The search for information using voice commands, or the use of voice assistants for various purposes, is gaining in relevance – not just on smartphones, but also with smart speakers. B2B enterprises can take advantage of this development for their marketing.
Voice marketing is becoming more and more relevant
Voice marketing is basically nothing new. Radio ads have always relied on audio messages using voices and music. But new formats and technologies are making this discipline play an ever-more leading role in the marketing mix. The word about podcasts as a sub-discipline of content marketing, the use of voice assistants or voice search functions by customers quickly gets out. The biggest advantage of the spoken word: the marketing message can be taken in passively. Unlike the written word, it does not necessarily require the listener’s full attention.
Back in 2018, a Pindrop survey among 500 IT and business decision-makers in the USA, France, Germany and the UK found that voice marketing can look forward to a promising future. A total of 94 per cent of those surveyed estimated that they will use AI-based voice assistants in customer dialogues by the year 2020.
„Back in 2018, a Pindrop survey among 500 IT and business decision-makers in the USA, France, Germany and the UK found that voice marketing can look forward to a promising future.“
Chances for voice marketing in B2B
A host of measures and channels are ideal for communicating advertising messages using voice marketing:
Voice search marketing for digital voice assistants
Voice assistants have finally made it big among the wider population in 2020. As the second edition of the OMD survey “The Age of Voice” (German) found, nearly every second German uses a digital voice assistant at least once a week. And this is taking place not so much on smartphones as on smart home devices. A total of 89 per cent of intensive users of voice assistants also use a smart speaker.
As a result, there is enormous potential in this area for B2B marketing purposes. After all, 40 per cent of those surveyed who perform voice searches privately also do so professionally, as reported by dmexco.com. It therefore makes sense to adapt your search engine optimisation to account for voice-based searches, to ensure your products or services on offer appear at the top of the search’s hits list. Within the scope of a marketing meeting, for instance, it could be possible to directly get a decision rolling and bring the relevant business contacts or cooperating partners, such as agencies, on board using the voice search function. Decision-making processes and paths are therefore made much shorter.
Developing an own voice app
More and more companies are developing their own voice apps for use with voice assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa or the Google Assistant. To date, this discipline has been mainly used in the B2C sector. But as long as voice apps offer true added value, they are also possible for the B2B environment. Customers can not only use an enterprise’s services in a comfortable way, they can also be inspired to be curious about the brand thanks to creative features and offers.
B2B podcast marketing
Podcasts have also long been established in the B2B sector. According to the “B2B Podcast Monitor 2020” (German), podcasts allow for a public presence and a targeted reach – especially when it comes to niche topics, which are often within the B2B realm. Messages and stories are communicated via this format to make a long-term impression and thus form fertile advertising ground. With voice ads in industry-relevant podcasts, enterprises can reach a tightly knit target group, and with content marketing in the form of an own brand podcast, reinforce the brand.
Detailed information on the topic and a real-life example are available in the Visable interview on how B2B companies can profit from podcasts as a marketing channel.
