Competitive Pricing for Voiceover Services

A competitive pricing structure is one of the most crucial aspects for any voice artist. We can put it this way: you should be correctly priced in the market to land jobs.

Don’t fall too much in love with your voice, you know it’s precious but not priceless. Even though you have that great experience and you have invested in training and improving, you should face it, there are more and more people like you around.

Everybody is fishing in the same pond, so you should probably consider standing out with more competitive VO prices, adjusting your rates whenever possible.

How much do you believe your voicing services are worth? Awe-inspiring, easygoing or just run-of-the-mill you may need to take a look at the scheming behind competitive pricing. Weather you’re an owner of a voiceover studio, running your own studio from home or an actor giving quotes for your services you must be aware that you are running into a very competitive environment.

So what exactly does competitive pricing mean?

This means creating the price of a service based on what the competition (other voiceover talents and recording studios) is charging.

So what are your options? In the voiceover industry it can become tricky as the market is considered a “niche market” meaning it’s a sub-industry of a larger one; therefore steeper competition. Either the price is set below the competition, equal to the competition or above the competition.

If you’re looking to price above the competition you must have sublime services; generous payment offers or extraordinary equipment/ environment/ unique voice delivery. Pricing above the competition may be an option if you are able to supply these extraordinary circumstances, but be careful, if you don’t live up to the standards, you will be put aside.

Pricing at equilibrium is considered the safe zone. You are not taking risks to give the wrong impression or to potentially lose profit, but this does mean you are in saturated competition zone, because you’re now one fish in a school looking to be caught.

If you’re looking to price below the competition (risking a potential loss), keep in mind that you may attract more services; more doesn’t always mean better, but it means more options! And if you come over successful people may reconsider you or indulge in other products or services as well.

So if you own a home recording studio or have an established sound studio or you are a stand-alone voice talent think of the value of your services, and price accordingly.

Margaret Kingston, a retired broadcasting studio owner lists a series of tips to get you started on the road to appropriate pricing!

If you’re looking to charge above average (price above the competition) Margaret recommends:

– Have the best of the best! Your microphones, editing software and computers should always be at top quality and up to date!

– Make the recording experience unique for your customer! Make sure the aim is put straight forward and that the environment corresponds! If you have fancy recording suite and you use a real sound engineer who directs your voice, many clients see value in that!

– Live up to your standards! Although it may require more of your time, commitment and employees, get the voiceover recorded and edited efficiently and quickly! This will always reflect positively on your reputation and pay off in the end!

– Keep things simple! Top quality is made simple “good wine needs no bush!”

 

She recommends if you are pricing below average (below the competition) you should;

– Sell confidence! Let your costumers believe that less is more! Like this you will attract a larger audience, just make sure you don’t over-sell yourself! Disappointment leads to a bad reputation!

– Make sure your services aren’t losing you profit! Don’t jump into buying the next best thing to happen to microphones and soundproofing! You want to take things slow if pricing below!

– The first sign of mal-success, change direction! If things aren’t going great, think about switching means of marketing or pricing.

Do you have any more advice on competitive pricing? Comment below!