Voiceover Website Feedback Sandwich

Yesterday, I was asked to critique someone’s newly completed voiceover website. I needed the break so I happily jumped over to see their fresh turf. Within seconds, my heart sank. My thoughts turned to to how I was going to deliver feedback without crushing what I sensed was a fragile ego. 

If something is of high quality, I can afford to be granular in my feedback because the goal is to elevate something from good to great. Apply the same approach to something that’s average, and the list will be very long indeed. (I learned this from my days of being a member of screenwriting groups where, trust me, the fragility of some egos is the stuff of legend). Still, I pivoted to my approach of constructing a feedback sandwich being 1) good stuff, followed by 2) points for improvement, followed 3) good stuff (to end on a good note like a Broadway musical).

For number 2, so as not to bog them down, I conveyed my largest overarching comment which was that the site, in my opinion, lacked a sense of personal branding. In other words, I couldn’t discern what their unique value proposition was or why a client would want to hire them instead of their peers. I think personal branding is key. 

It just so happened that I had recently read an excellent book on this subject being Voiceover Achiever by Celia Siegel (to which I referred them). This book does a great job of showing how global brands present their value and appeal and then shows how VO actors of all ilk - beginning and experienced alike - can do a deep-dive to identify what qualities of their voice, personality, and even their interests should be assessed to identify elements that can be incorporated into their voiceover persona. Think “Boy Next Door; Only British”). The author takes the reader through this process in a comprehensive manner that I found to be engaging and enlightening. Bring your notepad/laptop because done right, you’ll be putting yourself to work.

May we all know which engine powers us.