The wellness category has exploded over the past few years. The rapid pace at which the industry is expanding is making the battle for consumers’ attention more and more of a challenge. It’s becoming harder to prove to customers why they should purchase your product with their hard-earned dollars. But if you can succeed, there’s also a massive consumer audience ready to jump at the cause.
So how can you make your brand stand out from the competition?
Voiceover is THE best way to legitimize your marketing. But it needs to be the right kind of voiceover…
The first step towards standing out from the competition is building a foundation of trust.
As a result of the massive boom in self-care products, consumers are bombarded with options. Some of these brands put out emphatic and unrealistic claims of the benefits their product provides, which is leading customers to be more selective with what they choose to purchase.
A proven way to create more trust in advertising is through quality voiceover. There is nothing more human than conversation. So it is the voiceover artist's job to communicate the legitimacy of the brand and the claims the messaging makes.
It isn’t enough to sound natural and authentic (although this helps), the tone that really qualifies a product is confidence, self-assuredness, and someone who speaks from a place of knowledge.
How Covid-19 changed the wellness space: From getting through the day to experiencing every moment of it
The past few years have been tremendously strenuous for all of us. Regardless of circumstances, age, or location, we’ve all been through a lot. The internal and societal duress we’ve been dealing with throughout the pandemic, the polarization of politics, and the recession have had a deep impact on all of us. We all need more peace in our lives.
In an effort to alleviate the tensions that have built up, we have ALL sought out ways to decompress, or at least thought about how we can relax more. Previously, wellness brands’ response to this cry was to offer up products to create the “perfect self-care routine”. The problem with this approach is, that it left consumers feeling like their wellness time was just another chore.
Recently, wellness brands have shifted away from positioning their products as a part of a routine, and instead are finding ways to make their products the key to unlocking a wellness experience.
How can one shift from routine to ritual in their marketing strategy?
In a world of consumer-generated content, consumers are not only used to being spoken to directly but often prefer it. When the consumer is being addressed directly, they feel validated and seen, and connected to the speaker.
The more laid-back, natural, and authentic the actor sounds, the more the messaging feels like organic content to the viewers. The more the messaging feels like organic content, the more perceived value it creates for viewers.
Of course, value starts with the ad itself. But once a good ad is created, it’s up to the voiceover artist to communicate the value in a way that the consumer will view it as organic content. For example, if the voiceover talent sounds preachy, the value won’t be received as the consumer will interpret the narrator to be inauthentic.
The difference between routine and ritual all comes down to feeling
Another opportunity voiceover provides in shifting a product’s positioning towards ritual, is to preview a taste of what they’ll feel using the product. The ritual experience starts in the ad itself. whatever it is that the ritual will make them feel, that needs to be communicated in the tone of the voiceover. If the ritual is meant to relax, that feeling can start in a calm and soothing voiceover.
How is it more powerful to have a calm and soothing voiceover rather than just some spa music? The voiceover makes the ad more engaging and more participatory, and it allows the audience to envision themselves as the narrator.
Whom you’re speaking to matters
When considering what style of voiceover will yield the best results for your marketing campaign, the most important factor to consider is the demographic of the target market.
To cap this off, here is a list of some of the most popular customer demographics in the wellness space and the hallmark styles of voiceover that resonates with them:
Gen-Z
Real
Authentic
Storytellers
Unpolished
Millennials
Authentic
Conversational
Friendly
Matter-of-fact
Gen Y
Knowledgable
Honest
Positive
Inspiring
Baby boomers
Warm
Nurturing
Knowledgable
Trustworthy
A well-written and thought out article which has practical, useful information. Well done!
I especially loved the way you broke down the generational differences. You gotta feel badly for the Gen-Xers, being squeezed between the better known Baby Boomers (just "Boomers" has become derogatory, so I won't use it - glad you didn't either!) and the often maligned Millennials. No, I feel worst for the Silent Generation, those born before 1945. They're never even mentioned. It's as if the marketing world assumes that they're already all dead. Or at least dreadfully irrelevant. What a way to go.
*sigh* If only I could hear the right voiceover telling me that this skin care product would transform me back to the buttery smooth complexion I had when I was 7...this Latino hair-pocked oil-trap is not what it used to be.
Great insights - especially about the shift from routine to ritual - Liked your listicle too of target audiences in VO for self-care