7 Home Improvement Tips I Learned From Voicing Realtor.com Videos

Home Improvement, LinkedIn, Voiceover

Somewhere around the end of 2016, I reached out to a new contact on LinkedIn regarding voice over work who ended up hiring me for a video project for Realtor.com. This turned into another project, which turned into another project, which led to me providing voice over services for many of the videos Realtor.com produces for series like Homes Of The Stars, Unique Homes, and even a few for their Home Improvement videos.

Wait, what? You didn’t know LinkedIn could be a great marketing tool for freelancers? Absolutely! Check out my e-course on how to use your free LinkedIn account to attract, target, and communicate with prospective clients at https://www.thevoedge.com/if you’re a voice actor, or http://www.thelinkedinedge.com/edge/ if you’re a freelancer in another industry.

Anyway, since it’s the start of a new year and we’re all thinking about new beginnings, I wanted to share with you 7 of my most favorite videos of 2019 from the Realtor.com Home Improvement series. I picked these 7 videos because I learned at least one interesting thing from each video that I consider a fabulous life hack. Hopefully you learn something too! If you want to check out more videos in the Home Improvement series, just go to the Realtor.com’s home improvement collection if you want even more tips.

# 7: Brilliant ways to use hydrogen peroxide inside your home

This video will teach you 10 super cool ways a bottle of hydrogen peroxide can do things like remove rust, clean windows, and remove hard water stains.

# 6: Things you may NOT want to declutter

Before you Marie Kondo your house, this video shows you 5 things you may want to avoid tossing out.

#5: Bathroom items that may have expired

Gross! I realized there were several things in my house that needed replacing after doing the voice over for this video.

#4: The 4 things most people forget to clean

I can’t say that #1 and #4 happen all that often, but I do remember to do #2 and #3 every few months or so. When you watched this video, how did you score?

#3: Surprising ways salt can keep your home clean

With four young kiddos at my house, large quantities of salt often go into making homemade play dough, but doing the voice over for this video helped me learn all kinds of other ways salt can help around the house! #5 was my favorite tip. I love making soup, especially during these cold winter months, so the cutting boards at our house get a LOT of use!

#2: Cleaning agents you can find in your pantry–surprise!

These five things most of us have laying around the pantry can lead a double life as a cleaning hack–who knew? When I voiced this video, I thought #2 was the weirdest.

#1: Hacks to make your closet seem bigger

Granted, these tips are for people selling their home (not my goal at the moment, thank you), however, when I was recording the voice over for this video, I realized that these are also great tactics for people who want to enjoy the closets they have. My husband and I also employed a couple of these tips when we remodeled our master bathroom that included the closet. Now I just need to work on applying these tips to my kids’ closets–yikes!

So what about you? What have you inadvertently learned in the course of your workday that you didn’t really set out to learn, but enjoyed adding to your knowledge base? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!

How To Write The Perfect Message To Turn Connections Into Clients

Business Communication, LinkedIn, Marketing, Social Media Marketing

OK, so you’ve gotten your LinkedIn profile in tip-top shape (if not, click here for tips on how to do this), and you’ve been busily searching and clicking to connect with the very people who need the service you provide (if you missed the article on how to do that, here it is).

Now it’s time to start building those oh-so-important client relationships. Because it’s not about booking that one gig, it’s about becoming the go-to for that client’s voiceover needs.

The first thing to do before sending a message to your new client is to put yourself in the right mindset. You are not peddling cookies to a diabetic here, you are a professional who provides a great service that this person uses on a regular basis. Sidenote: if what you have to offer is not great and you know it, you need to get your act together before you go another step. If you need more training or 1-on-1 coaching, check out Introduction To Voiceover with Rhonda Phillips. If you’re not sure if your studio is up to snuff, look up audio expert Dan Lenard at Home Voiceover Studio. Just remember that by reaching out, you are not bugging anybody, you’re doing them a favor by saving them the time and energy of finding someone to meet their particular business need—YOU!

Now that the pep talk is out of the way, it’s time to do that seemingly scary thing and communicate! When you look in your email inbox and see the name of that new connection, don’t immediately click “send message”—take a little time to get to know them first by checking out their profile. When you’re first starting this LinkedIn communication process, it’s helpful to make up a few templates for yourself that you can use just to copy/paste the repetitive information. I tailor them toward industry, but you could also group them by geographic location, etc. The longer you follow this method, the longer your list of templates could potentially get and the more streamlined your process will become. Here’s a few things you could include in your message:

Salutation with that person’s name: Who doesn’t like to be acknowledged by name? It says that you took the time to look up how to spell their name correctly (VERY important) and that you are not a robot sending out generic, auto-generated messages. It’s the first step in saying, “You matter to me.”
Thank them for choosing to connect with you. They didn’t have to do this, and yet they took time to click the“accept” button next to your name and photo. In order to live a life of gratefulness, I believe in thanking those around me without groveling. Acknowledge even the little things. Use your own words for how you’d like to phrase this.
Offer a sincere compliment. A good relationship begins by taking interest someone else. Even if you’re a non-religious person, this Bible verse from Philippians 2:4 has a great message for anyone in the business world: “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Here’s your opportunity to make a personal connection, so don’t blow it! Find something about their picture (non-creepy), where they live, what school they went to, something you noticed in their summary or job experience, or part of their body of work that speaks to you, this is the type of thing you can talk about with them that will start the ball rolling on a beautiful business relationship. Just like a first date, you gotta make small talk, not go straight to the conversation about how many kids you want. If you really don’t see anything you can connect with on their LinkedIn profile, look under the “Contact Info” tab (to the bottom right of their name/position, underneath the number of connections they have) and go to their website. Check out their portfolio and find something to connect with. If they don’t have their website listed, you can try Googling it or go to their Twitter or Facebook page, and while you’re there, follow them. You’ll see in a moment why that’s important too.
Ask a question if appropriate. Not only does asking a question elicit an implied response, but it again shows an interest in what’s going on in their world.
Tell them a bit about what you do and how you could help. You can briefly mention in 1-2 sentences information about your studio, specialties and/or clients. Keep it as brief as possible. Resist the urge to share your life story! Don’t ask them to listen to your demo, buy your product, or check out your website. Keep it casual and play it cool. They can tell what you do and they know that by reaching out to them, you want them to hire you. So you don’t need to say it. Find your own phrases that fit your style, but maybe say something about how you would love to collaborate or work together or join forces or whatever sounds like you. Because their company is awesome and it would be an honor/pleasure to be considered, not because of your own awesomeness. Remember that your goal is to bring THEM success!
Offer to answer any questions. That shows you’re willing and available to communicate with them. And you need to be responsive and timely when you do hear from a potential client.
Wish them the best! Find your own trademark well wishes, even if it’s just “Have a great day”.
Sign off. Yup, it’s time to stop talking now. You’ve said all you need to say and done all that you can do. No more words need to be exchanged. Say goodbye and end the conversation.
Leave your contact info. I do not mean ALL your contact info, including cell#, Skype ID, Twitter handle, Facebook page link, and all that. Just your website and email addresses will suffice, gently placed right underneath your name as you close the message. They can find all the rest on your LinkedIn profile if they want it, but these two bits of contact information are what you want them to save and use to contact you directly in the future, so put them out underneath your name and leave it at that. No shouting “Look at my stuff!” or “Can’t wait to hear from you!”, just a calm reminder that you’re here to help anytime. Which is exactly what I say whenever someone contacts me to say they’ll put me on their roster or they’ll let me know when they need voiceover talent. I’m here to humbly be of service to them whenever it is that they need me.

A FEW DO’S AND DON’TS TO TURN CONNECTIONS > CLIENTS

DO NOT start listing all kinds of information about yourself. The ideal first messages should stay within 50-125 words, so if you start talking about your stellar recording studio or tell them all about your past clients, not only will you start making it all about you, but you’ll blow the 125 word limit REALLY fast! Know what that gets you? Crickets, not clients. Nobody wants to work with a horn-tooter. You’ll have time later to tell them the intricate details of your past work, but for now, keep the attention focused on your potential client.

DON’T BE AFRAID TO SET SOME MARKETING GOALS

Pick a goal number of how many NEW people you want to reach out to on LinkedIn per day, and stay accountable to that number. What gets even more results is having an accountability partner who will lovingly hold your feet to the fire to keep you focused and thriving.

4 STEPS TO CONTINUE TO BUILD THE RELATIONSHIP

Follow them on whatever social media platforms you can find. That way you can connect again on an article they wrote, a video they published, or a photo they shared. Keep reaching out in small ways so that you stay in their sight line and they will think of you next time they need the service you provide.
Pay attention to what your contacts are doing specifically on LinkedIn. Did they get a promotion? Write an article? Have a work anniversary? Take a moment to reach out with a little note to say congrats. Check your LinkedIn notifications tab to check out updates, and read your newsfeed showing what your contacts “liked”, published or commented on so that you can stay connected.
Save talking points to trigger their memory of who you are. I keep track of comments I exchange with a new connection that will help us remember each other. These are real people with real feelings and real lives apart from their ability to hire you. Treasure the knowledge that they shared some detail about their personal life with you and respect that vulnerability as another human being. Record comments in whatever your preferred Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool may be.
Decide how often to reach out to your potential client and then do it! Your CRM can help with this when you set a quick reminder to follow up with this person every week, month, quarter, or year. Without a plan, we all know that valuable follow-up probably won’t happen as effectively as it should, which means missed opportunities and lost revenue.

Has this LinkedIn series been helpful for you? I would LOVE to hear any stories about how putting this series of tips into practice for your business has propelled you forward and gained you new clients. If you have any tips or tweaks of your own to add, please share them in the comments below and we’ll all grow together!

We’ve truly only scratched the surface of all the tricks there are to completely optimizing your LinkedIn profile for maximum SEO power, how to make a free LinkedIn membership work hard at finding all the people you need to connect with, and tried-and-true tips for what works and what doesn’t when it comes to reaching your potential client. If you want ALL the secrets, check out my brand new e-course that spills EVERY detail on how to successfully use LinkedIn to build a loyal and very profitable client base. Learn more at http://thelinkedinedge.com

5 Steps to Dominate LinkedIn and Blow Up Your Client Base

LinkedIn, Social Media Marketing

5 Easy Steps: Dominate LinkedIn and Blow Up Your Client Base

I hate to go shopping. Mostly because I don’t want to drag my four little kids around with me in the quest for the perfect dress/throw pillow/gift/etc, but also because it’s just such a hassle. Finding the right color, size, style, blah blah blah. Which is why if I need something, I’m all about online shopping. I mean, I can find exactly what I want and the goods are actually delivered right to my door. Oh yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.

IT’S ALL ABOUT CONVENIENCE

The reason online shopping is so popular is because instead of you spending your precious time finding the goods, the goods come to you. How is this relevant to business? YOU need to become the goods. And conveniently deliver yourself right to the front door of your ideal client. That way, all they have to do is open the door.

LinkedIn is my social media platform of choice to deliver the goods. I came up with this method in 2015 and am floored by the amount of clients I have landed and voiceover jobs I have booked just by following these five simple steps:

Dominate LinkedIn – STEP 1: Make sure your profile looks the best it possibly can

If you missed the previous article on how to do that, here it is:

Dominate LinkedIn – STEP 2: Make a list of all the types of people who need your service

I’m a voiceover talent who’s looking to record my voice for use in commercials, corporate and web-based videos, explainer videos, and phone systems (among others). So I need to connect with the people who create these projects. Makes sense, right?

So let’s do a fun activity: we’re gonna make a list! Take a look through the information you have about your current clients and pull out the specific job titles of the people who hired you—those are the list of occupations that go on your list.

Dominate LinkedIn – STEP 3: Use LinkedIn’s search tool to plug in the list of job titles you just created

Just about anywhere on LinkedIn, if you look at the top of the screen, you’ll see a search box. The default is to search “all”, but you need to go up and change the search option to “people”.

Now it’s time to put in a specific job title that person might use. I’m going to keep it general for this example, so let’s input “video production”. You could also use “video producer”.

Make sure to choose “People with Video Production skills”. When I searched for this, I got 2.3 million possible connections! So literally, the possibilities for connections here are endless, because that’s only using one title on your list! If only there were more hours in a day…

Now here comes the fun part!

Dominate LinkedIn – STEP 4: Start clicking!

I love the possibilities that come with each new click—you never know what amazing person is on the other end of that profile picture! So take a moment to click on someone’s profile, scan it looking for keywords and skills, and make sure this person’s position is relevant to the service you provide, because there’s no point in wasting your time or theirs if you can’t benefit each other.

Dominate LinkedIn – STEP 5: Build a relationship

Once you qualify this person as a good lead, send them a connection request along with a brief message. Once your connection request is accepted, you should receive an email notifying you of this. You might want to check your LinkedIn settings to make sure this feature is enabled, otherwise it’s much harder to keep track of your new connections. Unfortunately, there are a lot of very sparse LinkedIn profiles out there, but find out what you can about that person so that you can start to build a relationship with them. Under “contact information” you can usually find a link to their website and social media (if they’ve filled that part out), and that will give you clues about them and their work as well. Next it’s time to get started communicating with your new potential client, and how you talk to them is very important!

If you like what you’re reading here and want to check out my new e-course that gives you ALL the details about how to completely optimize your profile, all kinds of search options, and every single detail on how to communicate the right way with your prospect, check it out here!

In the next blog post, I’ll share a few tips about what types of things I say in my LinkedIn messages that can start building the foundation of turning a new connection into a new client. Read on!

Secrets for Using LinkedIn to Attract Clients and Make You Money!

Business Communication, LinkedIn, Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Voiceover

Secrets For Using LinkedIn to Attract Clients & Make You Money

One of the first pieces of advice I got from a successful entrepreneur specializing in social media marketing was to join LinkedIn. I really had no clue why I should hop on board yet another social media train at the time, but I did it. I took a selfie, loaded up some info about my professional life (such as it was), typed up a quick bio and that was that. Cross another thing off the list. I truly did nothing with said profile until late 2015. I had dabbled in cold calls, pay-to-plays, and was up to my ears in emails, lists and dead ends. All in all, I was flat out discouraged and marketing had become no fun at all.

Then one day, I got bored and started clicking through some of my LinkedIn contacts. Mostly other voice actors, a few friends, and that was about it. I suddenly noticed that there was a drop-down menu to the side of the search box and decided to see what my options might be. Lo and behold, the word “people” caught my eye. I like people and they are a lot more interesting than email addresses. The more I played around with the many features of LinkedIn, I slowly realized that this could be my new favorite social media platform, as well as a window of opportunity.

I seem to learn something new every day about this powerful platform, but here is the first of the LinkedIn secrets that I use daily to not only meet the right people, but gain new clients, book voiceover jobs, and develop mutually beneficial business relationships.

Secret #1: Put your best face forward

Your LinkedIn profile needs to be a professional, informative, and accurate representative of who you are. Selfies aren’t going to cut it if you want to be a true professional. Neither is a boring list of your previous positions. Speaking from someone who made those mistakes, save yourself the trouble and do it right the first time.

KEEP IT PROFESSIONAL

I have four young children and a fabulous husband and I love them all to pieces, but I’m not going to post a family picture as my LinkedIn profile picture. Or a picture of me lifting weights in the gym. Or holding a freshly-baked chocolate cake. Those snapshots encompass moments of my life, but they have nothing to do with me as a voice actor and therefore have no place on my LinkedIn profile because this is the one blessed place where we keep it professional.

According to LinkedIn stats from February 2016, a high-quality photo on your profile gets 14 times the views. So hire a photographer and go have some fun on a photo shoot that’s all about you! I did it and it was totally fun! I even used a bunch of the pictures from the shoot to put together a video slideshow showcasing a couple of my voiceover demos. Which I then posted on my YouTube channel and linked to my LinkedIn profile. Because I believe in getting my money’s worth.

KEEP IT INFORMATIVE

Even though a picture is worth a thousand words, people need a little more information in order to want to work with you. And that means writing up a little something to tell them who you are, what you do, and what you have to offer in the way of experience and qualifications. Some people like to keep it pretty formal in their writing style, while others take a more casual attitude with the copy. You have to do what fits you and applies to your profession. If you’re not a great copy writer, hire someone to help do that as well. You can also pick up helpful writing tips from others in your by visiting their profiles. Just be sure to never steal their copy. It’ll make both of you look bad.

It’s helpful to include your title beside your name if you’ve got the room, because people can see that even before they click on your profile. We are all busy and attention spans are shorter than ever these days, so make it easy to spot as much about yourself at a glance.

Which is also why you should also keep your summary section brief, about 3-5 short paragraphs, so choosing your words carefully is important. Keep it short, but define yourself clearly through the lens of your potential client: what your values are, what makes you unique, what types of projects you specialize in, and most importantly, how you can help them. To add to your credibility, list several of your top clients in bullet form, and if you like, your talent agencies. Since my home studio is such an important part of what I do, I also include a photo of it.

KEEP IT ACCURATE

Accuracy means not only telling the truth, but painting an honest picture of yourself in the best possible light. Maybe you’re not that experienced, but you can still highlight your strengths and whatever past work you have done. Never lie about having worked with a particular client in the past or held a certain position, or anything else that isn’t truthful. Ethics matter in maintaining a successful business.

That being said, an accurate portrayal of yourself means taking an assessment of who you are in all your unique glory. Are you analytical and detail-oriented? Are you fun and light-hearted? Remember what your high school Language Arts teacher talked about regarding your writing “voice”? Your written “voice” needs to come through in your profile to add that touch of personality and humanity, the sparkle that makes you YOU. With 414 million users on LinkedIn at the time of this post, your profile needs to stand out to be noticed.

There’s so much more to say, and if you’d like more information, there’s an entire course covering every detail of how to build a healthy client base using the free version of LinkedIn. It’s got 2 hours worth of videos teaching you exactly how to use LinkedIn to rock your world! Check out more about The LinkedIn Edge course right here!

In the second part of my super-secret LinkedIn series, I’ll spill my step-by-step method on what I do to find new clients and turn my profile into profit. Read part 2 in the series right here!

Tracy Lindley

Professional Female Voiceovers