Hidden within the vast landscape of voice work, lies a huge sub-genre that is sometimes treated like the ugly step-sister of commercial work: corporate narration. It’s not as exciting and not as glamorous as it’s big commercial sister. But it can make a beautiful, regular stream of income for those who play their cards right.
A Wealth of Opportunity in Corporate Narration
Booking a juicy commercial or video game job every few months is exciting, but how about a handful of corporate production companies who send you regular work and keep you smashing your financial goals month in, month out? The genre of corporate narration is massive, it includes anything from explainer videos, image films, product videos, internal employee communications to PSAs, event announcements, presentations and many more. There is an abundance of work out there and it can be a fun and rewarding niche to voice in.
A Misunderstood Genre – Poor Corporate
The idea that corporate work is boring, less challenging, or even “easy to be done by AI voices” comes from a misunderstanding of the genre. The attention spans of today’s audiences are incredibly short (we’re looking at you, TikTok), and keeping someone watching a video for more than 2 minutes is a real challenge. Beautiful imagery that’s well edited, a good script and exciting music certainly do their part. But what can really hook the viewer in is – you guessed it: the voice. It needs to grab the attention from the first second, and keep it. This is only possible through emotion.
Nailing Corporate Narration – Asking the Right Questions
Only if you really connect with the script, the topic and the listener, will the audience truly feel spoken to and engaged with on their level. That means, even when narrating a “dry” corporate script, acting techniques can help you find those little nuggets that really breathe life into a script. When prepping a script, answer these questions:
👉 Who am I talking to?
The addressee of the communication will determine the tone of voice. Is this a presentation for high-level executives or an onboarding video for new employees? Does this need to sound formal or more casual? Am I addressing a large group of people or will someone listen to this on their headphones?
👉 What is my relationship to the script?
Am I speaking as part of the company? Then my read will probably be infused with a sense of pride. Am I an external observer or a user of the product/service? Then I might be excited or impressed by it. Having an opinion on the subject matter takes the narration from “saying words” to “conveying emotions”.
👉 What am I trying to achieve with the words that I am saying?
The acting technique of “actioning” can be really useful here. Figure out a few verbs that you want to “do to the listener”. Try to make them more interesting than “to inform” or “to educate”. Some good examples might be “ to excite”, “to intrigue”, “to reassure”, “to inspire” or
“to guide”.
It’s really not very different from acting, playing a character. The more details go into the answers to these questions, the more the narration will come to life. Why not have a go at answering these questions the next time you read a script and see how it feels?
Finding the Fun in Corporate Narration by Leonie Schliesing – More articles are available here.