The Importance of Female Voice Over Talent in 2021
The demand for female voice over talent is much higher than for that of men, and it is increasing. The growth of jobs in the voice over market for women has increased by 24% whilst for men it is only 16%. Traditionally voice over talent has always been dominated by men radio commercials but the importance of female voice over talent is now growing and here are a couple of reasons for this new trend.
Women are the decision makers
When it comes to making purchasing decisions it is usually women who make them. 70-80% of all consumer purchasing is, in fact, driven by women because they are not only buying things for themselves, but also for their families and households. Women like to hear one another’s opinions and they tend to trust the buying decisions or advice of women over men. Women also form an emotional bond simply by chatting. It thus makes send to use a female voice over artist when you are targeting women.
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Women are trusted more
Generally, people trust women more than they do men so it is logical, when trying to instil trust in prospective customers, to use a female voice. It has been found that people can decide on whether they can trust another person with just one single word. Phil McAleer, a psychologist, played a recording of around 64 people saying “Hello” to a group of people and analysed their responses to each of the voices. High-pitched female’s voices were considered mor trustworthy and low-pitched voices the least trustworthy.
Female voices are gentle
A voice that is gentle, soothing, and melodic puts people at ease, which in turn makes them more inclined to trust the person. A study done at the University of Sheffield revealed that female voices are actually even processed in a different part of the brain from male voices. The same area of the brain that processed music, processes female voices. Having a great sounding female voice talent is also critical for having the best – beat tags as well.
This soothing timber of a female voice also gives the impression of intelligence and wisdom without the domineering tone of a male voice. This is the ideal requirement of a voice over artist who needs to convince people they’re an expert in a friendly way. F
emale voices are perceived as guides rather than dictators and, as such, are in demand for corporate videos, training materials, explainer videos, and e-learning environments. Now you know why Siri and Alexa aren’t Cyril and Alexander and why nurturing female voice over talent is so important!
Women’s voices are versatile
Female voice over artists offer versatility in that they appeal to both men and women and people have been shown to pay more attention to female voice. Increasingly female voices are even being used in historically male dominated areas like sport, finance, real estate, medicine, and even weapons. Male voices were traditionally also use to market products aimed at men but more and more often female voices are being used.
It has also been found that it doesn’t work the other way around. Male voices are not at all effective in marketing products aimed at women. There are many examples of this versatility in animated movies or series. Take Pokemon’s Ash and Bart Simpson, for example. The voice artists for these young male characters are grown women.
The main reason for this is that a young teenage boy’s voice will change over time so, if they were playing a character that doesn’t age over time, they wouldn’t be able to maintain the character’s voice. A woman, on the other hand, will be able to provide the voice over for as long as is necessary.
Of all the qualities of a female voice artist the most appealing to marketers or organisations trying to communicate effectively with their target audience is trust. Establishing trust with an audience is the ultimate of any company or organisation because if your audience trusts you then it is much easier to convince them to take the action you want them to take.
These are the characteristics of Female Voice Over Talent:
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Pitch and Inflection
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Soothing and Nurturing
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Clarity
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Non-authoritarian
And, it is not only women’s voices that are more trusted than men’s, studies show that they are more trusted in person too. Vanessa Hall, a business author, found that people, both men and women, are more inclined to trust female CEOs and female sales consultants. Hall points out in the results of her study, that women tend to be more balanced when making decisions. They will consider the bottom line as well as the impact on their employees, shareholders, and the company.
They are more intuitive and open to change which makes them better leaders. A Harvard Business Review study found that female leaders ranked higher in 17 of 19 categories that their male counterparts. These categories ranged from building relationships to taking initiative. The categories where men ranked higher were more things like developing strategies or giving technical expertise.
Taking all of this into consideration makes it clearer why the demand for women’s voice over talent is increasing. However, this doesn’t mean that men’s voices have become redundant. Depending on the product or project and the audience you may want a powerful and commanding voice which only a man can produce.
There’s nothing quite like the timbre of a baritone to achieve depth, authority, and make the ladies quiver at the knees. So, there are definitely still many instances when a male voice over will be a more suitable option. Products like computers, cars, and gadgets are more suited to male voice overs.
You’ll need to consider your product, your company culture, your audience, your message, and then decide whether a female or male voice over artist would be best. Once you have decided you can then listen to dj drops or approach a talent agency to help you find the specific voice for your brand or project. Having a professional voice over artist needn’t break the bank. There are many agencies that offer cheap voice over talent of a very high standard.
If you are a woman with the potential to be a voice over artist then you should make a demo or DJ drop and register with sites that offer voice artist talent to prospective clients.
These are the top 5 qualities required to be a voice over artist:
- Flexibility – you should be able to speak clearly in different tones, emotions, accents. Different scripts will require different voice personalities so the more flexible your vocal qualities, the more work you will get.
- Enunciation – you must have exceptional enunciation skills as a voice artist. Enunciation is vital to conveying a message clearly and distinctly no matter the voice personality.
- Pacing and Timing – often a message has to be conveyed in a small amount of time so you need to be able to read the script clearly without it sounding rushed. The pace and timing of the voice over will set the tone of the communication and can make or break the advertisement or project.
- Articulation – the quality of your speech needs to be clear and natural. You need to pronounce words clearly regardless of the type of content or the emotion required.
- Voice acting – the ability to take on a character using only your voice as an instrument is necessary in most voice overs so you’ll need to be able to ‘act’ with your voice if you want to broaden the scope of the work you can do.
- Everything you need to know about radio spots
The bottom line is that there is an increasing demand for female voice over talent and if you or someone you know has the potential to be a female voice over artist you should be doing everything you can to nurture, and cash in on, female voice over talent.