Brands Will Have To Adapt To Voice-FIrst Techs, Or Bust

Companies and the brands they represent will have to adapt their strategies to fit into the upcoming wave of voice-first technologies. If this emerging development catches them unaware, they risk losing the next generation of young consumers who are growing up guided by Google's Voice Access, and sung to by the playlist they pick on Alexa.

Forbes ominously warns that voice-first technologies just might change the face of advertising - as we "know it" today. It has started with our lifestyle behavior and will continue with the way that we browse, chat, and do business on the web. In the near future, internet users will regard typing keywords on a search engine and browsing on the results that pop up as archaic and outmoded as the obsolete talk-and-text mobile phone. The children who will grow to become adults one day will get used to asking chatbots and voice-equipped machines to just recite to them the web search results. Later on, they will ask these same smart devices to recommend the nearest but hottest restaurants or book their flights to their favorite vacation spots.

Advertisers and marketers face the challenge of entering their brands into these conversations. A typical user today can do web research about a work-related topic at the same time that he clicks on a retail portal to buy a pair of shoes. Voice-first technologies will be different by creating a firm dividing line between content-driven conversation and promotional material.

For example, a user chatting with his voice-first tech about strategies to use in his next basketball game will be infuriated if the voice-tech suddenly stops midway to announce the launch of a new cafe near the user's golf club. Advertising in this matter would appear intrusive, unwelcome, and the kind of hard-sell that turns users off.

Huffington Post points out that Amazon's Alexa is creating a middle ground where brand advertising can be a seamless part of the conversation between the voice-first technology and his user. First, to get an idea of the Alexa experience, watch this video.

Now, take the usual scenario of the Alexa owner asking the device to perform its usual evening rituals: tone down the lighting, play soft music, and read the weather report. Smart and sly programming can ease in a question or two if the user would want to order pizza from Domino's before he goes to bed. Or would he want to listen to the latest headlines just published by The New York Times?

The brand and its products are promoted without irritating the owner. it may not be the stunning, slam-dunk experience that marketers usually launch to capture their market, but it is a promising beginning. It can also be the foundation on which the company will build its presence on the soon-to-come 'voice web.'