Why invest in a good voice marketing strategy? Simply put, because your consumers are using voice more than ever. So are your competitors.
Voice is a viable marketing funnel
Here are some staggering facts from our Voice Consumer Index 2021:
- The opportunity is not just for brands with younger audiences – there’s evidence that voice usage has increased across all age groups.
- Users see the value of voice, but need more guidance from brands to learn all it can do for them.
- 91% of voice consumers are already searching via voice.
Voice is no longer a maybe, it’s happening. In 2019, 91% of brands were already investing in voice, with 66% agreeing that it would help drive conversion and generate revenue.
Voice is no longer just about the smart speaker
When smart speakers made their debut back in 2014, the novelty of virtual assistants brought a renewed sense of excitement to the home environment.
Nowadays, our expectations are stretching past what is possible in the home. We want our voice assistants in the car, on the phone, essentially, on the go, and we’re seeing more and more examples of that happening. From Sony Mobility bringing voice into the EV environment to an increasing interest in synthetic voices, NFTs, and the potential of voice in the metaverse, we’re looking at gigantic steps companies are taking beyond the smart speaker.
Voice tech can help you save time and money
To assist is at the core of voice technology. This is why it works so well when it comes to customer service. Voice assistants can offer a premium, personalised, and intuitive service while relieving the burden on expensive customer service teams. As a result, everyone saves time and money!
But a more exciting recent report by Deepgram and Opus Research shows that:
COMPANIES CAN DO MORE THAN JUST SAVE… SURPRISINGLY (OR NOT!), 62% OF ORGANISATIONS USE VOICE TECHNOLOGY TO GENERATE REVENUE.
If this is not the best incentive to crack on and step up that voice strategy game, we don’t know what is.
Voice needs management, budget, and staffing – it’s not a one-off deal
If you think you can just wing it when it comes to voice, maybe you’re right. But will you see real results? Probably not. At best, you won’t reach enough people in your target audience. At worst, you’ll cause a PR inconvenience.
Finding the right voice partner can help smooth out the implementation process in a way that moves your sonic brand forward with efficiency. Customers use voice to search and find out more about brands nowadays. So, the way you present yourself is key – a cohesive tone of voice is as important in your sonic identity as it is in your visual presence.
If you start now, you’ll secure your brand invocation name for the future
When putting together a voice strategy, brands overlook one crucial aspect: the brand invocation name. What is it? It’s basically how your customers find and engage your brand via voice.
In this area, copyright is a little bit more complicated than usual. Amazon, for example, allows duplicate skill names and invocations. This means that, if a customer were to invoke your company’s skill, there’s a high chance they might end up opening a different skill with the same name.
Choosing a unique invocation that is both loyal to your brand identity and natural for users becomes a balancing act, and relies on a solid brand awareness campaign that builds in time.
Now is the opportunity for you to own specific search phrases and go after that famous position zero. Later on, it will be maybe ten times harder to establish authority or unseat your competitor’s invocation.
So don’t leave it up to the algorithm to decide what voice assistants say about you – take control of it, and do it the right way, the first time.
Work with us and we will help you outline:
- the conversational landscape of your brand
- what domains your customers are looking to connect with you through voice
- what the opportunities are across apps, search and content
- how you should resource, fund and market your experiences
- how to come up with creative solutions to get your customers talking to you.
If this sounds like something you’d like to explore, let’s start a conversation today.
