Get set to witness the power of ‘voice’ in 2019

Till last year, influencer marketing, personalised experience and Artificial Intelligence (AI) created a lot of buzz in the marketing arena. In 2019, marketers are predicting it to be the ‘voice assistant’ year. 

Voice tool is becoming one of the most exciting ways to interact with the world. Apple’s Siri, Google’s Assistant, Microsoft’s Cortana and Amazon’s Alexa are some of the major voice recognition tools, which are completely reshaping the dynamics of the market. Voice Assistants are fitting naturally into people’s day-to-day lives because they are seamless and convenient, and therefore large brands are investing in this technology. 

From a simple “Hey Siri!” voice command to getting AI to do complex tasks for you, the technology has been evolving fast. Recently, a video of a mom catching her son using Alexa to do his math homework went viral with the video getting over 8.2 million views, 1,37,000 retweets and 4,75,000 likes. The twitterarti praised the boy’s intelligence and acknowledged how technology had become an important part of our lives. 

Today, users want to have a personalised experience when they interact with technology. According to Adobe Analytics, 71 per cent owners of smart speakers like Amazon Echo and Google Home use voice assistants at least daily, and 44 per cent use them multiple times a day. 

Marketers have started to understand the real power of voice-enabled technology. Is voice-activated technology going to change the landscape of marketing and will brands develop a SEO strategy? 

Voice marketing a new wave
Voice assistant technology is definitely the new wave, says Adrine DMello, Creative Director, Monk Media Network. “In 2019, it would be interesting to see how brands can consider a voice strategy for their marketing initiatives. They could be using voice-enabled social media bots that the consumers can interact with and smart AI support, or interactive banners, YouTube pre-rolls and more.” 

Abdulla Basha, Co-founder, Social Frontier, says that voice-based content marketing was likely to emerge as the next big thing. “It will transform the way brands interact with consumers. The rising popularity of Alexa and Google Assistant and paid media for voice will soon be a part of an online media plan across industries.” 

According to Arun Gupta, Founder & CEO, MoMagic Technologies, “Voice Assistant Technology will result in marketing being more customised and personalised. For the millennium consumers, it’s all about speed, efficiency and convenience and that is where VUI (Voice User Interface) is gaining ground. It will require marketers and brands to connect with their customer at a deeper level.” 

Brands strategy for Voice Assistant
Voice tools represent a brand in a way by which they can get closer to their target audiences than ever before. What do brands need to do to evolve their voice strategy in 2019? 

“Brands will have to understand the medium well and accordingly develop medium-specific content and incorporate it into the larger scheme of marketing strategy. Secondly, develop content keeping in mind the voice approach, i.e. instead of just thinking how the brand will look like, it is important to discern what it would sound like,” Gupta said. “Brands should be very clear on what is the end objective while incorporating a voice strategy further into your brand marketing strategy,” he added. 

According to Manika Juneja, AVP, WATConsult, “Brands and their digital partners need to start optimising content for voice searches to stay ahead in the race. They need to capture on micro-moments with content created using specific keywords. Local SEO capturing the on-the-go audience will save businesses from losing out customers. However, one must note that context building will itself be a tedious exercise in this process, but surely a fruitful one.” 

“The key area that brands should focus on is the use of voice technology in SEO. With the growth of voice search or hands-free browsing, brands too need to evolve. Aligning their SEO Strategy to voice-based commands will definitely be an effective marketing strategy,” said Adrine D'mello. 

Voice tech to reach wider audiences
People are becoming tech-savvy and the willingness to use voice could be in demand. With the rapid innovation in voice technology, smartphones and smart speakers will become smarter with voice capabilities. How should brands leverage voice tech to create a wider reach among audiences? 

“The penetration of voice assistants and apps has seen a surge as it complements the consumer behaviour, which in return will help the brands engage with a growing audience on voice platforms. Voice tech needs to be completely integrated into the consumer experience to be leveraged to its fullest and reach out to a wider base,” said Juneja. 

Abdulla says, “Voice app development can help brands to reach a wider audience and create personalised experiences for them. The focus today is on generating solutions and therefore brands must create content which is both informative and solution-based.” 

Challenges in the field of Voice-Assistant technology
According to Adrine D'mello, voice assistant tech is still catching up in India and hasn’t been used to its full potential. “Brands and consumers alike have yet to trust it completely. Security issues could be a concern in financial areas. The intuitiveness of AI is another concern that one might have, D'mello said. 

Juneja also admits that consumer acceptance due to security and privacy concerns will be a hindrance. “However it is a technological trade-off and is witnessing acceptance,” she said.

Arun Gupta of MoMagic Technologies said Voice Assistant as of now can work in defined domains, not all of which are too broad. “Natural Language Processing is a challenge too. Secondly, voice technology may bring some possible polarisation in market. Today, it’s more of Google and Amazon that are popular in this, and it’s possible that in the long run these big companies will become sort of the custodians of voice technology.” 

Abdulla Basha of Social Frontier says, “The biggest challenge in voice assistant technology currently is the problem in understanding the strong accent. Statistics indicate that 1 out of 3 consumers find voice results inaccurate. Voice search technology, therefore, has to evolve further to meet the tailored needs of various local regions.” 

For more updates, subscribe to our WhatsApp Channel - http://bit.ly/e4mWhatsApp & Newsletter - http://bit.ly/2Qu7OIs