The Voice Recordings Strategy:

1. The vocal characteristics of your chosen voice talent should coincide with the characteristics of your brand, which means you need to be able to define and verbally illustrate those characteristics consistently in both voice and vocabulary.  It may be helpful to create a brand chart, where you list three general terms that define your brand – like classy, fun and smart.  Now you have a better understanding of what type of professional voice talent you should be looking for.  Review your answers to the following questions:

• What emotions do you hope are elicited in your customer when they think of your brand?
• What adjectives are the OPPOSITE of what your brand represents?
• What is the first thing your customer should think of when they hear your brand name?

2. Align your brand voice with your target customer personas.  In other words, if you offer the latest in hip and trendy outerwear for women, ages 18-30, you probably don’t want a “grandma” voice featured on you messaging on hold. It would be confusing, to say the least.  Your customers need to be able to identify with your brand, thus, your brand voice should appropriately correspond to your target audience.  Ask yourself:

• Am I able to describe my target customer?
• How should the voice talent sound to these customers?
• What kind of person would my customer relate to?

If you are unsure about the answers to these questions, ask your marketing department if there are written customer profiles or persona worksheets available to review.  Different voice types convey different meanings, and a distinctive voice makes your brand both recognizable and sharable.  Does your brand require a deep, powerful, reassuring voice (think Dennis Haybert as the AllState Insurance man)?  Or maybe a quirky, funny voice is more suited to the task (think Flo and Progressive Insurance).  Regardless, the voice talent you choose should reflect the way your audience speaks.

Consider the following suggestions:

• Try calling your competitors’ headquarters or call centers to listen to their voice recordings.
• Many companies use voices that are formal and “professional sounding.” The trend today is towards a more conversational and informal sound, and more companies are using unique voice talent to stand out.

Building your brand persona by using professional voice talent throughout your core messaging builds consistency and trust.  If you strike the right chord with your customers, you’ll leave the right impression. Our free eBook, “The Essential Guide to Voice Marketing,” explains the benefits of using professional voice talent, the importance of emotional engagement, and how Voice Marketing fits into your marketing strategy.

The Professional Voice Talent Process

1. One of the most effective ways to define, and then execute on your brand voice is by utilizing your own Marketing department.  More likely than not, they already have written customer personas and profiles, strategy statements and branding guides.  They’ve done their homework when it comes to understanding what problems your customers have and how your business offers solutions to those problems.  Having a clear picture of who your are trying to reach is essential in executing successful messaging through various channels – from internet banners, to on-hold messaging, to social media.

2. Engaging your internal stakeholders and potentially, a voice services firm, is another important piece of the Voice Marketing puzzle.  In other words, you need to meet the team you’ve assembled to carry out your branding strategy!  Once you have an idea of who you will be working with, consider the following:

• After you’ve engaged a voice services firm, as them to present standard sample demos, targeting a broad audience, using five or six different voice talents.  Then rank those samples in order to further define the direction in which you want your voice brand to go.
• Once this is accomplished, you can request your voice service to provide a custom demo – they’ll do it for free.  You may also ask for a second, slightly different demo based on feedback from your planning session.
• Ask if the talent chosen to do your voice recordings is willing to participate in a live coaching session, where you can listen in and give feedback. This important step increases the likelihood of your brand voice being heard loud and clear.

Voice Marketing is just one of the many avenues we travel with you on your journey to success. Request your own custom demo, or visit our Voice Marketing page to learn more about the services we offer, including coaching sessions and script writing and review.

The post Loud and Clear (Or Not): How Professional Voice Talent Boosts Your Brand Voice Strategy appeared first on Marketing Messages.

Enter Contextual VUI (Voice User Interface), the practice of directing callers down a specific call flow tree based on personalized information.  This information is gained by either querying a database or by prompting the caller to take a specific action, such as buying a specific product, using a specific service, or alerting the caller regarding the availability of self-service options.

For example, a customer calls into their banking call center, engaging with the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system.  The bank’s computer and phone systems have been integrated, enabling the system to use the caller’s ANI (Automated Numbering Identification).  In doing so, it determines that the caller is not using the bank’s online banking system.  The caller hears, “I see that you don’t have online banking with us…,” and is subsequently told about the benefits of the online banking system, including being given the option to be transferred to a representative for assistance.

Wy entrust such a critical interaction to anyone but a professional voice talent?  These artists know the appropriate variations in rhythm, pitch, speed, duration of pauses and elongation of words to gain the attention of your customers.  If your IVR prompts sound less than engaged and confident in your messaging, so will your customer.  Nothing says brand discontinuity like an IVR function featuring multiple, inconsistent voice recordings.

How do you avoid this?  Well, let’s discuss five ways professional voice prompts make all the difference in what your customers hear about – and how they connect to – your brand.

1. A professional voice talent is trained to sound more persuasive than a recording created by an internal employee.

Say you own an insurance company.  A customer calls into your automated system, follows the call tree flow, and is waiting on hold.  Your contextual VUI queues, and the caller hears, “I see you purchased auto insurance from us last April, but did you know we sell insurance for boats and motorcycles as well?  Ask a representative for a free quote.”  If the voice is professional, personable and has the right level of energy, it is more likely the customer will act as directed.

2. Professionally recorded IVR prompts lend themselves to a better personalized caller experience.

In this example, a tool manufacturer uses an IVR system to allow customers to track tool repair.  “I see your ‘widget’ is in our repair shop.  It will be ready for pick on October 15.  For helpful information about keeping your ‘widget’ performing optimally, please visit our website, www…..”

Employing professional voice talent sounds more natural and engaging than text to speech or using untrained voices.  They are also able to use informal language and logic appropriately.  Coupling a strong natural voice with a conversational script greatly improves the odds of your customer visiting your website.

3. IVR systems using contextual VUI are more likely to use prompts that are concatenated – or joined – with other prompts or system-supplied variables.

Because of this, it is more important that the proper inflection is used at the start and end of phrases to make each full sentence smoother.  Simply put, a trained voice talent is much better at this than an untrained internal employee.

4. A professional voice talent minimizes the “freak out” factor.

Let’s be honest.  It can be a bit spooky to hear that the computerized telephone system your customer has called into knows something specific about them.

System:  “I see you don’t have our outage reporting application.”

Customer Thinks:  “Wait, what?!  How do they know that?!”

A disinterested or robotic voice isn’t going to able to overcome any negative feelings associated with this kind of reaction.

5. Because of the complex and nuanced nature of contextual VUI, a natural, conversational voice is required.

Contextual VUI is often used in speech recognition applications, of which the complexities can be numerous.  Professional voice talent that is engaging and sympathetic is essential for customers to feel emotionally connected.

The professional voice talent at Marketing Messages is here to help.  Our Voice Artists have the experience and depth necessary to enable your brand to emerge as a market leader.  Request a free, 20-minute phone consultation today.  Or, if you already know what your needs are, request a quote here.

The post It’s Contextual: 5 Ways Professional Voice Talent Makes All the Difference appeared first on Marketing Messages.