiceover Bank
Radio, Television Broadcast and Voice-over Professionals
Voice Over Talent Needed: VoiceoverTV.net
Social Media for Voice Actors
Voiceover Gigs
Voiceover Marketing Strategists
World-Voices Organizations

E-Learning:
eLearning Voice Over Group

Animation:
Animation Army
Animation, Media and Entertainment
Characters Engage
Character Voice Actors

Video Games:
People in Games
Game Audio

Gamevoices:
Video Game Voice Acting

There are many more groups. You could even type in animation, video games, e-learning, audiobooks, narration, promos or such when looking for groups to join. See what you find!

Mary Morgan

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