The Secret In Every Commercial Script

Hey there!

I teach, in my two-part Voicing Commercial VO class, how to work with three simple elements that will change how you audition for and perform commercials forever.

The third one is a secret.

No, really. Find that secret, and your world is a brighter place, and your auditions become extraordinary.

Here’s how.

(Click/tap ↑↑↑↑↑↑ that red YouTube button to subscribe to my channel. You’ll get notified when I release new videos.)

Hope this helps!

David

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hey it’s David H Lawrence the 17th and
we’ve been talking over the last couple
of videos and we’re going to talk about
in this video the three main tenets of
commercial voiceover when you approach
the script that I teach in my class
other people teach different ways I
found this to be the most effective for
me and so I wanted to share first we
talked about the problem in every script
and that’s whatever the listener is
trying to solve their problem the job in
every script which is their job in
solving that problem and your job in
helping them do that and in this video
we’re gonna talk about the secret now
it’s not a secret about how to do
commercials really well or really quick
or to 30 seconds or 60 seconds listen
let’s work backwards in the process in
the advertising and sales process okay
step number four people buy things
because they want to solve that problem
they want to get that job done solve the
problem companies make things step three
companies make things and offer services
for people to buy step two is companies
advertise those services to inform
customers how their products or service
will help solve their problem will help
them get that job done and number one
the benefits of those products and
services and how you feel about it is
what most great advertising is all about
it’s not about the features it’s about
the benefits and about the feelings of
what you do and the way I look at those
things is remember when we talked about
there is no such thing as a secret it’s
just stuff you don’t know yet well let’s
apply that label of secret to stuff you
don’t know yet about products and
services that can solve your problem so
when I approach a piece of commercial
copy what I do is I try to identify what
the secret is that the company is trying
to reveal the knowledge that they’re
trying to reveal the awesomeness some
people call it a unique selling
proposition a USP that’s a an
advertising term what makes one product
or service better than their competitors
or better than doing nothing at all
because one of the things that people
try to sell is not just against their
competitors but
also against the notion that if you just
leave everything alone it’ll be fine
right
so they always are talking about you
know either do this or don’t but if you
do it you’re gonna be happier right with
our product so how you share that secret
once you identify the secret is really
the crux of what I think about when I’m
going to when I’m gonna do commercial
copy when I’m gonna voice commercial
copy I think what does the listener or
viewer need to know that they don’t know
now that can help them make the decision
to use my advertiser my clients product
or service to solve their problem
and to get their job done and if you
look at it that way again everything
we’ve talked about so far is don’t look
at the script as like you know how to
read words well on a page how to
pronounce things properly how to get
things done in 59 and a half seconds you
know all these things that sometimes
creep in as we try to be perfect about
what we do how you share those secrets
are not cosmetic it’s the authentic and
authoritative story that you’re telling
about your clients product or service
and so you stop thinking about oh I’m
gonna make my voice really deep or I’m
going to be friendly and accessible and
no just be you reveal the secret you
know a secret that somebody else doesn’t
know and if you reveal that secret
you’re going to help them solve their
problem and get their job done it all
ties together so how do you find out
what the secret is you read the copy and
you look for what are called
discriminators it’s fast it’s
inexpensive it’s awesome it’s a secret
obvious a secret like there was a
commercial that ran in the 70s like Oh
ancient Chinese secret huh was about you
know a laundromat that had a special
Chinese secret for doing their their
laundry would never air today because
it’s just it’s like get borders on
racist or secret it’s the secret sauce
that they put on the ribs or the word
secret is used a lot but you can find a
secret in every single piece of copy
and then when you go about revealing
that secret and you do so in a way that
is you know you’re the biggest fan of
this product you’re going to share with
people how to get their job done how to
get their problem solved
you’re gonna solve a problem for the
listener that they may or may not even
know they had because you’re gonna be
sharing a secret and revealing that
secret to them that’s gonna get you to
the goal line it’s a whole lot better
than trying to be a certain age range or
a certain style you know cheerleader e
or edgy or accessible right you know
just tell the secret tell the story
reveal the secret and do so with joy
because that’s really the key to doing
great commercial work I hear it in every
commercial that I fall in love with on
the air now the problem and the job
there’s one of those for every piece of
commercial copy too you can read or
watch the other videos that I did on
those just look for them on the site if
you’re watching on bo2 go TOCOM which is
where I’d love for you to be got all
kinds of cool stuff here on video go go
comm um if you have any questions about
this you know if this is kind of
confusing to you or you get it and you
want to tell me you get it we have any
questions you know what’s the secret how
do you reveal it give me a comment below
and also tell me if this makes sense to
you like when you look at copy do you
look at it from the perspective of
getting things physically done well or
do you look at it from the perspective
of helping the consumer use the clients
product or service to solve their
problem just want to know if this is
making sense to you if you want to know
when the next video is coming out
subscribe to my channel there’s my head
click on it if there’s no head there
well then there’s a subscribe button
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released go ahead and click on that
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they will play it for you wherever you
happen to be seeing this video I’m David
H Lawrence the 17 thank you so much for
watching and I will see you tomorrow

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