Voice Search Marketing
Strategies for the successful use of digital voice assistants.
Are voice assistants going to change the way we do marketing?
It was in 2018 that I was asking myself this question while testing utterances for an weekly Alexa newsletter. At that time I was working full-time as a Digital Marketing Manager for Amazon Fire Tablets in Europe and I was close to finishing a Master's degree in Digital Marketing at the Steinbeis School of Management and Innovation. I was struggling to find a research topic and in a moment of dispair, I asked "Alexa, how do I write my Master's Thesis?". Her response: "Here is what I found: Writing Your Master's Thesis: From A to Zen by Lynn P Nygaard. Do you want me to add it to your cart?". This was the moment I decided that my Master's Thesis was going to be about Voice Search.
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Voice Search Marketing is here to stay.
The application of digital voice assistants has been spreading in the US since 2015. In Germany, about one third of the population between the ages of 17 and 69 used such a tool in 2017. This not only creates new opportunities but also new challenges for businesses as the results of a voice search often only deliver a single result.​
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How can businesses ensure the visibility of their product or brand regardless? Per my experience at Amazon, I know that big vendors like Microsoft, Sony, Electronic Arts, and many more, particularly fear that voice assistants don't play advertisements. In fact, one question I was regularly asked by videogame vendors was "Can you make Alexa recommend the new edition instead of the old one?" or "Can you make Alexa recommend the bundle offer?".
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While I didn't have the answers at the time, my research led to some recommendations. In 2019 I decided to publish my thesis so you can learn about Voice Search Marketing too. My book shows how you can have voice assistants like Alexa and Google present your products so you no longer have to worry about your digital visibility.
