What is a "voiceover", and how can it transform YOUR personal or company's message with the focused power of diction, tone and persuasion?

You've heard it before.... that "voice" on the radio, TV, or live event.

You hear it on the TV, and the announcer's voice makes you run to grab your wallet, as you can't wait to buy the newest gadget you see advertised.

Or maybe it catches your attention on the radio, when they're giving away concert tickets. You stop in your tracks, as your heart gets excited, and even more so if you're the lucky winner!

Perhaps at a live event, when the public address announcer mentions the starting lineups, as you rev up the energy in unison with the crowd.

These are examples of how the power of voice can instantly change your state.

But have you ever thought about how its power can instantly change the state of your business?

I'm Dave Bernstein - in the marketing industry, my good friends and colleagues know me as "DJ Dave". And there's a reason for that! (but more about that later...) :-)

I've been behind the microphone since I was a child, always wanting to emulate Casey Kasem and his American Top 40 countdown. In the 1980's, I got the chance to finally meet Casey for my 20th birthday, and was dying to ask him any question I could think of about music.

But I got a surprise I hadn't expected...

You see, Casey was very knowledgeable in music, but not nearly as much as I had assumed. Indeed, he was given scripts to read for the show, as Casey's voiceovers enticed the listeners as much as the songs themselves.

And he did the very same thing for commercials and other broadcasts, lending his voice to a wide variety of projects. (Perhaps you've heard him as the voice of Shaggy on the Scooby Doo cartoon!)

His biggest advice to me, when it came to voiceovers? He said, "You'll make the most difference in people's lives when you enrich them, and help them get what they need, rather than just entertain them, and help them get what they want." - Powerful stuff indeed.

When I first got started in audio marketing in the early 2000's, I began to learn that many marketers were good at selling, but they weren't very good at persuasion. They lacked a sense of urgency to get people interested in their offer through written text alone.

I attended my first internet marketing conference in 2003, and the power of online selling was blossoming. I met some amazing marketers, some of them very successful multi-millionaires. But even those who were doing very well, thought they could do better.

Enter DJ Dave, and how I got coined with the nickname that will last a lifetime.... :-)

When I arrived to check in for the conference, I overheard several marketers (some of whom I'd been dying to meet) talking about adding audio to the webpages. I leaned closer, and eventually became part of the conversation.

These marketers were looking to audio for welcome messages alone, merely as an introduction.

I said to several of them, "Have you ever thought about using the audio as the actual enticement? You know, as a call-to-action? As an audio sales letter, or to get them more enticed?" - Strangely, not one of them was currently using audio in that way.

I ended up spending a good portion of the seminar in my hotel room, doing voiceovers and editing audio for most of them, to get a few demos under my belt. One of them ended up being one of the keynote speakers at the seminar.

When it was time for their presentation, I happened to be sitting towards the back of the room working on my computer. All of a sudden, the speaker played one of the voiceovers I did for him in his room to the entire crowd.

And then something amazing happened....

He said to the crowd, "By the way, that voiceover was done by DJ Dave - he's sitting in the back of the room - if you need an audio message done, he's your 'go-to' guy."

I realized at the moment that I hadn't brought nearly as many business cards as I thought I would need! And I was happily stuck with the name DJ Dave for life. :-)

I also realized that Casey was right - there's something magical about helping people get what they need.

Since then, I've had the pleasure of working with a virtual "who's who" in the marketing industry, having done audio editing, voiceovers, and messages for Tony Robbins, Joe Polish, Brendon Burchard, Gary Vaynerchuk, Mark Victor Hansen, Brian Tracy, Jay Abraham, and even Sir Richard Branson.

But you don't have to be a millionaire to harness the power of voiceovers.

Start-ups and small businesses alike realize that persuasive audio converts. And it's a LOT more affordable than you realize! Scroll below, and listen to some of the ways that start-ups and small businesses - just like yours - can use a voiceover that helps them persuade their listeners, and get them to take action.

I can't wait to do the same for YOU!