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Blink and you’ll miss it. The usage of voice assistants has reached the fine line between utility and ubiquity. With over 3.5 billion users worldwide, half the world population, speaking to their smart phones, smart speakers, appliances, personal electronics, and automobiles every month - the only question you should be asking yourself as it relates to your brand is “How do I get them to listen to us?” In this episode of The Voice CEO, let's cover the key areas of focus when starting out with voice assistants for consumer engagement.

As a marketer new to leveraging voice experiences, there are a few things to consider as you enter the idea stage of your voice experience - BEFORE you even start on designing and developing it. In this episode we cover what are 3 essential tips to know as you start to strategize around voice for your consumer engagement. Our shoutout voice experiences for this episode: Xbox Game Pass, Decoy Wines, and the 10-day Clarity Plan by Doc Williams

Let's go into an introduction into the Voice Assistant Funnel (VAF) and how to put it to work for your business. Use the Voice Assistant Funnel to turn Voice Assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant into lead generating experiences your customers and prospects will love.

Wrapping up our 5 part series is the PaS Strategy. The Product and Service Assistant Strategy, or PaS, builds upon services and products you’ve already provided or sold. Leveraging Voice Assistants to provide follow-on support in a personal, authentic voice helps amplify your brand relationship and grow your consumer relationship beyond the sale. Your PaS Assistant can become your first line of support and value-add to your customers.

Audio-based programming, specifically podcast consumption, has experienced a renaissance in the past 5 years and the future is bright for the medium. Never has so much engaging and entertaining pure-audio based content been available on-demand. Now what if audience members could consume AND engage - at the same time. What if instead of just listening to your podcast, your audience could engage the time of consumption? This is the idea behind the Interactive Audio Programming strategy and part 4 of our 5 part series.

Choose Your Own Adventure books were created by Edward Packard in the early 1970s and, you could say, are the original “virtual reality game.” Painting a picture of a whole new world, engaging reader imaginations, and taking them on adventures of their own choosing long before they could do the same using a game system connected to their TVs or slipping on a headset. Use the Choose Your Own Adventure Strategy to engage customers, prospects and fans via Voice Assistants in a way that builds your brand and drives deeper relationships.

What if I told you that a great leap in convenience is happening again and it’s happening now? That leap is voice assistants and voice technology. Through Voice Assistants, like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, we empower our customers, our patients, and our fans to engage with us in ways that are both personal and scalable. In Part 2 of our Strategy Series (2 out of 5), we'll cover the Virtual Hero Strategy and what it could mean for you, your brands, and your customers.

Voice experiences, as Alexa Skills for Amazon Alexa, Actions for Google Assistant, or Capsules for Samsung Bixby, are an easy, personal way to connect with consumers via Voice Assistants. The kinds of voice experiences you create may depend on the nature of the products or services you produce. Voice experiences, properly executed, have the potential to deliver great value to consumers at a time when they need it most. We put together five strategies for voice experiences you can leverage via Voice Assistants to increase brand awareness, increase engagement, and drive deeper consumer relationships during the pandemic and beyond. In this episode, we present the Knowledge Butler strategy that leverages assets you likely already have to create a value-adding, lead generating voice experience for consumers regardless of your niche or industry.

If you don’t pay enough attention to the on-boarding experience of your Voice Strategy, you’ll suffer through lousy engagement numbers and end up overspent on your awareness marketing without much to show for it. What is the on-boarding piece of the Voice Strategy puzzle? How you get from click to "Hello!" is vital to the success of your voice strategy. Dive into this weeks episode and have a look at what the on-boarding experience for users of your voice application is like. In this episode, we take a look at three different strategies for on-boarding new users from your awareness campaigns and, hopefully, show the best option for marketers.

Like the early years of the iPhone, we’re in the early years of voice-based, voice-first computing. Marketers must embrace the fact that consumer engagement is moving towards a more voice-first (and audio-first) experience so they can be better positioned to leverage voice to grow consumer relationships, grow brands, and grow revenue. What is challenging for marketers to agree on is where does the Voice Experience “exist?” Who “owns” the Voice Experience Strategy? Is voice an extension of our Content Strategy? Or is voice about branding? Is it an extension of our Branding Strategy? Dive in to answer the question "Are Voice Experiences Part of Your Content Marketing Strategy or Your Brand Strategy?"

Savvy marketers learn early that driving users to a voice experience on Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant can be challenging. Presumably, there are so many hurdles for getting the masses onto your voice app. Amazon Quick Links (and Google Actions counter part) are the starting point for overcoming new user acquisition and on-boarding for your voice app. Marketers that leverage this feature will quickly realize how much easier it makes driving awareness and how much it improves the customer experience. Learn all about quick links in this weeks episode of The Voice CEO.

As with any new and emerging consumer technology, the individuals and organizations that are first to leverage voice assistants and voice technology to engage consumers will be the ones best positioned to deliver value via voice in the long-term. Getting started with voice experiences today introduces new brand building and relationship building opportunities to your engagement strategy. In this third and final part of the Marketers and Researchers Guide To Voice Assistants, we’re going to cover everything you need to get started leveraging voice assistants to reach your goals. Grab your favorite tea or cup of joe and your notepad.

Voice assistants, like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, offer marketers and researchers today a growing opportunity to engage with and empower consumers, patients, and fans. Studies continue to show that, when we engage with brands via voice assistants, we feel a stronger, more personal connection with the brands. If you have already listened to part 1 of this three part series, you have a good foundation on what the landscape for voice assistants looks like today. This next part of our guide will give you an understanding of the kinds of voice experiences and voice applications consumers are engaging with, what they do great, and why they work so well.

For marketers and researchers, navigating the voice assistant ecosystem and knowing which, how, when, and why to leverage them in your projects can easily become a confusing experience. We're making things a little easier for you with a 3-part crash course in voice assistants, how to leverage them for marketing, branding, and research, and finally what to consider and how to launch your first voice app for Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and beyond.

The Voice CEO: Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant response to the pandemic, schools use Alexa to engage students, Alexa becomes a resource to the partially sighted and blind of Lancashire, and voice AI lends a much needed hand to call centers.

The Voice CEO: ApTask shows recruiters how voice is done, Alexa gets smarter on meds, Google and Amazon launch new features for Woman's History Month, and Kia wants you to get to know their cars via voice.

This week: How can hospitals make the experience better for patients with voice technology? Apollo has a good idea on how, KidKraft and Amazon team up to give kids more than just plastic lettuce, Wyze might be bringing Alexa to your wrist at the lowest price point yet, and Nutella dares you to dump your syrup for National Pancake day!

In this week's episode, you'll discover how sports teams are leveraging voice to engage fans as Real Madrid launches the first soccer team voice experience in Spain, how Amazon helped bring Colonel Sanders to the Amazon Alexa, and how electric vehicles are demystified via voice.

- The Voice CEO: Rob Lowe finds a home in your Alexa thanks to Atkins, - Liverpool Victoria General Insurance introduces a new voice app and a new communication channel for policyholders, - Those living with blindness now find a helpful voice in Alexa - Road To SampleCon experience is live for market researchers!

January 10th, 2020 - Amazon Alexa coming to Ravian and Lamborghini - JBL and the new JBL Tune earbuds bring Google and Amazon into your ears - Samsung Bixby and the Galaxy Home mini - Exxon introduces paying for gas via your in-car Amazon Alexa - Google Assitant comes to JFK Airport to help reduce language barriers and improve customer service.