Marketing to Smart Speakers and the Voice Search Revolution

As smarter home devices like Amazon Alexa and Google Home grow in popularity, transition a major shift is underway in how people access and consume information. With hands-free, voice-controlled smart speakers spreading rapidly, marketers must adapt strategies that optimize for this emerging voice search paradigm.

Today, there are over 100 million smart speaker users in the United States alone. Those numbers will only continue to rise sharply in the coming years. In addition, some statistics highlight the massive changes underway:

• By 2022, smart speaker adoption is expected to surpass Bluetooth speakers and become the most popular way people listen to music at home.
• From 2018 to 2022, the time U.S. consumers spend talking to voice assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant will increase elevenfold.
• 50% of all searches are projected to be performed without a screen by 2020, mainly via voice and smart speakers.

Also, the voice search revolution poses challenges for businesses currently focused on optimizing for visual mediums like search engines and social media. However, marketers can adjust tactics in the following ways to engage the growing population of smart speaker users:

Optimize your brand name and keywords for voice.

First, speak your business name, products, and services aloud to evaluate clarity, memorability, and pronunciation for voice searches.

Create short-form, snackable audio content.

In addition, produce brief (30 – 120 second), informative podcasts and audio clips optimized for smart speaker consumption.

Claim and optimize your business profiles on voice platforms.

Next, set up complete company profiles across Google, Amazon, and Alexa to appear in voice search results and connect with customers via their devices.

Design for the 160-character limit.

Furthermore, keep descriptions, offers and other voice-enabled content within the character constraints required by platforms.

Support conversational commerce.

Also, explore partnerships with voice assistant providers to facilitate smart speaker purchases directly within your brand’s voice actions.

Test voices, tones and accents.

Finally, experiment with different vocal styles of speech within your voice-enabled content to identify what connects best with your audience.

At the end, as more people turn to their smart speakers for everything from news to shopping, marketers who can craft compelling audio-first experiences will gain a sizeable advantage. Also, by optimizing for voice search and the hands-free paradigm, brands can engage cur increasingly busy and screen-fatigued audiences in an effortless, convenient manner.