Are You Serving SPAM? Demystifying Email Deliverability

One of the biggest objections I hear from voice actors is I don’t want to be spammy in my email marketing. And I get what people are saying here, and they’re right. They don’t want to be perceived as sending irrelevant, salesy, sleazy messages to poorly targeted, or not targeted at all, people.

In other words, if they reach out to prospects, they want that to be a quality engagement and I 110% support that philosophy.

BUT there’s another kind of spam. And it’s this second kind that you may be sending and not even know it. It’s unintentional spam. It’s messaging that you’ve taken the time to craft, taken the time to target your prospects, taken the time to try to do all the things right, and yet it’s not even making it to your prospect’s inbox, because the ESPs, the email service providers are marking it as spam and culling it from the system before you’ve ever had the chance to say Hello.

The ONE Thing that Changes EVERYTHING in VO and LIFE

There's one hack, one great secret. One thing you can do for your growing your voiceover business. And it's so powerful that it works for not just growing your video business, but for improving your physical fitness, your mental fitness, and your emotional intelligence. It works for improving your relationships.

It's the difference between setting goals and achieving them. Between a dream and reality.

And it's so simple to understand that even a sixth grader can get it. And when I say what it is, you will kick yourself because you already know it to be true.

So what is this cheat code to all good things in your life?

Two words…

marketing, mindset, professional development, personal developmentPaul SchmidtJune 22, 2023consistency, perfectionismComment

WHY IS THE VOICE OVER COMMUNITY SO SPECIAL?

The VO community to me is far and away the most supportive, uplifting, collaborative, encouraging group of people I have ever been around. That to me is clear. What is not clear, what really want to get to the heart of is… WHY? Why are voice actors and audiobook narrators so…kind and helpful and all the good things?

WHY? I asked our community on social media recently this very question… Why do you think it is? Does voice acting attract better people? Or does it just bring out the better in us? And if so, why? How?

And that’s what we’re gonna dig into today. As answered by you.

mindset, mental health, the vo industryPaul SchmidtJune 15, 2023the vo communityComment

Contracts: To Use, or Not To Use... THAT Is the Question...?

Today, we're talking about the importance of using contracts for voice actors and outline the benefits and protections they offer. This video emphasizes the need for clear expectations, protection of rights, payment security, scope management, liability limitations, professionalism, and dispute resolution.

While formal contracts are generally recommended, I also mention situations where email communication may be acceptable as a substitute, such as for informal or small-scale projects with trusted clients or established working relationships.

However, the acceptance and validity of using email as a substitute may vary depending on jurisdiction and I advise seeking legal advice.

We wrap up by providing resources, including a book on voiceover legal matters, an AI and Synthetic Voices rider for contract addendum, a recommended entertainment lawyer, and a link to my own policies page for setting clear expectations.

business, professional development, the vo industry, working with a VOPaul SchmidtJune 8, 2023contracts, emailComment

Overcome Common Objections and BOOK the Gig

As a voice actor, as really any freelance creative writer, developer, designer, you name it, your ability to attract and retain clients is going to be key to your success. And as a freelancer, you're going to run into some pretty common customer objections. And those customer objections can get in the way of or at worst, completely derail closing deals and booking gigs.

And when I say common objections, I'm not kidding. They happen all the time.

Today I'm going to help you do just that. We're going to explore some common customer objections. And I'm going to give you some strategies to overcome them so you can close more deals and book more gigs.

business, business development, marketing, messagingPaul SchmidtMay 25, 2023overcoming objections, closing salesComment

Voices.com Finally CAVES. NAVA Announces fAIr Voices

Tim Friedlander, president of NAVA, the National Association of Voice Actors, discusses the recent victory in which Voices dot com amended their terms of service to address the use of voice actors in AI voices. Tim credits community efforts and demonstrates the power of collective action.

casting sites, the vo industry, AI/TTS, businessPaul SchmidtMay 18, 2023NAVA, voices, Voices.com, AI, bodalgo, castvoices, vo planet, aiComment

Surviving in VO – Growing Relationships & Income Streams

Alright, let's take voice over out of it for a minute, okay? One in four jobs in the next five years. This is not just voice over. This is globally. One in four jobs is set to change because of factors like artificial intelligence, global supply chain issues, green energy and digitization.

One in four. That's not just voice over. That's the world over.

But it's clear in the next 5 to 10 years, maybe longer, that the ways that we go about finding work and generating personal income will change rapidly. But stick around because while there's a lot of not-so-great news, there's also a lot of great news for voice actors and freelancers who can learn to navigate this brave new world.

Voice123's Rolf REACTS: Voices.ai & the FUTURE of VO

I sat down with Voice123's Rolf Veldman soon after the launch of Voices' new AI product. Rolf gives us his reaction and his take on how AI, voice cloning, digital doubling, synthetic voices, text to speech (TTS), and technology in general will impact the voiceover industry. He references a chat with David Ciccerelli, talks about what a fair and ethical terms of use should include, and the ethos of Voice123.com and how it aligns with ethical treatment of all parties, including the voice actor.

the vo industry, casting sitesPaul SchmidtMay 8, 2023Voice123, voices, Voices.com, AI, ai voicesComment

Voices.ai Is Here - IS the AI Voices Sky Falling?

David Ciccerelli and Voices have finally launched their AI product called unshockingly, Voices dot ai. It’s here kids. It’s like the lump of coal you’ve been waiting to get in your stocking for years now. Except Santa-relli has been telling you all along what a good little girl you are. And somehow the whole time you knew the coal car was gonna be backing up with a big black nugget with your name on it.

It's here. Let’s break it down.

business, professional development, the vo industry, AI/TTSPaul SchmidtApril 27, 2023ai, ai voices, TTS, text to speech, Voices.com, voicesComment

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