Get in the Hole: How to Find Your Voice Actor Niche

“Get in the Hole” my favorite quote from the fabulous Gabrielle Nistico. If you're not familiar, Google her. She’s fantastic.

She was talking about actors who worry that if they work too much in one genre, they'll never get booked because they're limiting opportunities. Then she showed a list of actors who work within their type and we all love them for it…and they keep getting booked! Think about pretty much anybody from “The Sopranos.”

I know VO is tough, and we don't want to turn away from any opportunity. Every booking is a good booking, right?!

But I do think at least finding your voice actor niche is a solid move. All of us are better at some things than others. And the more you tie into a persona across your demos, marketing and posts, the more you’ll benefit. And you can still do “other” work. Getting in your hole will just target your efforts.Think about a YouTube channel. It starts ranking when YouTube understands “what” you’re about.

If your confidence is lagging, picking out your strengths can be especially challenging. I’ve been figuring out my strengths myself. It feels like I should know what they are, but I worry that someone else sees something in me that I overlook. So I have a process. It’s not scientific, but I do have some boxes I’m checking off.

I’m starting by finding my vocal archetype. Through coaching I’ve been taking, I’m finding my voice now has more depth and authority than in the past. I believe I’ve learned to come across as conversational and trustworthy. One of my class mates said my voice has a “quite power”. I like that. 

That makes me think healthcare may be part of my voice actor niche. One of my class mates said my voice has a “quite power”. I like that.

Next I’m thinking about what other parts of my life and my past give me. Does that point me to a particular type of work? 

Through my dog training and teaching training classes, explainer videos and eLearning are a natural fit. My time as VP of Operations leaves me with a real appreciation for business processes and motivational content.

Then I turned to my hobbies. Things that inspire me, will probably result in more connected reads. 

There's the aforementioned dog training, but I also enjoy nature, cooking and crime novels. That's a pretty random list so it'll take some work to drill that down to anything usable.

I think the easiest part of my informal process is doing an evaluation of past booked jobs, or ones where I knew I was in the running. I logged the category (medical, business, financial, etc.) and also what type of work it was (TV, radio, eLearning, narration, etc.). 

I did the math and it came out as I suspected. Business and technical narrations and family and home spots and videos.

The other thing you can do is talk to coaches and peers. They can give you a knowledgeable ear and outside opinion.

I also may revisit a book I read a few years ago by Celia Seigle: “Voiceover Achiever.” It walked you through a branding process. I wonder if I’d come up with anything new if I redid this exercise with more coaching and whatever wisdom the years can lend?

So finding my voice actor niche is a process, but I think it'll be worth the effort. I’m going to continue to work at it and hope I can land on a few words to describe myself that resonate.Are you trying to drill down at all? What techniques are you using to define it?