How to take advantage of voice optimisation, search and marketing
Originally published on The Drum
Here at PinPoint Media we like to have our finger firmly on the pulse, which is why we are starting to use voice more and more for our clients and ourselves. Our inaugural podcast ‘Success Is In The Mind’ recently won the Campaign Publishing Awards for Podcast of the Year in the Business and Media category so it’s clear we know a thing or two about audio, voice and what ‘good’ sounds like. It’s no surprise to us to hear that businesses globally are now seriously starting to look at voice optimisation and voice search as part of their ever-growing artillery of marketing tools, but why should you be joining them?
It’s likely you will have experienced, used, or own a smart speaker personally even if you haven’t considered the business implications. With nearly 70% of US smart speaker owners using Amazon Alexa the ability to communicate directly into your customers home or office is at the cusp of rapid growth, making it the perfect time to become an early adopter and get ahead of your competitors!
Why use voice?
Smart home and the IoT (Internet of things) are becoming so prevalent that many house builders are ensuring new builds are ‘online’ so that voice can be used to control devices. Plus, with over a quarter of UK homes owning a smart speaker, voice is certainly not something to shy away from.
But it is not just limited to smart speakers or smart homes. Predicted to be an £83bn market by 2023 Google have announced that in 2019 20% of their searches were voice rising to nearly 50% this year (2020).
How to use voice?
So, how can your business get involved in ‘voice’?
Podcasting - With 850,000 active podcasts globally and some 30 million episodes available, podcasting is an easily accessible, palatable and engaging form of voice marketing or voice usage. Whether you launch your own podcast or look to be invited onto already established shows, this is a great opportunity to use audio marketing for exposure.
Audio Transcriptions – Audio transcriptions allow the reader to listen to an article or blog in audio form, enabling the article to rank for voice online, enhance voice SEO and reach a larger market (for example those who are hard of sight). Think about using voice transcription embedded into your blogs or articles to take advantage of voice optimisation.
Smart Speakers – Develop your voice strategy in conjunction with an Amazon Developer account to engage with your prospects directly in their home. This approach enables you to build out voice content that can be searched when prospects ask a particular question, such as, “Alexa what’s my local Pub?”.
SCHEMA Markup Optimisation - Embed SCHEMA Code into your website to allow for key information to be optimised and relayed through smart speakers and smart phones. This approach can help your information to be relayed when you ask questions such as, “OK Google, how do I cook a sponge cake?”.
We believe that voice is here to stay, so why not get started to make sure you are ahead of your competitors when it comes to voice optimisation, search and marketing.
How we can help you with voice optimisation, search and marketing
We are experts in creating voice which will work for your business. We can guide you through the process for voice optimisation, SCHEMA Markups, Podcasting or Amazon Alexa.
We are storytellers. We create content that works. If you are struggling to add voice to your strategy, this is also something we can help shape for you with our content strategy team. You wouldn't set off on a journey without a destination, so don’t tackle voice without a strategy.
