Hey there!
I teach, in my two-part Voicing Commercial VO class, how to work with three simple elements that will change how you audition for and perform commercials forever.
The third one is a secret.
No, really. Find that secret, and your world is a brighter place, and your auditions become extraordinary.
Here’s how.
(Click/tap ↑↑↑↑↑↑ that red YouTube button to subscribe to my channel. You’ll get notified when I release new videos.)
Hope this helps!
David
All Episodes
Five Ways To Have An Excellent Coffee Date With Me
Five Ways To Have A Crappy Coffee Date With Me
Taking Advantage Of The Wisdom Of The Tribe
How To Be A World Class Complainer
The False Nobility Of The Struggle
Watch Out – The Rules Are Going To Change
Coaching vs Consulting vs Facilitating
The Perils of Live Performance And Why Jeremy Kappell Should Not Have Been Fired
Let’s Welcome To The Stage…Failure!
Don’t Confuse Price With Value
The Two Things Most Talent Try to Accomplish Way Too Soon
10,000 Hours To Become Good At Something? Not Really.
The Trick Charlie Munger Uses To Make Better Decisions
Everyone’s A Customer, Not Just Your Customers
“What do you mean, you’re a ‘process guy’?”
Pay Attention To Your Storytelling, Not Removing Your Breaths
How To Conquer FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)
The Problem In Every Commercial Script
The Job In Every Commercial Script
The Secret In Every Commercial Script
Voice Over Is REALLY Hard. Until It Isn’t.
Helping Make Resolutions Stick
ACX Jobs: They’re ALL SAG-AFTRA-Friendly
Non-Union? You Can Still Open An AFTRA H&R Account. What?
Who Says You Need To “Feel Like It?”
Your Day Job Might Just Be Worth Keeping For A Bit Longer
Want To Learn Something Really Well? Teach It To Others
Don’t Confuse What Works With What You Like
The Lost Keys And The Microphone In My Elevator
My Insane Backup System Plus Two Helpful Tips
What Open Loops Are And Why They Work So Well
Two More Things For Which You Can Use Open Loops
Three Things Not To Say Or Do…When Trying To Learn Something New
Front Burner and Back Burner Project Management
How To Properly List The Accents and Dialects You Perform
My SAG-AFTRA Presentation On VO Demos (Part 1)
My SAG-AFTRA Presentation On VO Demos (Part 2)
A Simple, One-Word Decision-Making Question To Ask Yourself
How You Can Use The MVP Model As A Performer
The Robocall Equivalent Of Unsubscribe
Making Your Links Irresistible
HTTPS Is Not Just For Banks – It’s For You
The Threat That Made Me Create a New Page For LAME
The Resource You Must Guard Most Carefully
How New Media Is Using The Oldest Ad Model Ever
Killing Customers With Kindness
I Found Out What She Was Podcasting About
How I Answered Voices.com’s Inquiry
Turning Mountains Into Molehills
Motivation: Your Three Big Needs In A Cool Little Package
Go Ahead. Multitask. But Try It Like This.
The Prodigy Game Doesn’t Deserve This Treatment
What Fair Markets Are, And Why Voices.com Isn’t One
Trevor’s Three A’s From Apple On Killing Customers With Kindness
Getting Ready vs. Getting Started
You’ll Never Believe Who Got Rejected By Harvard
There Is No Failure, Only Feedback
Who Is Your Most Dangerous Adversary?
73 Videos In, My First Hater Appears
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The Crazy Backward Way IKEA Prices Their Stuff
Voices.com Complained To YouTube That I Violated Their Privacy
For Your Health: Not Perfect. Just Better.
Mr. Wonderful Is Actually More Wonderful Than I Thought
Let’s Finally Close The Digital Literacy Gender Gap
The Guaranteed Way To Completely Avoid Criticism
The Two Things People Judge About You Within Seconds
Are You Committed? Or Just…Interested?
Audible Retail Samples: Why They Suck And Why It Doesn’t Really Matter
How To Voice Copy That’s Set In Italics
Dyslexia, And The Palindromic Poem. The Wha?
Increase Your Chances Of Being Seen And Heard On Facebook
Jamie Has Some Thoughts About Fiverr
Is Simply Discouraging Distracted Driving Enough?
“Young People Are Just Smarter.”
The Real Purpose Of The “Can You Hear Me?” Phone Scam
An AMA Preview: The Word “Ethnic” – A Slur, Or An Essential Adjective?
10 Rules of Profitable Self Discipline from Napoleon Hill
AMA (Ask Me Anything): Here Are The Answers (Part 1)
AMA (Ask Me Anything): Here Are The Answers (Part 2)
AMA (Ask Me Anything): Here Are The Answers (Part 3)
AMA (Ask Me Anything): Here Are The Answers (Part 4)
AMA Answers Part 5 Plus A Medical Warning
Last AMA Answers (#6): Gear, Services and Success
A 7-Word Reminder: “Don’t correct people when it matters little.”
Do You Have A Plan? And Is It The Right One?
What’s Your Next Big Move? Are You Ready?
Build Your Future On Your Own Platform, Not Someone Else’s
I’m Leaving Facebook: Why Groups and FB Live No Longer Spark Joy
Time To Accept That I’ve Failed At Something – Happily
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Value Enthusiasm, But Value Persistence More
Ten Ways To Make Money With Podcasts Besides Ads
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The Workflow For Producing These Videos (So Far) Part 1
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Why Gen Z And Millennials’ Love For Audiobooks Is Crucial
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Vocal Care: It’s All About What Works For You
3 Biases You Should Be Aware Of
3 More Biases You Should Also Be Aware Of
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Having Fun With Headphone Volume
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Raw YouTube Captioning
hey it’s David H Lawrence the 17th and
we’ve been talking over the last couple
of videos and we’re going to talk about
in this video the three main tenets of
commercial voiceover when you approach
the script that I teach in my class
other people teach different ways I
found this to be the most effective for
me and so I wanted to share first we
talked about the problem in every script
and that’s whatever the listener is
trying to solve their problem the job in
every script which is their job in
solving that problem and your job in
helping them do that and in this video
we’re gonna talk about the secret now
it’s not a secret about how to do
commercials really well or really quick
or to 30 seconds or 60 seconds listen
let’s work backwards in the process in
the advertising and sales process okay
step number four people buy things
because they want to solve that problem
they want to get that job done solve the
problem companies make things step three
companies make things and offer services
for people to buy step two is companies
advertise those services to inform
customers how their products or service
will help solve their problem will help
them get that job done and number one
the benefits of those products and
services and how you feel about it is
what most great advertising is all about
it’s not about the features it’s about
the benefits and about the feelings of
what you do and the way I look at those
things is remember when we talked about
there is no such thing as a secret it’s
just stuff you don’t know yet well let’s
apply that label of secret to stuff you
don’t know yet about products and
services that can solve your problem so
when I approach a piece of commercial
copy what I do is I try to identify what
the secret is that the company is trying
to reveal the knowledge that they’re
trying to reveal the awesomeness some
people call it a unique selling
proposition a USP that’s a an
advertising term what makes one product
or service better than their competitors
or better than doing nothing at all
because one of the things that people
try to sell is not just against their
competitors but
also against the notion that if you just
leave everything alone it’ll be fine
right
so they always are talking about you
know either do this or don’t but if you
do it you’re gonna be happier right with
our product so how you share that secret
once you identify the secret is really
the crux of what I think about when I’m
going to when I’m gonna do commercial
copy when I’m gonna voice commercial
copy I think what does the listener or
viewer need to know that they don’t know
now that can help them make the decision
to use my advertiser my clients product
or service to solve their problem
and to get their job done and if you
look at it that way again everything
we’ve talked about so far is don’t look
at the script as like you know how to
read words well on a page how to
pronounce things properly how to get
things done in 59 and a half seconds you
know all these things that sometimes
creep in as we try to be perfect about
what we do how you share those secrets
are not cosmetic it’s the authentic and
authoritative story that you’re telling
about your clients product or service
and so you stop thinking about oh I’m
gonna make my voice really deep or I’m
going to be friendly and accessible and
no just be you reveal the secret you
know a secret that somebody else doesn’t
know and if you reveal that secret
you’re going to help them solve their
problem and get their job done it all
ties together so how do you find out
what the secret is you read the copy and
you look for what are called
discriminators it’s fast it’s
inexpensive it’s awesome it’s a secret
obvious a secret like there was a
commercial that ran in the 70s like Oh
ancient Chinese secret huh was about you
know a laundromat that had a special
Chinese secret for doing their their
laundry would never air today because
it’s just it’s like get borders on
racist or secret it’s the secret sauce
that they put on the ribs or the word
secret is used a lot but you can find a
secret in every single piece of copy
and then when you go about revealing
that secret and you do so in a way that
is you know you’re the biggest fan of
this product you’re going to share with
people how to get their job done how to
get their problem solved
you’re gonna solve a problem for the
listener that they may or may not even
know they had because you’re gonna be
sharing a secret and revealing that
secret to them that’s gonna get you to
the goal line it’s a whole lot better
than trying to be a certain age range or
a certain style you know cheerleader e
or edgy or accessible right you know
just tell the secret tell the story
reveal the secret and do so with joy
because that’s really the key to doing
great commercial work I hear it in every
commercial that I fall in love with on
the air now the problem and the job
there’s one of those for every piece of
commercial copy too you can read or
watch the other videos that I did on
those just look for them on the site if
you’re watching on bo2 go TOCOM which is
where I’d love for you to be got all
kinds of cool stuff here on video go go
comm um if you have any questions about
this you know if this is kind of
confusing to you or you get it and you
want to tell me you get it we have any
questions you know what’s the secret how
do you reveal it give me a comment below
and also tell me if this makes sense to
you like when you look at copy do you
look at it from the perspective of
getting things physically done well or
do you look at it from the perspective
of helping the consumer use the clients
product or service to solve their
problem just want to know if this is
making sense to you if you want to know
when the next video is coming out
subscribe to my channel there’s my head
click on it if there’s no head there
well then there’s a subscribe button
somewhere on the page and if you want to
see the last video that was uploaded and
released go ahead and click on that
frame right there
they will play it for you wherever you
happen to be seeing this video I’m David
H Lawrence the 17 thank you so much for
watching and I will see you tomorrow
Hey there!
I have not yet had the pleasure of dipping my toes into the commercial ad pond as of yet, but the more I learn from you, the more intrigued I am!
Thank you again!!
Dear David:
I get it!
A neural lightbulb just turned on here in the Bold North of MN!
I will incorporate these last three concepts of the problem, the job and the secret in my next round of auditions!
Three cheers to you!
Sincerely,
Mike
Brilliant stuff…thanks for sharing these tips! Really enjoyed these 3 tips, David.
Hi David:
I think that has always been my focus. I like to know what the end result they are looking for is, so that I can make my performance serve the end goal. It takes “me” out of the process and makes it all about the project. Then if someone isn’t happy with my work, I can take it back to the process and figure out, more specifically, what the client is unhappy with. I don’t have my ego on the line to get bruised. Possibly a bit of self-preservation in there, too.
My 2 cents,
Heather
David,
Thank you so much for these last three videos. I know for me with on camera commercial auditions, sometimes I get caught up on the words rather than the story telling. Which hinders my presence. So this was a great three part reminder to focus on others and the story.
Thank you for all the insights,
Bruce
David: Love – Thank you.