Voice Technology Is Changing The Future of Marketing

81% of consumers say they are more likely to purchase a new home that has smart technology. – Techjury

Gone are the days when advertisers and brands would be happy to just target passive audiences through advertisements of one-way communication platforms like print, broadcast, billboards, etc. Not only are they highly cumbersome to execute, but it is also difficult to measure the outcome out of those traditional campaigns. In today’s day and age of technology, where the customers enjoy virtually unlimited access to information, content, and entertainment, marketers need more than just eyeballs.

Besides the overflow of information, there is also this added problem of shortened attention span amongst the consumers. Given these circumstances, voice and audio ads became the best solution amongst all audiovisual advertising to help brands engage more and more qualitatively with their consumers. This brings us to the next important question:

What Are Voice Ads?

Simply put, voice ads or interactive voice ads, as they are more commonly known, are a form of brand engagement using digital voice channels like mobile streaming devices and various other infotainment systems. This is a form of voice-activated ad; they speak directly with the consumers, inviting them to participate by responding with words. The most common form of getting the consumer’s attention by advertising voice is to pass on helpful information, share an exclusive offer just for the listener, or even share a simple promo code, thus allowing the consumer to accept the personal offer or reject it.

With voice-over advertisements, consumers can decide which parts of the promotions they wish to engage with. To summarise, voice-over ads work as they ask consumers whether they want to hear more, taking permission from the user to identify the level of interaction, thus being more effective in any brand’s attempt to engage with their audience. Various voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, google assistant, etc, and the different voice-enabled devices of today make the voice in advertising possible.

Simply put, they are found to be effective in today’s day and age to cut through all the noise the consumer could potentially encounter and encourage him to participate in the branding exercise.

Still, wondering why the voice in advertisements is the future? Well, here’s a little statistics to get you started: “118 million people in the US engage in some form of voice search activity at least monthly.”

What Media Formats Can Be Used?

Since all the content for voice ads are digital, there are various formats that these can come in, depending upon where they would be used. The most sought-after format today is podcast format. Sponsoring a podcast is considered to be one of the safest bets. Another technique used by brands is to support Alexa flash briefings. Music streaming platforms are yet another prevalent means for voice ads. A trend that is on the rise today is audio blog posts. It might also make sense to use these channels to reach out to their customers for specific brands. With various streaming platforms like YouTube, Spotify, and SoundCloud gaining popularity, there are many distribution platforms to chose from.

How to Create a Compelling Voice Ad?

Like all marketing campaigns, audio ads too require a significant amount of planning before execution. While there are many platforms one can use today to broadcast these audio advertisements, for a compelling voice ad, there are primarily three elements while working on how to make voice advertising:

• It all starts with the script: Take any audio advertising examples, and you will almost always find the script as the campaign’s backbone. The script should always be conversational that resonates well with the target audience it is being created for. A conversational script almost always helps make a connection between the listener and the brand. It is also critical to ensure that the voice used resonates well with the brand as well. Before working on the script, it is essential to decide on the conversation’s intensity and the CTA from the conversation. Be gentle in your push yet, ensure that the script delivers the desired CTA.
• Everything should bind together to create the mood for the audience: There’s more to a voice ad than just the script or the voice for ads. In the audio for ads, there are also various music and other sound effects that help create the mood for the consumer. It is critical to ensure that attention is provided to each element that forms a part of the voice ad.
• Always attempt to form an emotional connection with the audience: If a voice ad can help build an emotional connection with the audience, the chances of that customer transacting with your brand go significantly high. The audio for ads, together with the voice, can weave magic in the consumer’s mind, and that will always be a game-changer from the brand’s perspective. Also, it helps to maintain a slower voice delivery in voice ads to depend on the listener’s connection.

Why do Brands Use Voice Ads for Branding?

Long before voice technology became widely used, brands sought out the possibilities for voice-enabled advertising. JetBlue was the first to experiment with this format in 2013 when it created a conversational game in collaboration with the advertising platform Mobile Theory, and Toys R Us followed suit shortly after with a voice-activated questionnaire that assisted consumers in choosing holiday gifts. NPR was an early entrant on the content publishing side to address this need, selling these advertising through their smartphone and in-vehicle apps, allowing users to respond when their screen turned off, or their hands were tied.

Users respond more positively to voice-enabled commercials than to other types of ads, according to recent surveys. According to Adobe, 38 percent of consumers who have encountered voice commercials say they are less obtrusive than traditional advertisements (TV, print, web, and social media), and 39 percent believe they are more engaging. According to a bit of research conducted by Instreamatic.ai, the company behind Pandora’s voice ad program, speech commercials were ten times more effective than those broadcast through an online radio streaming service. – If not done correctly, the voice ad, like any other kind of advertising, could have negative consequences.

In an August 2018 poll, eMarketer discovered that 42 percent of 1,079 respondents thought digital ads were getting “too aggressive” since they followed you across various devices and browsers. We live in an era when advertising can be found on almost any gadget. Adblocker usage is increasing year over year on both desktop and mobile, indicating that digital consumers are increasingly looking for ways to remove advertisements from their life. Will consumers want voice advertising to replace traditional techniques to avoid ad fatigue, or will it be beneficial as an additive component of a campaign?

It’s crucial to remember that brands live in the minds of consumers, regardless of your advertising technique. This means that a user’s reaction to a voice encounter may not always be as expected. Fortunately, voice can capture periods of verbal dissonance and disclose helpful information, such as, “How does my customer wish I was talking with them?” NPR realized the value of this approach in 2014, and other competitors have been sluggish to catch up.

Voice advertisements may record how a user feels about a product’s promotion, giving brands a new way to uncover and resonate messages. The true power of voice-activated ads is their capacity to capture analytics with intent. As the market matures, marketers will have more opportunities to engage in deeper discussions with their target customers.

Yes, voice advertisements are still in their early days; however, make no mistakes, they are making giant strides. With the e-commerce industry snowballing, they naturally benefit from audio for advertisements, and why should they not. With the way AI is making rapid progress and the vast potential for voice in advertising, this advertisement technology is here to stay. It will be the technology of choice for the near future marketers and brands alike. As more and more data-driven decisions get taken and gain popularity and precedence, voice ads powered by AI will only grow from strength to strength.

To summarise, how will voice ads help various brands connect with their audience? The answer perhaps lies in these words by Walter Landor – “Products are made in a factory, but brands are created in mind.”

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