In this episode, Teri welcomes Doug Schumacher, Co-founder, Content Strategist, and Advertising Creative Director at Zuum, and Writer and Producer of the podcast, Homie & Lexy, to talk about marketing trends in the voice-first technology world.

Welcome Doug Schumacher!

Doug Schumacher is a marketing guru. He has extensive experience in radio, advertising copy-writing, new media marketing, and is a leader in voice-first technology marketing strategies. He comes on the show today to discuss the future of marketing for voice, and using voice for marketing.

We covered a lot of ground in this interview, and below you’ll find a summary of the key take-home messages.

How to Market A Voice-First Product

  • Start by identifying your target audience and the competitive landscape
  • Determine your product’s/service’s distinct advantages
  • Consider creating broad, high-level branding messages on multiple channels (i.e. podcasts, flash briefings, voice skills, etc.)
  • In the new market of voice-first technologies, there are some specific challenges that must be considered:
    • Discoverability – how will your product be discovered?
    • Location – Where will the product/device be located? (i.e. home, mobile, car?)
    • Timing – When is the best time to target your audience? (e.g. when people are in their kitchen in the evening, preparing dinner?)
    • Call to Action – As voice tends to be a linear 1-dimensional experience, without easy access to a website, where will you direct your customers/clients?

How to Use Voice First Technology for Marketing

  • Start with a simple voice strategy, a voice experience that is essentially a minimum viable product
  • The key is to actually take action and enter the voice-first space now
  • Voice-first marketing offers an opportunity for brands to personalized themselves so clients and customers can engage with the organization in a more intimate way
  • Flash briefings are prime real estate, equivalent to the front page of google
    • The end of flash briefings are excellent “locations” to promote specific skills, making for a more streamlined approach to discoverability.

Differences in Voice First Marketing compared to other Mediums

  • Voice-first technology is a very fluid, natural interface
  • Invoking a voice app is very simple, and allows for a more streamlined experience (compared to finding a podcast on a phone app, for example)
  • With voice-first technology marketing materials, you are not confined to a specific time slot or time frame (compared to a specified 30 second radio commercial, for example)

Social Media and Voice First Technology

  • Voice-first technology is the “anti-social” media, as there are NOT a million people talking at once!
  • Currently, it’s not easy to share voice skills
  • This will likely change over time

Homie & Lexy Podcast/Skill

Practising what he preaches, Doug has created a tremendously funny and entertaining podcast, Homie & Lexy.

Homie & Lexy is a podcast that documents the adventures of 2 AI voicebots, Google Home (AKA Homie) and Amazon Alexa (AKA Lexy) residing in the same house. When their owners step out, the voicebots discuss the perplexing human world around them.

We are very fortunate to have Lexy making her debut live appearance on this episode of Alexa in Canada! Make sure to listen to her interview and found out what Lexy really thinks about being an AI voicebot!

List of resources mentioned in this episode:

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