It’s that funky time of year for voice talents: the holidays.
Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day it gets kind of strange. The holiday spots were narrated a couple of months ago. The political spots are all done now that the local and national elections are over. Clients are either scrambling to spend what’s left of their budgets or tightening their belts and riding out the last few weeks of the year.
As an exercise (and an excuse to do anything analytical) I looked at the last five Decembers to get an idea of what this December’s revenue will be like. Some Decembers were almost record-breaking and others were a huge bust. I have no idea what the rest of the month will hold but I’m not gonna sweat it. My question for you is: what are you gonna do with the last few weeks of 2016?
TIP OF THE WEEK
If you have some downtime over the next few weeks, here are just a few things you can do during the holidays to set yourself up for success in 2017…
Compile your revenue & budget data to determine if you hit your goals for this year. Armed with that knowledge, set new goals for next year.
Examine your marketing campaigns to see what worked and what didn’t. Armed with that knowledge, start developing your marketing strategy for next year as I alluded to in a recent blog entry.
Look at all of your equipment (everything from your mic cables to your anti-virus software) to see if you need to upgrade anything and incorporate it into next year’s budget.
NEWS AND NOTES
Giving back at any time of year is special. Giving back during the holidays is not only special, but just plain fun! I had the pleasure of taking part in a holiday “thank you” gift to audio book fans everywhere. This selection from “Comfort And Joy”, written by gifted romance author Judith Arnold, is one of many passages narrated by some of the best narrators in the business. A huge thank you to the wonderful Xe Sands for asking me to participate. Click here to hear me and the other narrators. Enjoy!
January 11, 2017 will be the 100th anniversary of the Kingsland Explosion, when a munitions factory in what is now Lyndhurst, New Jersey exploded and German sabotage was suspected. Professor Larry Weiner of my Alma Mater Montclair state University is producing an audio reenactment of the post-incident interviews and I have the pleasure of playing two of the factory workers. I’ll post the audio when it premieres January 11. Thanks Larry for having me on-board!
HAPPY HAPPYS
Happy Monkey Day and Gingerbread House Day!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
From my village to yours; this is Tom Dheere, GKN News…
Tom Dheere is a 20-year veteran of the voice over industry who has narrated thousands of projects for clients in over a dozen countries. He is also a coach at Edge Studio, voiceover business consultant known as the Voice Over Strategist, and is currently writing & producing the comic book “Agent 1.22”.