Here’s what I know… as voice actors (and creatives) if we can find an excuse to not have to market ourselves and our services, we’ll try and find it. Not because we don’t want to book gigs. Just because so many VO’s feel overwhelmed, frustrated and confused by marketing.
With that in mind when I’m asked – at least once a week – “should I be marketing myself since I’m planning on making a new demo?” I often assume it’s another talent looking for a reason to not have to do marketing… at least for another few weeks.
That said, it is a fair question.
If the demo you’re currently working with is dated, or it’s a demo you’re not proud of, then it makes sense that you wouldn’t want to market it to potential new clients. At the same time, if your new demo is coming really soon (as in, you’ve already recorded it and it will be delivered in a few weeks) I can understand why you’d want to hold off.
If you’re going to be sending something to people, you want to send them your most current and best quality demo!
Does that mean you can take some time off from marketing? Chill on the beach? Snooze in the hammock in your backyard?
Sorry. No. Get your butt back in the office! 😉
If you’re waiting for a new demo to be delivered before you start sending out emails to your leads and prospects, there’s still plenty of work you can do to get ready in the meantime.
Such as… finding those leads and prospects!
Once that new demo arrives, you want to be ready to start marketing it immediately. The only way you can do that is if you’ve got a database built up and ready to start contacting.
In the weeks before the new demo comes, make your mission to find as many leads as possible and get them into your CRM (Free Training: What is CRM?). Get those leads sorted, tagged and organized so that the day your new demo arrives, you’re ready to begin emailing them!
Marketing is an ongoing process. Something that never ends, whether you’ve got your demo yet or not. There’s ALWAYS something you can be doing!
