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Susan and Scot Westwater joined me on “The Business Storytelling Show” to discuss the emerging marketing trend of voice content marketing.
We discuss:
Key topics covered include optimizing for voice search, developing voice skills for assistants like Alexa, creating engaging audio content, and building conversational experiences.
What is voice content marketing?
Voice content marketing refers to creating, optimizing and distributing audio content through voice interfaces. This includes voice search optimization, voice skills, podcasts, conversational content, and synthetic voice narration.
Content marketing is typically more focused on answering what people search for. For example, content marketers have long created content for topics like “How to do <one thing or another>” that their target audience searches for. Voice content marketing is that extension from “traditional” text-only content marketing to voice.
Factors driving the rise of voice content marketing include increased adoption of voice assistants, shifts in search behavior, popularity of audio, and new engagement channels like smart speakers and connected cars.
Voice content marketing means creating audio content optimized for voice interfaces like voice assistants, smart speakers, chatbots and voice apps.
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It includes voice search optimization, voice skills/actions, podcasts/audio content, conversational experiences, and synthetic narration.
Ultimately, the goals are to be discoverable via voice search, provide value through audio, and create engaging voice-first experiences.
How brands can win in voice
To do voice content marketing, brands should research audience voice needs, optimize written content for voice search, develop useful voice skills, produce engaging audio assets, and experiment with conversational experiences.
Best practices include obsessing about usefulness over promotion, conveying brand personality through voice, repurposing existing assets into audio, starting simple, and testing different types of voice content.
In a nutshell:
- Research audience voice search behavior and needs, but also keep in mind that behaviors are still evolving. Don’t get caught in the “my audience doesn’t do that” trap.
- Optimize written content for conversational voice queries
- Develop useful voice skills that solve consumer needs
- Produce audio interviews, guides, podcasts and other audio assets
- Experiment with AI chatbots and custom voice apps
- Consider using synthetic AI voice narration
- Obsess about usefulness and solving real consumer needs
- Ensure brand personality shines through in voice
- Repurpose existing assets like blogs and videos into audio
- Start simple with a pilot before scaling up voice initiatives
- Integrate voice content with overall content strategy
- Test and measure different types of voice content
Voice is still emerging, but building voice content marketing foundations today can help brands gain expertise and connections with audiences on conversational platforms.
Read next: What’s voice search SEO?
Why now?
Voice assistant adoption is rising in U.S. households, so are voice searches and audio content keeps increasing in popularity with consumers. Brands that ignore voice risk missing out on reaching key audience segments. The brands that start testing and learning voice content best practices today will gain expertise that pays dividends down the road.