As a kid, my favorite activities were playing pretend and reading. Rarely did I choose to play with paint or get lost in a doodle. As an adult, I still had a passion for make-believe and stories. Thus, voice over was the way to go! However, as you delve deeper into the ins and outs of how to make this a career, you find yourself bombarded with the burden of marketing and getting your voice out there. Most of us are not made of money, ESPECIALLY in the beginning. The burden of email campaigning and creating social media content falls squarely on our shoulders alone. It’s not always possible to hire someone to do these things for you or pay for advertising. So… what do you do?
I found myself stuck in this limbo for a long time. Emails, social media pages, and rosters are all over the place once you figure out how to Google, but I always struggled with what to do next. What should I write? What should I post? How do I make myself stand out? The answer was in graphic design. We are in an age of instant gratification. No one wants to read a long post or a hundred-word email. TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat have changed the game regarding instant information. We want it quick and we want it fun. Adapting to that was a challenge because, as I mentioned, I’ve never been artistic.
Everything changed when I discovered Canva. I’ve used other graphic design sites like BeFunky and Pixlr but found them not as beginner-friendly. Even on the free version, with Canva finding a template, changing the colors, adding some personal touches, and creating your text is easy. It, quite literally, is as simple as a search, a drag, and a drop. I find Canva extremely robust with a grand selection of template options. Recently I decided to create a video to highlight my commercial demo. Lucky me, Canva has a simple video template. I’ve never even glanced at a video editor, but I know how to drag and drop. I could bust out the video quickly, and now I have something to share on social and spice up an email campaign. You don’t need an eye for the
arts to make a flyer or poster with Canva. I was even recently HIRED to create a virtual flier for a VO house party to add fuel to this fun bonfire.
I simply went to Canva, picked a template, and began to drag and drop. It has preset color schemes and a plethora of animated graphics. I searched ads from some of my favorite brands and adapted those ideas to the graphic for inspiration. In short, graphic design is not scary. It is amazing how EASY it is to create eye-catching videos or posts to spice up your self-marketing. At a point in your career where you play manager, talent, and PR, any help can seem like a blessing, especially for free.