Nearly 70 percent turn to a voice-activated assistant to search for information about local places on a weekly basis.
More parents than non-parents are using voice-activated assistants like Alexa and Siri on a weekly basis, according to research from Think With Google — indicating that marketers looking to appeal to moms and dads have an increased incentive to develop a voice strategy.
In fact, nearly 70 percent of parents turn to a voice-activated assistant weekly to “search for and get information about local places,” compared to just 52 percent of non-parents — and their use also exceeds that of non-parents in categories like creating to-do lists and managing calendars.
It’s easy to see why: When you have your hands full with young children, voice is the easiest interface to use, as it doesn’t require picking up a device to text or swipe. It’s quick, and it’s intuitive — meaning that it’s simple for parents who have technology to use it to power more aspects of their daily lives.
Thus, for brands looking to market specifically to parents (toy companies, maternity apparel purveyors, and many more), this means developing a voice strategy such that the brand is easily discoverable in a voice search — and perhaps even becomes a voice assistant’s “preferred answer” in unbranded search situations.
Follow My Voice
How? As Collin Holmes wrote previously for GeoMarketing, “local search [is] increasingly critical as consumers turn to their voice devices, and eventually their connected cars and appliances, to immediately find solutions, offers and services that are convenient and nearby. Brands must curate each of their location’s marketing and business listings accordingly to capitalize on this new channel to engage with customers.”
Having accurate and up to date listings and information across platforms is the first step. Then, marketers must think in question-and-answer format, aiming to markup their site with content that answers the precise questions users may be asking about a brand when they use voice.
“Some of this work is simple — if technical — while other elements are more difficult to move the needle on,” explained Duane Forrester, search marketing expert and VP of industry insights at Yext [Full disclosure: Yext owns GeoMarketing. More details on that relationship here]. “[But] including structured data mark up on your page can help (and www.schema.org is a great starting point for this). That’s a technical item you can directly change.”
