VOICE
MARKETING
WHAT IS VOICE MARKETING?
Voice marketing is an emerging practice that harnesses the capabilities of AI-powered, natural-language-processing technology embedded within smart speakers and smartphones. The practice of voice marketing encompasses voice search, voice-enabled product innovation, and virtual assistants like Siri or Alexa. Voice marketing provides a new channel for brands to interact with consumers.
WHY SHOULD MARKETERS CARE?
By 2022, virtual voice devices are projected to process $40 billion in purchases and have a presence in 55% of all U.S. households. As voice-enabled devices grow in popularity, their influence on consumer behavior is becoming apparent. Rather than browsing a list of search results or visiting a webpage with pop-up or banner ads, consumers can simply ask Alexa to deliver a single answer to their question. Marketers who understand the ways voice-enabled technology is disrupting search habits, consumer expectations, and communication channels can have a tremendous competitive advantage.
HOW CAN IT HELP YOUR BUSINESS?
Voice marketing can help your brand differentiate itself from competitors and build stronger relationships with consumers by offering superior, voice-enabled interactions. Brand leaders who leverage voice marketing best practices can retain or strengthen their leadership positions. Conversely, challenger brands can use their understanding of voice algorithms to occupy the first position in voice search results, gaining share against the brand leader.
IPG Media Lab works with some of the world’s largest brands to drive innovation in media, marketing, and business models. As the dedicated innovation initiative of the UM family of agencies, they’ve worked with companies of all sizes, across numerous verticals. Chad Stoller and Adam Simon of IPG Media Lab discussed the types of conversations they have with marketers around innovation, gave us a behind-the-scenes look at how IPG Media stays innovative, and asked whether one can truly measure innovation success.
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SEO was a lot simpler in a less-crowded marketplace; you could optimize by keyword for your product, industry, or customer demographics and watch your traffic grow. In 2021, however, not only is the online space left with little metaphorical keyword elbow room, but search engines have gotten smarter to keep up with consumer demand. People search more conversationally due to voice assistants like Alexa and Siri, and AI-powered chatbots learn more as they’re being searched, which also contributes to a natural semantic search style. If marketers want to make sure their SEO efforts are being noticed, there are several ways to do this, all of which embrace this more casual way of searching consumers are employing – “long-tail keywords,” those with fewer search results but a higher conversion rate; “keyword clusters,” which group product identifiers that can single out your brand; “natural language processing (or NLP)” which rely on qualifiers like “what” and “where” to make a search less-robotic, and the overall conversational style that voice search and chatbots have made more prominent as of late.
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WHAT IS VOICE MARKETING?
Voice marketing is an emerging practice that harnesses the capabilities of AI-powered, natural-language-processing technology embedded within smart speakers and smartphones. The practice of voice marketing encompasses voice search, voice-enabled product innovation, and virtual assistants like Siri or Alexa. Voice marketing provides a new channel for brands to interact with consumers.
WHY SHOULD MARKETERS CARE?
By 2022, virtual voice devices are projected to process $40 billion in purchases and have a presence in 55% of all U.S. households. As voice-enabled devices grow in popularity, their influence on consumer behavior is becoming apparent. Rather than browsing a list of search results or visiting a webpage with pop-up or banner ads, consumers can simply ask Alexa to deliver a single answer to their question. Marketers who understand the ways voice-enabled technology is disrupting search habits, consumer expectations, and communication channels can have a tremendous competitive advantage.
HOW CAN IT HELP YOUR BUSINESS?
Voice marketing can help your brand differentiate itself from competitors and build stronger relationships with consumers by offering superior, voice-enabled interactions. Brand leaders who leverage voice marketing best practices can retain or strengthen their leadership positions. Conversely, challenger brands can use their understanding of voice algorithms to occupy the first position in voice search results, gaining share against the brand leader.
“This is going to become your first layer of customer service, and you want it to be extraordinary. If it answers every question in detail, consumers will continue to summon it over and over; they say your brand name, and it burns into their minds that your brand is useful. There’s huge opportunity in that space right now.”
Duane Forrester
VP of Industry Insights
Yext
Key Stats
ANA Marketing Futures and eMarketer have come together to deliver key stats and forecasts on the trends that will shape the industry for years to come.
Related Content
Want to take a deeper dive into voice marketing? ANA Members have access to brand stories, case studies, and expert webinars you won't find anywhere else.
Hacking Prime Day
ANA. November 2019
Honey Nut Cheerios created a promotional campaign that leveraged one of the biggest shopping days of the year to “hack” voice SEO.
Alexa Play My Song
ANA. March 2020
Amazon promoted its Echo smart speaker in India with a campaign that showcased the device's ability to play music in response to a simple voice command.
B2B Marketers Find Their Voice
ANA. October 2019
For B2B marketers to optimize voice technology they need to use natural, everyday language — and work closely with sales to deploy the right words and/or terms.
Download Now!
Consumers are rapidly adopting smart speakers and becoming more comfortable incorporating voice-enabled technology into their day-to-day lives. At the same time, the technology that powers these devices is becoming better and more accurate. How can marketers get in on the action and leverage this new touchpoint along the customer journey?
ANA Marketing Futures gathered information from industry experts and leading brands to explore the ways voice technology is influencing the industry today and the many changes it’s poised to bring about in the years to come. Download the report to learn more about Alexa skill development, voice search optimization, and consumer preferences as related to voice search.
Download the full report today!
Duane Forrester
VP of Industry Insights
Yext
“This is going to become your first layer of customer service, and you want it to be extraordinary. If it answers every question in detail, consumers will continue to summon it over and over; they say your brand name, and it burns into their minds that your brand is useful. There’s huge opportunity in that space right now.”
Key Stats
ANA Marketing Futures and eMarketer have come together to deliver key stats and forecasts on the trends that will shape the industry for years to come.
Related Content
Want to take a deeper dive into voice marketing? ANA Members have access to brand stories, case studies, and expert webinars you won't find anywhere else.
Hacking Prime Day
ANA. November 2019
Honey Nut Cheerios created a promotional campaign that leveraged one of the biggest shopping days of the year to “hack” voice SEO.
Alexa Play My Song
ANA. March 2020
Amazon promoted its Echo smart speaker in India with a campaign that showcased the device's ability to play music in response to a simple voice command.
B2B Marketers Find Their Voice
ANA. October 2019
For B2B marketers to optimize voice technology they need to use natural, everyday language — and work closely with sales to deploy the right words and/or terms.
Download Now!
Blockchain technology is a distributed, decentralized ledger that can be used to track anything of value. Its applications to the marketing digital supply chain are still being explored, but there is optimism around its ability to increase accountability within the digital advertising ecosystem.
ANA Marketing Futures spoke with marketers and experts across the industry to get their perspective on blockchain as it relates to marketing, and created a guide containing expert perspectives and tips for those considering blockchain technology for their brands.
About ANA Marketing Futures
Knowing that marketers are increasingly challenged in their efforts to keep up with the latest trends and technologies, the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) tasked itself with creating a program designed to help marketers anticipate—and prepare for—the future of marketing.
ANA Marketing Futures is what emerged. With a focus on innovative topics and emerging trends, ANA Marketing Futures provides resources that will influence and inform via member cases, research studies, and insight from industry innovators. Check back often to learn about emerging trends and become inspired to take steps toward the growth of your business.
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