Episode 320: Specificity

My co coach over here at Acting Business Bootcamp, VO expert extraordinaire, Mandy Fisher will now be joining the podcast as my co host. 

Today for her first episode ever on the Acting Business Bootcamp podcast, she is going to be talking about specificity, being clear about who you are and what you offer.

And also about who you are reaching out to building a business includes growing it and building trust. 

I want to dive right into my word of the year for 2025. 

And this is a practice that I started doing a couple of years ago because I think it helps you enter the year with intention.

 And so this year, my word is specificity. 

Why specificity, Mandy? Why are we talking about being specific? Well, because it's the game changer.

It is literally a game changer that's going to help you refine your messaging, your actions, and ultimately your results. 

So whether you're a voiceover actor, a creative entrepreneur, or anyone trying to land more opportunities, grow your business, getting specific is the key to cutting through the noise and all of the other shit that's happening and reaching exactly who you want to reach, which are people who are going to hire you for what it is that you do. 

So grab a notebook or just take this all in. 

Take a deep breath because we're going to talk about how specificity in your content and actions can transform your outreach to agents and casting directors or direct marketing clients and even how it can improve your website and emails to bring in more inbound opportunities.

So, why does specificity matter? Let's start with that. 

In this world where everyone is shouting from the rooftops, like everybody, especially people in these positions like agents and casting directors and your direct marketing clients where they get pitched to by actors, and even other vendors.

All the time, all day, every day, probably, vague messages get drowned. 

They get drowned out by all of these other people constantly seeking their attention, their money, their value, whatever it is. 

Think about the emails that you receive. 

How often do you just skim and delete and skim and delete and slide left or right or whatever it is to delete on your device.

Like how often do you do that? Because the sender doesn't grab you with something clear and relevant, right? 

Casting directors, agents, and clients are no different. 

They need to know exactly who you are, what you do, and why you're the solution to their problem. 

Specificity also builds trust. 

It tells the recipient that you've done your homework, that you're not just spraying and praying your message, but that you see them and their specific needs.

Here's an example. Let's say you're emailing a potential client about their product launch. Instead of saying, “I'd love to work with you on this project,” get specific, reference the product, point out a gap in their current marketing, explain exactly how your voiceover services or things that you do alongside a voiceover, whether it's editing or SEO or whatever, can help them solve that problem.

Specificity shows confidence. 

It makes you an expert. And that gets results. 

Now let's talk about your content. 

Specificity in your content means creating work that is tailored for the audience you want to reach. On your website, for example, are you speaking to everyone or are you speaking directly to your ideal client?

And I'm not saying that you can't have multiple things that you do. 

I do lots of things. 

But it's better to be an expert in one thing than to do a lot of things, like, pretty well. 

There's lots of actors who do a ton of things really well or moderately well. 

How many of them do you see that are experts in what they're doing?

Now, I would say probably not a ton, and that's not a dig at their talent, but people want to work with people who know what they're doing to the degree that they are paying for, right? 

So, does your website spell out exactly what you offer in the language that these people landing on it will understand?

Not just casting directors and agents, but direct marketing clients as well? 

Because remember, we need to speak the language of the people that we are talking to. 

And if you're a voiceover actor, think about your demos and samples and reels. 

Are they a general sort of mishmash, or do they speak directly to specific industries?

If you're trying to book more commercial work, your demos and reels and samples should sound like they're frickin ready to go, and that you have the skills and you understand the nuance of commercial work. 

And if you're posting on social media, specificity means avoiding generic captions like, another day in the studio.

That's great, but instead, just share what you're working on. 

And if I see one more post about “would love to share what I'm working on, but NDA,”… don't share it yet. 

Like if you're under NDA for a project, pretty soon you won't be. 

So just wait it out until you can tell us what you're working on because those posts are noise.

They don't mean anything. 

They don't move the needle for anybody and it can just cause. Some weird toxicity cycle for you or other people in your community or other people that you potentially want to work with. 

Be mindful and specific about what you're doing. 

And that leads me to being specific in your actions.

It doesn't just stop with your content. It's being specific in your actions is just as important. 

And when you're reaching out to agents, casting directors, or direct marketing clients, specificity is key. 

If you have something like you speak Japanese, you have studied opera for 10 years, you trained at UCB for 20 years.

Like these are all skills that people have told me that they have that I didn't know. 

Until I started coaching with them one on one, and they were like, casually dropping, Oh yeah, I trained at UCB for 20 years, and I was like, wait, what? 

I've been working with you for two months, and now you drop that on me?

It's nowhere on your resume, nowhere on your website, but you have this skill and this background, and you're telling me now? That's crazy! 

Those are things that are important for people to know, especially people that you want them to hire you. 

So when you're reaching out to these people in your emails, don't just introduce yourself and say you'd love to work with them. 

I was working with somebody yesterday who showed me her agent pitch and while there's nothing inherently wrong with it, one of the first lines was, I've heard great things about your agency.

And that might be true, but if you don't say specifically what that is, perhaps saying, I've heard great things about your agency, like talking to, someone on your roster, they told me that you book a lot of interactive work for them and I would love to do that too. 

That's specific. 

Because when you get into that meeting, say you book a meeting with that agent and they're like, Oh, what great things have you heard?

And you haven't actually heard great things. You just said it. 

You're going to be like you're great. 

And then you're either trying to come up with something on the spot or you're lying about something and that doesn't set a good tone. tone for the future of your relationship. 

So get specific or don't say it.

If you're talking to people, I know a lot of people still actually do some cold calling. 

Don't just say, I'd love to collaborate with you. 

Get specific about what you bring to the table and why they should care. Even in your goals, specificity matters.

Instead of saying, I want more clients this year, say, I want to book five new direct marketing clients in the e-learning industry by June.

That's specific as hell. I love that. 

So when you get specific with yourself, you get clear, actionable things. And when you're clear, people take notice. 

Because when you embrace specificity, it not only makes your messaging stronger, it makes you more effective overall. 

It brings confidence to you overall.

And think about how much time we waste when we're vague when we're living in Vagueville over here. 

How many emails go unanswered because we didn't take the time to personalize them. 

And I'm not saying like copy and pasting an email and changing out someone's name. Right?

How many emails just slip through the cracks because our demos don't scream, this is the voice you need.

This is the skill you need to complete your thing. 

Specificity forces you to slow down and do the work, it requires research, strategy, intention to be a successful voiceover actor. 

I didn't build a six figure voiceover business by being vague and being mysterious and gatekeeping my own talents.

Are you kidding me? I know that it's a lot of work. 

I know it's hard to research. 

I know it's hard to send personalized emails. 

And when I direct market to people, I send personalized content. 

Doesn't that take a long time, Mandy? Like, what are you doing all day? Yes, it takes a shit ton of time. It takes a lot of time to create custom content for people that I'm pitching to.

But the payoff is huge. 

Specificity leads to clarity. Clarity leads to action. And action. Leads to results. 

So as you head into 2025, I'm going to challenge you to take a hard look at your messaging and your actions. Where can you get more specific? How can you tailor your outreach, your content, and your mindset to reach the exact people that you want to work with?

So here's your homework:

Number one, you're going to audit your website and portfolio. 

You're going to take ten minutes to review your website front to back, like all the Lever 2000 parts. You're going to look at all of it, and you're going to assess, does it clearly communicate who you are? What you do, the types of clients or projects you're looking to do, I want you to write down one specific tweak you can make this week to improve it.

Number two, you're going to send a tailored email to a direct marketing client. Identify one potential client or agent or casting director or somebody you've been meaning to reach out to. And before you hit send, you're going to make sure that your email is specific as shit. Mention something unique about them or their work and clearly explain how you add the value.

If you're struggling, reach out to me, [email protected] 

Number three, you're gonna set one super specific goal for January. Whether it is Bigger, small, medium size. I don't care. 

You're going to land a new client, refreshing your demo, creating a new sample, posting consistently on social media, write it down and outline the first step that you're going to do to make it happen.

And remember, the more specific you get, the easier it is to take action.