Although technology-based Public Relations activities are a “must do” to build a company’s brand, the emerging disruptive technologies that will most affect your business are the voice. Voice marketing and commerce is about using marketing strategies and tactics to reach your target audience through voice-enabled digital devices. It is increasingly becoming important.
Increasingly in Switzerland and Europe, voice marketing has become an essential part of the marketing outreach strategy of innovative brand managers.
An expert survey with Swiss and European managers in July 2020, conducted by the University of Zurich, found that innovative brand managers consider voice commerce a viable, potentially disruptive technology.
Almost 87% of managers agree that voice assistants will become a “powerful marketing, sales, and distribution channel” and a technology that will influence consumers’ choices in the future. Nearly three-fourths of the respondents believe that voice commerce represents a “great opportunity for their brand, while two-thirds of the study participants expect a “severe impact on consumer brands” because of voice commerce.
And it’s not a trend; it’s here to stay.
According to a blog on Think With Google, Google’s future trends prediction site, voice assistance is not only being adapted but also changing consumer behaviour. About 72% of households in the Western world use voice assistants daily, and 61% of 25-64-year-olds say they’ll use voice devices more in the future.
There are many benefits to voice search interactions – making it an attractive option for not only the tech-savvy younger generation but also older ones. Voice searchers are quicker, make life easier, is disability friendly, help consumers multitask, empower them with instant answers and information, and make daily routine easier. For the younger population who doesn’t want to wait for answers, it also offers instant gratification, building brand loyalty.
Voice searches are growing, especially on mobile phones, and considering that voice primarily benefits local businesses (1-in-5 queries are about location-specific information), it needs to be put in to build brand loyalty. You have to keep your voice in mind for your brand’s future.
How to optimise your content for voice search:
Building brand loyalty is not only about bringing voice to your website or consumer interaction. It’s also about thinking creatively about your content and developing content that’s ready for voice-enabled devices. To be ready for this future, you must understand how voice marketing will evolve and how to optimise your content for voice search.
With some of these suggestions, you can begin optimising your content for voice-enabled digital devices today.
- Conversation through your content: The voice search language is different. Typically, people use questions and complete sentences for voice searches (What is the weather in Zurich today?). Therefore, prepare content that delivers clear, cohesive answers in conversational language.
- Keep in mind long-tailed keywords: Specific queries with long-tail keywords will become the new SEOs
- Focus on the instant, local solutions: Google’s already moved to mobile-first indexing. With more people using mobile voice search, your content needs to provide local, immediate, and knowledgeable answers.
- Prioritize mobile-first: Improve your site speed as consumers expect faster results in voice and create shorter, concise answers to queries meant to fit into a mobile screen.
Brand Managers should not forget to ensure potential customer’s privacy
There’s another critical thing all brand managers need to keep in mind. According to PWC’s extensive study on voice assistants, 38% of consumers see voice assistants as a privacy risk. Brand managers must assure potential customers that they value their privacy and will keep their interactions private.
If you haven’t begun, it’s time to shape your content for voice-enabled digital devices. After all, the future is in listening to your customers, literally. And responding quickly, efficiently, and with empathy.