Stop. Listen. What do you hear? It’s the sound of your customer’s voice asking Google, Alexa, Siri, Cortana, Bixby, etc., where to have dinner, what your dealership’s rating is on Yelp, which doctor provides a particular service and so on. Voice Recognition Marketing has emerged out of intuitive technology, and it’s time to adapt.
Presently, in 2017, one in four searches for goods and services is done from a mobile device. Your customer is creating a voice algorithm without even realizing it. The more they talk to their phone and learn the customers likes, dislikes, demographics, desired location and personal preferences, the more important it is to get in on voice marketing.
Sure, Google and all the others do the searches, but let’s face it, Alexa does all the work. She’s the one that books the trips, calls the Uber, makes the car repair appointment, orders the pizza, book a table at a restaurant, schedule a test drive at a dealership and just about anything else you can think of.
What does this mean for your business?
Opportunity.
According to Gini Dietrich, CEO of Arment Dietrich, a virtual PR firm out of Chicago, “Alexa, Siri, and Cortana have created more and more voice search, which will continue to increase in 2018 and beyond. This means paid search will have to be part of a content marketer’s toolbox next year. The coveted top three spots in search results will be the goal for just about every organization. Paid social, paid search, and paying attention to the search results the personal assistants’ return are top of my list!”
Voice recognition technology that has captured marketers’ imagination this year. Amid the rising popularity of voice-controlled devices, including Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home, brands have jumped on the voice bandwagon – coming up with their own ‘skills’ (what Amazon calls voice-driven apps on the Alexa platform) and even, in the case of Burger King, using an ad to trigger voice searches on a viewer’s computer or their Alexa device. Now, granted, Google Home put a stop to that very quickly as most rivals would, but eventually? It will become the “new normal” and points to the voice recognition marketing opportunity.
Voice offers a new and innovative way to reach consumers that technologically advanced brands can take advantage of. Domino’s Pizza, for example, sees voice as a way to sell more pizza and so has enabled customers to order directly through Alexa using voice. The brand’s digital boss Nick Dutch admits it isn’t seeing huge sales from the channel now but it expects to in future and is “preparing for the fact this technology will be something people use”.
According to industry experts, 20 percent of mobile searches submitted via the Google app are already being done by voice recognition. They also predict that approximately 30 percent of searches will be done without any screen whatsoever! Naturally, this will cause a huge impact on SEO strategy because unlike the past, consumers won’t be seeing a long list of results and are free to choose one. Voice results will likely serve up only one answer that is the best match based on what it has already learned about the consumer.
This is also why your SEO game better be tight in 2018.
By 2020, it is expected that 50% of all searches will likely be voice searches. In order to optimize for this, your business must be ready to insert “long tail keywords”. By this we mean conversational phrases such as “Best Pizza in New York” as opposed to just “Pizza New York” will need to be inserted into your blogs to upgrade your SEO and make it more likely to pop up on a consumer’s voice search. Simplified keywords will no longer work as they used to.
With the recent introduction of Google Home and Apple’s HomePod, Alexa won’t be the only one doing the heavy lifting anymore. E-Marketing experts estimate that more than 35 million Americans will use a voice assistant at least once a month. A recent study by Brightedge Media showed that 62% of marketers haven’t even started thinking about this, with only 3% implementing any actual changes. That’s a very disturbing number.
So, how do you start on the path to voice recognition? It’s not as hard is it sounds, but it is very time consuming. It means starting to be more aware of your SEO while blogging than ever before because while content is still King, SEO is the Queen overseeing the land. It means purifying your data is more important than ever. Targeting long tail, conversational keywords is another part of the plan. Creating additional pages like “FAQ” pages about your business will also be an important part since voice searches are more likely to be phrased as a question.
And we all know how Siri, Google, Alexa, Bixby and Cortana love to answer a question, right?
What does this mean for you and your business? Simple, adapt and integrate voice recognition marketing into your strategy. Consider optimizing your content for voice searches by writing and tagging content the way people may say their search term out loud: what words and phrases would someone use to search for a dealership on Long Island, for example? “Alexa, what is the closest Honda dealership to my home” would be a great example of that because likely, Alexa already knows the consumers location.
This involves actively managing your knowledge and content and the flexibility to move with the speed of technology and marketing. We at Jet Media Corp know that technology moves at a rapid pace and can sometimes be very confusing. We are leaders in the digital marketing space and make it our business to watch over your business. We’re ready to help you drive into the future of advertising.
“Alexa, the times, are they a-changing?”
You bet they are. Voice Recognition Marketing is here to stay, and we’re here to help you capitalize upon it.
For more information on voice recognition marketing and all your other branding and marketing needs, reach out to Jet Media and let us put our 20+ years of experience to work for you.
https://www.jetmediacorp.com
jetmediacorp@gmail.com
631-787-8475
We have consulted hundreds of customers since 2001. We know how important it is to stay ahead of the curve and our team seeks out new information & trends so we are sure to always bring you the latest strategies, products & services!