When you own a small or medium-sized business, it is a good idea to look for ways to cut corners. That is great advice if it makes you avoid buying something more expensive when something less expensive will do, or if you avoid buying things you do not need. However, some business owners try to cut corners a little too far, and end up not purchasing services they actually need. One area in which business owners make this mistake is in do-it-yourself commercials. Unless you are a voice-over talent yourself, do not try and voice your own commercials, because doing so can actually drive away potential customers.
The most common reason that customers are driven away from businesses whose owners make homemade commercials is that the commercials themselves annoy them. It may not be a pleasant truth to bear, but not everyone is cut out for the microphone. If you have an unprofessional voice, customers will not want to listen to your message. If you are untrained, you may be sending messages that you do not intend to send. You may sound tense without intending to and will, in turn, make your potential customers tense. If your voice makes them tense, then customers will not want to visit your establishment.
If it is obvious that you do not have a professional voice talent, listeners will assume at least one of two things – that you are a cheapskate or that you are not successful enough to afford to make a professional advertisement. People who assume you are cheap when it comes to your advertising may also think about the same thing when it comes to the product or service you are trying to sell, and will not have trust in you. It is also a bad business practice to let the public know you can not afford things, even if it is true. Customers want to do business with successful people. Therefore, you must always act as though you are successful. Spending money in the right way will help you do that.
Although the final reason for not acting in your own commercials will not necessarily annoy potential customers, it is a valid thing to think about: Wasting your time performing a task best left to people who know what they are doing is a unwuse use of one of your most valuable resources – you. As the owner of a business venture or department, your time is best spent doing what you should be doing, and that is running things. Your job as manager is to delegate jobs and responsibility. If you do decide to do some jobs yourself, do those things you can do well.
Your commercial is like a job interview. It's your opportunity to make a first impression on potential customers who do not know your business and to remind others you are still out there and still doing a great job. Just as you would never think of going into a job interview as anything less than a professional, you should never permit your advertising to be anything less than totally professional. Hiring professionals and assigning tasks, where it is the appropriate thing to do, instead of wearing out yourself trying to do everything, is the mark of a good businessman. Do not let the desire to save a buck make you a laughingstock.