Scot Westwater, CCO of Pragmatic Digital Discusses if Organizations Are Ready for the Voice Revolution (Episode 181)
Welcome, Scot Westwater!
Scot Westwater is the CCO of Pragmatic Digital and his wife Susan is the CEO. Pragmatic Digital are leaders in the space when it comes to understanding strategy, marketing, and overall development of voice skills.
What is Scot’s Origin Story with the Voice Industry?
Scot has been in technology and advertising his entire career. He had a creative director that told him back in the day that the internet thing is just a fad; however, Scot saw the promise and potential of the internet even back in the day. More recently, he saw the potential of voice and and jumped in to the industry.
Is Voice a Fad?
Based on the research that Scot did with Vixen Labs Voice Consumer Index, they found that 56% of Americans are using voice assistants currently. You can download this white paper from the Vixen Labs website. There is a lot of data there that really suggests that voice is already happening, however businesses are not quite there yet.
What is the Reason for this Gap?
Scot thinks the reason for this gap is that some organizations prioritize other initiatives over voice. He also found that some larger CPG brands are probably not going to invest until 2023-2024 when they expect bigger market saturation.
Scot mentioned that one important aspect of voice is that we need to examine why businesses are not willing to invest. What can we do to build something that we can get out directly to consumers?
Scot shared that education and use cases will be important but the opportunity is there if someone wants to take the initiative and build something themselves.
What Types of Conversations is Scot Having When it Comes to Voice?
Scot says that people are aware that voice search exists, however, the shift has gone to how can we use it in a meaningful way right now. Scot believes that people want to see the ROI around 6 months after it launches. A lot of work still needs to be done on AI education and where it can best benefit the business.
It is essential to look at voice and AI and determine how both of those together are going to move the needle in an organization in a meaningful way.
Scot mentioned that the biggest challenge in organizations is still R & D and is very experimental.
What Services Does Pragmatic Digital Offer?
Their specialty is focusing on consulting and strategy when it comes to the value of voice to a company or client. A big part of it is how voice can deliver business and user value for the marketplace.
The Voice Strategy Book
The inspiration for their book came from their audience that saw value in their content and presentations. The first 1/3 of the book focuses on the opportunity that voice represents and the last 2/3 discusses processes, techniques, and frameworks.
Voice Marketing Book Launching Soon
This book is a collaboration with Colleen Fahey and Larry Minsky (who are authors of Audio Branding). For this book, they are going to go with a traditional publisher versus self-publishing. The expected launch date for this book will be the end of 2022 or the beginning of 2023.
Connect with Scot Westwater and Pragmatic Digital
Click here to view Scot’s links.
Thank You to the Sponsors of The Voice Den:
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