The Voiceover You NEED To Use for Marketing Skincare, According to Each Skincare Brand Category

Why is voiceover an essential element of marketing in the skincare industry? Voiceover achieves something that video alone cannot accomplish: it adds credibility.

In today’s skin-obsessed landscape filled with so many choices when it comes to skincare, a brand's credibility is imperative. Skincare brands must prove to their customers that they have the expertise consumers can trust with their own faces.

With so many different products and niches in skincare, how do you know what style of voiceover will best suit your brand?

As a voiceover artist, lifestyle blogger, and skincare junkie myself, I pay close attention to what kinds of voiceovers are being used in skincare marketing. Thanks to my trained ear, my understanding of voiceover, and the fact that I am a prime customer in this industry myself, I have a pretty good grasp of what style of voiceover works best in skincare ads.

Voiceover achieves something that video alone cannot accomplish: it adds credibility.

Before we dive into specific skincare niches, there are a few key elements to consider when selecting the voiceover for your beauty and skincare campaigns that transcend the borders of brand categories.

1. Your voiceover needs to sound like a real conversation.

Gone are the days of the announcer. In its place, consumers much prefer a voice that feels organic, something that could pass as the content they are consuming. Customers don’t want to feel like they are watching an ad, so choose a voiceover that sounds real and conversational as opposed to polished and preachy.

2. You need to sell confidence.

In whatever niche of skincare regardless of age and demographic, all consumers of beauty products are after the same thing: confidence. The confidence that comes with having clear, vibrant, youthful-looking skin. So, a confident tone is a must for voiceover in beauty and skincare commercials.

3. It needs to be accessible AND/OR aspirational.

As 21st-century consumers, and as humans, we all want to be seen and understood. Adding elements of relatability and empathy to your voiceover will help your target audience feel both seen and heard.

Confidence works best when it is paired with kindness and humbleness, this way you avoid sounding cocky and instead evoke a sense of inspiration and hope that the product you are selling will bring forth the confidence your consumer deserves.

The right style of voiceover for each skincare brand category.

Luxury skincare

In the luxury skincare market, advertising tends to be focused on selling a dream, an experience, something highly sought after, exclusive and indulgent. So the voiceover for luxury skincare should not only paint the picture of the feeling the product tries to evoke, but can also sound like they themselves are in the process of experiencing it. This transmits that feeling you are trying to sell in multiple ways.

Ingredient focused skincare

Ingredient-focused skincare brands are all about authenticity. They acknowledge that sometimes in the skincare industry, false and emphatic claims are made.

No-BS skincare brands seek to change this reputation by offering total transparency. So, when selecting a voiceover for the marketing of ingredient-focused skincare brands, a voiceover that is believable and down-to-earth works best at boosting a brand's trustworthiness.

Anti-aging focused skincare

Traditionally anti-aging skincare used to be geared towards more mature women.

Recently younger women have begun to embrace anti-aging skin-care products in an effort to prevent fine lines and wrinkles before they occur.

Casting a young or mature voice for your campaign is really a choice of positioning. The widening of the demographics that anti-aging skincare brands appeal to presents even more of a business opportunity. So, voices that balance maturity and youthfulness can accomplish the best of both worlds. The richer deeper voice adds an element of legitimacy to the brand, while youthful energy translates to the underlying goal of having youthful-looking skin. Juxtaposing maturity and youthfulness may sound like a bit of an oxymoron, but it’s really just about grounding that youthful energy with class and sophistication.

Acne treatment-focused skincare

While acne first becomes a real issue during teenhood, many adults struggle with it too for a myriad of reasons. So, while you can go for a younger-sounding voice if your brand is targeted toward the teenage demographic, choosing a slightly older voice will gain credibility with an older audience as well.

Seeing as no one likes acne, a voiceover that exudes sympathy can be very effective. Couple that with the hope that there is a solution (your product), but avoid anything too sappy of course… and voila! The picture of what your brand has to offer is crystal clear. Your product was made to take the consumer from point acne to ac-free.

Clean Skincare

Consumers are more conscious of what they put in and on their bodies and how it affects the environment. Enter clean beauty: empowering customers to use products that align with their values.

It is essential that the voiceover of clean skincare communicates the empowerment consumers feel when choosing their products.

Of course, the voice must be grounded in knowledge and backed by science to relay the credibility of the brand.

To evoke inner peace that stems from living life with one's beliefs and actions in alignment, tones of joy, pride, happiness, fulfilment, and inspiration are core elements of voiceover in clean skincare marketing.

How do you get the style of voiceover you need from the voiceover talent you've hired?

Knowing what elements work for your brand is not the same as being able to elicit them from the talent you've hired. Even if the voice actor nailed the tone in the audition, that doesn't always guarantee that you'll be able to get the performance and the voiceover tone you need.

Luckily I've written an entire series on directing voiceover talent. So, if you want to learn tips on how to ensure you can get the best performance from your voiceover talent make sure to check out that series.

What tones of voiceover do you think work best in skincare and beauty?