Be Here First: The Future of Voice-Interface Marketing

Emily Binder is Founder and Voice Marketing Lead of Beetle Moment Marketing, a voice-first marketing agency focused on helping companies develop branding strategies for when voice is the primary interface for interacting with technology . . . a strong trend now and for the future.

Voice-activated devices (Amazon's Alexa, Google's Home [which recently gobbled up Nest], Apple's Siri, Microsoft's Cortana Home Assistant and Samsung's Bixby are some of the bigger players in this highly competitive and rapidly growing market) are "new," but will be increasingly used for making purchases. Emily recommends that companies should have their basic content—website and Amazon listing—optimized for voice search. She encourages companies to optimize for Google if they are only going to do one thing and for Alexa if the company is doing ecommerce on Amazon.

Voice search itself has a lot of kinks that need to be worked out . . . but the abilities of these devices are expanding daily. Voice-assistants (developed primarily by men) need to get better at recognizing and processing women's speech patterns. Text-based search bar queries rely on key words. Voice search needs to be optimized for natural language patterns.

Emily believes that all brands should at least "play" in Alexa's ecosystem—and get into the action right now with a flash briefing and a custom skill—a very powerful combination.

Flash briefing provides quick daily news bites, typically hourly or daily, covering "weather, local news, daily motivation, productivity tips, gardening tips." With 100 million Alexa devices and only 8,600 briefings, there is a great scarcity of content. If companies put out a quality message on a regular basis, they can climb to the top of the rankings for their niche . . . fast.

Flash briefings should be no longer than 10 minutes. Emily would not go over 2 minutes and considers 30 to 60 seconds to be "the sweet spot." Emily also recommends, "If you skip any day, make it Sunday," and notes that listenership is highest in the early morning or early evening, at "moments of transition," when people are getting ready for work, making coffee . . . preparing dinner and their hands are busy.

In the past year, Amazon Developer has simplified its user interface and provided templates, making it easier for people, even those who are not developers, to build custom skills for voice-activated devices. A WYSIWYG free Alexa skill-building and publishing tool, Storyline, was the foundation of up to 60% of early Alexa skills. Storyline pivoted at the end of 2018, changed its name to Invocable, and now provides prototyping for voice UX designers.

Emily also talks about some the leaders in the development of voice technology and the revolutionary developments that could come out of voice interfaced devices—from practical applications to the ability to have cross-generational conversations with people from the past.

Emily can be reached on her company's website at: Beetlemoment.com, on Twitter @emilybinder or on Instagram @beetlemoment.