Agile Digital Business

Ali El-Ammori of A-1 Telecom shares a conference takeaway in Episode 19 of Agile Digital Business. Podcast host, Vickie Maris, recently gave a presentation on businesses preparing for voice search. Ali was participating in an executive education program when he was a part of the discussion on ways business can be preparing for voice and integrating voice portals in to their customer interfaces.

While he was participating in the event, he was also sending information back to his team so they could make adjustments to plans in order to better align for voice search, and customer uses of video in the path to a purchase.

This episode is a preview of an upcoming interview with Ali El-Ammori, for a future episode of the show.

If you have questions that you would like for Ali or Vickie to address in the upcoming episode, please send an email to agiledigitalbusiness @ gmail dot com.

#agiledigitalbiz

#teachinspireconnect

Host of Agile Digital Business - Vickie Maris, author, speaker, idea coach and digital marketer helping businesses prepare for voice first searches

https://vickiemaris.com

I take you behind the scenes in the recording of the narration for the audiobook, Changing Life After a Life-Changing Event: 30 Journal Prompts and Stories To Help After a Loss. In this episode, I share an example of how I use a digital voice interface for clarification on name pronunciations.

Episode 18 also includes a "sneak listen" to Day 20 of the journal, which is about having intentional thought life to help curb anxiety.

Here are the show notes and time codes for Episode 18 of Agile Digital Business:

0:00 Welcome to the episode

:25 Using a feature of the voice platform as an author/narrator; and a sneak listen of the audiobook.

1:10 Season 2 of the podcast is a focus on the voice platform, voice first and voice search.

1:27 Music and introduction of the episode

1:53 How my narrating of the audiobook leads to use of voice platform features available on the Web.

2:18 Recording several versions of the name associated with a quote in the journal, Henri Nouwen.

3:09 Microphone is on the right side of the Google search bar and is handy for several types of searches.

3:30 Samples of possible pronunciations of Henri Nouwen. https://www.howtopronounce.com/henri-nouwen/

3:48 Final pronunciation of the name used in the audiobook recording.

4:02 Request that you share this episode of Agile Digital Business with a friend.

4:08 Instructions for how to get notified when the devotional journal is published. Send an email to agiledigitalbusiness at gmail dot com.

4:45 To find the resources that I share in my "Vickie Maris" social media channels, follow the hashtag, #agiledigitalbiz and #teachinspireconnect. If you include one or both hashtags in your post, I'll be able to find it and retweet your tweet or add a thank you to your post.

5:49 If you are interested in trying a subscription to Audible and getting your first book downloaded for free, please use my affiliate link. (see next entry)

6:18 My first book available as an audiobook is Job Loss and the Cutback Blues: Journey of Grief, Uncertainty and Recovery After Being Let Go. https://www.audible.com/pd/B07R2F4FS6/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-149425&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_149425_rh_us

7:33 Opportunity to listen to a section from the audiobook that I'm currently recording, Changing Life After a Life-Changing Event: 30 Journal Prompts and Stories to Help After a Loss.

8:25 Ways to break a pattern of negative self-talk.

8:38 Activity of writing a song or a spoken request to Scott to share about value I've brought to others during the week.

9:14 Use of audio podcasts and YouTube videos for reframing your thinking.

9:25 Quote from an article by Linda Espisito about the importance of awareness to anxiety.

10:04 Exercise to write out two or more sentences about how you are bringing value to the world today.

10:17 Alternate example of asking a fellow entrepreneur to create a video of encouraging words while at the Youpreneur Summit.

11:00 Prayer in the section, Day 20, in the devotional journal.

11:27 Moped Man song on the Riverside album by Scott Greeson (this is an instrumental version in the podcast).

11:38 My shoutout to my husband, Scott Greeson, for creating the music that I use on both Agile Digital Business. The tunes are instrumental versions of: If I Had a Train, and Moped Man, from the album, Riverside. http://www.scottgreesonmusic.com

You can stream music by Scott Greeson in Pandora, Spotify and other digital directories. At the Riverside is the third song that I mention at the end of the episode.

Here are the show notes and time codes for Episode 17 about my experience in switching from the http to the https secure domain for my website. This is another step in preparing the business for voice search.

.......................

:00 Introduction of Episode 17 of Agile Digital Business which covers status of audiobook recording, to changing your web domain from http to https, to an example of how podcasts and other uses of voice serve as evergreen content in brand building. You'll also hear news in voice.

:44 Music introduction

:58 How narrating of my second audiobook has led to my study of and enthusiasm about the voice platform.

1:23 Welcome in to Episode 17.

1:33 Update on narration of audiobook, Changing Life After a Life-changing Event: 30 Journal Prompts and Stories to Help After a Loss.

1:45 Taking steps to get website updated and set up to better accommodate responses to customers using voice search.

2:13 Time in the studio narrating the audiobook version of, "Changing Life After a Life Changing Event: 30 Journal Prompts and Stories to Help After a Loss."

2:45 Fun interlude in the show when a woodpecker started pecking on the side of the farmhouse.

3:13 Sequence chosen for producing the three formats of the new book, audiobook, digital and paperback or print.

4:28 News: Project Voice Conference is coming in January 2020 in Chattenooga, Tennessee.

4:59 Visit the voicebot.ai website or search on the hashtag, #projectvoice.

5:18 Chat about downloading of the new iOS version and a change to the Apple Podcasts app.

6:06 How I'm finding other podcasts on the subject of voice, voice first and voice search marketing.

6:31 Recommendation of the podcast, Today in iOS, by Rob Walch.

6:51 Mention of hearing

6:57 Rob and Elside Escobar are co-hosts of The Feed, which is the podcast by Libsyn.

7:08 Libsyn is the service I use for hosting both of my podcasts.

7:15 Thoughts about how our recorded voice can serve as evergreen content for our brand.

7:35 Example provided of the continued downloads by second podcast is getting even without having been updated in over two years.

8:03 Considering changing the focus of Heartsong Fit over to life on our llama ranch and the training of my Connemara pony. When I first started it, the show was about conversation for the stresssed and stretched-too-thin listener. It aligned with my journey to reduce stress, eat healthier and to get fit.

8:45 Statistics about the older podcast, Heartsong Fit, that is currently not being promoted or updated.

9:40 My experience in switching my web domain from the http to the https secure domain.

10:11 A mention of the previous episode in which I talked about making sure your website is on the https domain in Episode 11, Four Website Tips to Get Ready for Voice Search.

10:48 Marketer Neil Patel has mentioned that the https domain seems to be looked upon favorably by the search engines, and can also give your customers confidence about transacting on your site. You can learn more from Neil Patel and Eric Siu in their podcast, Marketing School, https://marketingschool.io/.

11:21 Quote shared from a Google blog about the default settings for a blog to be unmarked is when it's a secure blog (https). If a blog is not secure, it will show a red marking and language that alerts the user of the status of not being secure.

12:08 How to change from http to the https domain.

12:50 Pointing of my additional domain for the podcast, agiledigitalbusiness.com over to https://vickiemaris.com.

13:27 How you can share your question or comment about these topics by leaving a voicemail for me using the SpeakPipe widget on the Contact form on my website. https://vickiemaris.com/contact

14:21 Bluehost is the hosting service used for https://vickiemaris.com. I give a shoutout of thanks to Rey in Tech Support at Bluehost for helping me make the changes to my site.

I'm affiliate for Bluehost. If you're interested in using the service for your site, I would be grateful if you follow this link to visit their site: https://www.bluehost.com/track/vickiemaris

14:40 Show notes with the time codes go live here in my Libsyn blog as soon as I publish an episode in Libsyn. https://vickiemaris2.libsyn.com

15:16 Information on how to join my community of listeners in Patreon when you support the show. Listeners who support the show at the monthly level of $10 and up will get access to my exclusive Q and A audio, https://patreon.com/vickiemaris

16:34 Another shoutout to Rey in Tech Support at Bluehost and to Greg at SiteLock for the information about service levels.

17:20 Summary of switching from http to https for my website.

As we prepare our businesses for our customers' uses of voice and their search for products and services, how are you coming along in getting your website ready?

You can leave me a voicemail at https://vickiemaris.com/contact or send me an email at agiledigitalbusiness dot com.

Let's go out and teach! Inspire! And, connect!

#agiledigitalbiz

#teachinspireconnect

Show notes and time codes for Episode 16 of Agile Digital Business

Season 2 is about the voice platform, voice first, and voice search marketing.

:03 This is Part 2 of the bonus content shared during the session by Vickie Maris on voice first and voice search in the module, Leading the Strategic Enterprise. Business leaders were studying design thinking ethics, marketing, and were introduced to voice search, voice first, and thoughts about how voice search marketing can be a part of the digital marketing strategy.

:26 Introduction to the show.

:40 Welcome to Episode 16 of Agile Digital Business with host, Vickie Maris.

:51 Points from a blog post at the Pragmatic.digital website. I highly recommend reading this article. Here's the location: https://www.pragmatic.digital/blog/basics-of-voice

1:01 A summary of the quote in the blog at Pragmatic.digital: Gartner stats about early adopter brands ... the data predicts that businesses that redesign their websites to support visual and voice search by 2021 can increase revenue from digital commerce by as much as 30 percent.

1:33 This is a section about being strategic about your company's sonic branding. Word choice, tonal inflection and expression are playing a role in your brand's persona.

2:21 I am a fan of all things voice: podcasting, use of smart speakers, audiobooks!

2:28 In my work as an author, it's part of my strategy to make sure that I narrate each of my books to have them available in audiobook format at Amazon, Audible and other places where you can download audiobooks.

If you're not yet a subscriber to Audible, you can follow this path to subscribe and you will have the option of selecting my book as your free download. It's Job Loss and the Cutback Blues: Journey of Grief, Uncertainty and Recovery After Being Let Go.

My second book is a 30-day journal, which I am currently recording in studio. It should be available in audiobook, paperback and digital formats (for Kindle or Kindle readers) in approximately early November 2019.

For your free trial of Audible, and the option of using your free book credit on my latest book, follow this URL (I'm an affiliate for Audible): https://www.audible.com/pd/B07R2F4FS6/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-149425&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_149425_rh_us

2:44 I describe the audience persona for this podcast, Agile Digital Business

3:24 Sharing content in the podcast that aligns with what you are interested in learning for your business success.

4:16 You can send in your ideas for future episode topics by

4:36 To become a supporter of the show and to get access to the once-a-month Q&A episode that I will be posting in my community out at Patreon, please visit my Patreon account, https://patreon.com/vickiemaris

4:48 Introduction of Part 2 of the bonus content shared with participants of Certificate in Executive Management in the module, Leading the Strategic Enterprise.

5:30 Reminder to listen to Part 1 of the Bonus Content which I have included in the podcast. It is episode 15 of Agile Digital Business. We left off with the information that Marcus Sheridan shares about creating the "80 percent video" for your business.

5:55 I provide examples of brand evangelists. The first one mentioned is Guy Kawasaki who is with Canva and Mercedes Benz, USA.

6:15 My second example of a brand evangelist is Brielle Nickoloff who is with Witlingo. You can hear my interview with Brielle in Episode 14, "Importance of a voice portal on Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant."

6:52 Discussion about the value to a company when one or more of its employees are developing a personal brand as they evangelize for your organization.

7:17 An idea: Rather than recruiting for a brand evangelist, why not hire a customer who is already serving in that capacity?

8:17 "As we are in this season of voice, it seems like a really great fit to have someone on your team who is in that role of brand evangelist." Vickie Maris

8:52 In the section on personal brands: "As you develop your own personal brand, and you lean in to your area of expertise, you can create content that your marketing team can use as they are promoting. They can link to it; they can make reference to it in other articles; they can use it all throughout the social media channels. It's a really impactful way to develop authority in a vertical niche." Vickie Maris

9:18 Consider the example of a CEO who is also writing a blog on a regular basis about their own area of interest and expertise. Or, maybe you can think of a person on the team who has their own podcast; or it could be a person who is sharing expertise in a personally-branded YouTube channel.

9:45 "Consider what type of content you can drive. What can you contribute for your organization that no one else knows?" Vickie Maris

9:54 "You might seek out a publication or two that you can label as your 'goal publications,' such as writing an article for Forbes or a guest post on a blog that is aligned with your expertise." Or you could seek to be a guest on a podcast.

10:17 "Now that Google is transcribing podcasts and indexing them at the individual episode level, every time that you add content in a podcast in your area of expertise, you're making it easier for your organization to be found upon search." Vickie Maris

10:36 "An increasing percentage of searches that I like to think of as the 'I'll just Google it' type of screen searches, is moving over to voice search - Siri, Google Assistant, Cortana, Alexa, others." Vickie Maris

10:56 "Is your content represented at the top of search in those voice queries?" Vickie Maris

Reminder: Part 1 of the Bonus content from my session during Leading the Strategic Enterprise is Episode 15.

And, my conversation with Brielle Nickoloff is Episode 14 of the show.

If you are not already subscribed to my show, Agile Digital Business, I invite you to join me on this journey of preparing our businesses for voice! You can subscribe for free in Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google and several other podcast directories.

I would appreciate if you would help others learn about the podcast and this Season 2 with a focus on voice, by taking a screen shot and sharing it with a friend, or use the social sharing buttons on the show notes blog page at https://vickiemaris2.libsyn.com to send it out to your favorite social channel. Thanks for listening!

Vickie Maris Author, speaker, digital marketer studying voice first, and idea coach

#agiledigitalbiz #teachinspireconnect

In the interest of full disclosure, a few of the links above that take you to my books are my affiliate links.

Final section of bonus content from the talk given at the University of Notre Dame in the Certificate in Executive Management on voice search and how it can fit in an overall marketing strategy

Pragmatic.digital

A recent blog post that shares the Basics of Voice

Garnter has gone on record as stating that by 2021, early adopter brands that redesign their websites to support visual and voice search will increase digital commerce revenue by 30%

Another section that stood out to me is the thought about your organization's sonic branding. How your brand sounds can be critical in building your customer relationships. According to the article, word choice, tonal expression, and inflection all are playing a role in your brand's persona. I would love to hear from you about how your company or organization is giving thought to your sonic brand and steps you're taking to develop its persona to align with the persona of your target audience. When I think of you, my listener, I picture the participants of the executive education sessions I've taught at the university or the people I've spoken to after I've given a talk at a conference. My thought is that if you've been fascinated enough with something I've shared, to stop by to visit with me about it, then you just very well might be in my podcast listening audience. I would love to hear from you! You can send me an email at [email protected] or you can leave me a voice message

Same ending as previous episode.

As I was preparing for the talk I gave last week about voice search and the shifts in how our customers are seeking information about our products and services, I created a document of bonus content. It included references to several interesting marketing statistics and trends and a few points mentioned by other presenters during the 2 1/2-day module, Leading the Strategic Enterprise.

As a news brief, I've recorded part of the bonus content here for you in Episode 15 of Agile Digital Business. This episode is 6:30 minutes in length.

Here are the time codes and themes of the episode:

0:34 Introduction to this brief, news episode that features part of the content that I shared with students at the end of my session last week as bonus content. I was teaching about voice search and preparing our businesses for the digital realm.

:49 Mention of the book by Mark W. Schaefer, Marketing Rebellion: The Most Human Company Wins

1:02 Reference to Episode 12 of the podcast where I provide a short commentary about Mark's book, Marketing Rebellion.

1:33 Maintain a customer focus

1:43 Insight from Jagdish Sheth who was a guest on Episode 190 of the Marketing Book Podcast, hosted by Douglas Burdett.

1:59 I mention the book, The 4 As of Marketing by Jagdish Sheth and Rajendra Sisodia. The 4As are Acceptability, Affordability, Accessibility and Awareness. Douglas Burdett and Jagdish Sheth talk about the 4As and how they differ from the 4 Ps - product, place, promotion and price. There was discussion about how the 4Ps can sometimes be internally focused.

2:30 Jagdish mentions the trend of having a marketing officer report in to a finance position. He talks about the differences when a CMO reports in to the CEO.

3:11 Another section of the Bonus Content is about the question of "who is in charge of our digital footprint?"

3:23 "Digital disrespects departments," according to international consultant and instructor, Taru Jain, CEO of Futuremarketer. He teaches in the Digital Marketing Certificate program offered by Rutgers University. He regularly posts interesting content on digital marketing and future trends in LinkedIn. I suggest that you follow him in the social media platform to keep up with the news he is sharing on a regular basis.

3:59 Joe Urbany, professor of marketing at the University of Notre Dame, taught in a professional development session for executives last week at the university. He shared information from research by Whitler, Krause and Lehmann on the percentages of people on boards of directors with marketing experience. (the average was 2.6 percent). Whitler, Krause and Lehmann research in 2015, shows that including a person with marketing experience on the board can create positive impact on shareholder value.

4:46 I share insights from Marcus Sheridan whom I have heard speak on several occasions at Social Media Marketing World Conference.

5:15 Mention of the predictions that video along the pathway to purchase for 80 percent of the purchasing decisions in 2019.

5:27 He suggests that we have a video available for each of the 7 questions that our customers ask most frequently about our products or services. He also recommends that we take the 7 videos and mesh them together for an "80% video," which is a video that answers the questions that are getting asked 80% of the time.

6:11 Thank you for listening to Agile Digital Business podcast, with host, Vickie Maris.

6:18 Let's go out and teach, inspire and connect!

You can join the online community of Agile Digital Business listeners here: https://patreon.com/vickiemaris

During my conversation Brielle Nickoloff, lead, product marketing, for Witlingo, she and I discuss the value of moving quickly in the voice platform. Hear how Amazon Alexa searches data sources to respond to voice search as well as insights about voice portals for your customers.

Nickoloff has a background in linguistics and neuroscience and user interface design. Her unique combination of degrees led her to Witlingo, which helps companies build voice experiences.

Here is our conversation and the associated time codes to help you locate key moments in the interview:

:29 Introduction from Scott Greeson

:42 Vickie Maris introduces the upcoming interview with Brielle Nickoloff, Witlingo. Vickie and Brielle met while attending the voice panel during Podcast Movement 2019.

1:53 Vickie provides background information about Brielle and her work in the voice community.

2:48 Brielle speaks three languages and has several publications to her credit. You can read more at her LinkedIn profile.

3:49 Reach Brielle via email, brielle @ witlingo dot com or through her LinkedIn profile.

4:08 How Brielle was led to the voice space. She had been double majoring in Neuroscience and Linguistics with an intent to go to Medical School.

4:32 A seminar in her linguistics program about profanity; she did a paper about why people get so frustrated with robot.

5:27 Her transition to voice for her career.

5:58 Vickie talks about taking a graduate level linguistics course during her undergraduate program

6:50 Brielle talks about the point at which she decided that she was not interested in taking the MCAT which had been part of her original plan

7:38 Contemplation of becoming a coder and attending a coding boot camp or other learning activities it would take to work in the voice space

8:21 A conversation with a best friend who was studying art and design had been sending job postings to Brielle about Google needing designers and linguists

9:03 Exploration about a career path in user experience design.

10:03 Voice design and roles in a "voice" career

10:30 Brielle began as a voice designer with Witlingo

11:22 Brielle is in a position at Witlingo that didn't exist a few years ago in this budding industry.

11:56 Reasons explained for the growth of the voice platform.

12:07 With voice, you don't have to learn how talk.

12:31 "We're finally at a point where this technology can understand us and speak back to us. Alexa was the first one. She helped make it mainstream."

13:03 "We need so many people in this field."

13:38 Vickie asks "What does a business need to do today to be ready for voice and how people are incorporating it in to their daily lives."

14:40 We're now at a point when you're in a room asking people if they know about voice assistants, everybody has at least tried it."

15:10 What does it mean to pay a company to build out a voice experience for you?

15:28 Witlingo has refined its offering to a SAS (software as a service) product for their clients. https://www.witlingo.com/

16:02 "With a website, you wanted to build your SEO roots early on when text-based search engines came out. Those who started building out very strong, rich content on any search engine were the ones who would be pushed to the top." Brielle Nickoloff

16:35 "There is no such thing anymore as seeing the 10 blue hyperlinks on Google's first page."

16:44 "If you a voice assistant a question about a brand, a company, anything; what you get back is one, single answer. It's not a bunch of options anymore."

16:56 "Even in text-based search engines, that has been a shift we're seeing as well."

17:30 "There is quite an interesting parallel between that and what is going on with voice."

17:56 "Our product is designed so that you can sit down and record FAQs about yourself or your company... It makes so that people can find what people are searching for about your company."

18:38 "There are two things to consider with voice - the content creation and the content consumption."

19:35 "In a few years, it will be an absolute table stake for your brand to have a presence in voice.

19:52 A voice assistant will first search its own, internal database. If they can't find the answer there, they move out to the voice web. In Alexa's case, it is the Alexa Skills. Then, she'll go to the web search. Alexa is powered by Bing. The Google Assistant is powered by Google.

20:51 "Planting those voice roots very early on" is important.

21:00 Web content is not designed to be consumed while you're listening to it.

21:18 "People usually use long term searches when they are conversationally asking for things."

21:38 Include general things that you want to be an authority on.

21:56 "If you are building out that rich, voice-based content, then you're going to have a leg up in the future when the algorithms are more refined and able to actually pull an answer from third-party skills in areas where you are an authority."

22:44 Invitation to grab a screen shot of this episode with Brielle Nickoloff, and share it out with your friends and colleagues.

24:00 How to add the podcast, Agile Digital Business, to your Flash Briefing on your Amazon Echo device so that you can ask Alexa to "play your flash briefing."

25:30 "We're getting a lot of traction with marketing executives who have signature power."

26:00 "We're seeing everything from B to C; B to B.

27:12 "40 percent of adults use voice search every day and that is growing rapidly."

27:44 "You have customer care: You can easily reach your customers by providing answers and information they would need, just by asking."

27:58 There is also the digital marketing aspect. You can surface first when users are searching.

28:20 Episode about adding the Alexa Skill for the podcast appeared rapidly in search results in iTunes in the top two rows of options.

30:01 "We're banking on the idea that any serious business that has a website, a Twitter, etc., that voice is the next table stake to consider."

31:02 Brielle describes Flash Briefings that you can create for Alexa users

31:24 "If you add a Skill to your Flash Briefing lineup, you never have to remember the name of the Skill to invoke it anymore."

33:06 Witlingo team is excited to be able to provide the Flash Briefing capability to companies interested in creating a Flash Briefing for their customers to enable.

33:45 Vickie provides the example of connecting her RSS feed for her podcast with her Flash Briefing Amazon Alexa Skill

34:19 Opportunity to grab embed code from your portal with Witlingo, which allows you to feature the voice of your users providing feedback.

35:05 On being "platform agnostic."

Special Offer from Witlingo to Listeners of Agile Digital Business

35:34 Brielle mentions an offer for the use of Witlingo tools for listeners who would like to try the service. If you mention that you heard about the company via Agile Digital Business podcast, the company will get you set up for a year of use of service for free. Brielle can provide more details. (Check with Witlingo about the length of this offer.)

36:56 Vickie provides an example from her experience as an author, and the importance of publishing your books in audiobook format. Her first book, Job Loss and the Cutback Blues: Journey of Grief, Uncertainty and Recovery After Being Let Go, is available as an audiobook through Amazon, Audible and other locations. The book she is about to publish will also be available as an audiobook.

37:24 Conference, Digital Bookworld, is mentioned by Brielle. Bradley Metrock (https://twitter.com/bmetrock) created the conference. It's about publishing in the age of voice and the age of digital books.

37:35 Alexa conference is now called Project Voice. Brielle highly recommends this event as well.

38:03 Show notes are in the podcast Libsyn blog, https://vickiemaris2.libsyn.com

38:29 Thank you.

39:06 Music closing

You can now search your Alexa app or the Amazon store for the Alexa Skill, "Agile Digital Business." When you enable it for your device such as an Amazon Echo smart speaker, it will pull in the news from the podcast in to your Flash Briefing. When you use a phrase such as, "Alexa, play my Flash Briefing," you will hear the news from each of news briefs you have enabled.

Developing an Alexa Skill for the podcast was a way to provide you and my other listeners with a hands-free way to catch the news from the show. I plan to provide a shorter, news brief episode in between the regular-length episodes that typically run 30-45 minutes.

Transitioning with your customer in the digital realm before it's too late – businesses, prepare for voice search

by @vickiemaris #teachinspireconnect #agiledigitalbiz

Agile Digital Business Episode 12 featuring news, references and commentary about the voice platform and voice search

From the Resources Handout prepared for a conference session talk in June 2019; revised for a talk in September 2019

2:56 Articles and blog posts on voice search

Voice Search is Coming. Is Your Business Ready? How voice search will revolutionize your business – Article in Inc.

https://www.inc.com/magazine/201906/amy-webb/voice-search-optimization-alexa-smart-speaker-retail-shopping.html

3:08 Why Tech Giants Are So Desperate to Provide Your Voice Assistant

An HBR article by Bret Kinsella about why Amazon, Google, Microsoft and others are investing in voice technology. "Voice assistants represent the third UI and technology platform shift of the past three decades, following the web in the 1990s and smartphones about 10 years ago…The shift to voice doesn't require any training. Users simply 'speak' as they do naturally."

3:20 Voice Search Statistics, Facts and Trends 2019 for Online Marketers

"Voice search and SEO is not the next big thing; it is today's big thing." In this blog post by Bradley Shaw, learn more about voice search predictions and data, from voice accuracy to audiobook data to uses of searches prior to a visit to a local business.

https://seoexpertbrad.com/voice-search-statistics/

3:35Hey Google, Alexa, Siri and Higher Ed

Impact on how we deliver, search for and market higher education. An article in Higher Ed by Ray Schroeder, Dec. 12, 2018

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/blogs/online-trending-now/hey-google-alexa-siri-and-higher-ed

3:46 The holidays ushered in a smart speaker explosion starring Amazon's Alexa and Google's Assistant: Smart speaker sales grew 78 percent in 2018.

Rani Molla wrote this blog post on Vox on Jan. 8, 2019 to review the statistics surrounding the explosive growth of smart speakers in the market. https://www.vox.com/2019/1/8/18173696/amazon-alexa-google-assistant-smart-speaker-sales-npr

4:04 Foursquare wants to know how creepy you think its new "Hypertrending" feature is

The above is the title of a blog post on 9To5Mac from March 10, 2019. It addresses the approach taken by the Foursquare app company to test how readers feel about the app's ability to heat mat the locations of people at restaurants and other businesses in Austin, Texas. https://9to5mac.com/2019/03/10/foursquare-hypertrending-feature

4:17 Who's listening when you talk to your Google Assistant?

This is an article in Wired in July 2019 that covers the topic of "who is listening to your conversations" from your Google Home Assistant. Google has made a statement about its process of having contractors review .2 percent of the recorded conversations. They say the data is not associated with an individual user of the assistant when it is being reviewed. To read more: https://www.wired.com/story/whos-listening-talk-google-assistant/

Alexa FAQs

For instructions about the commands to use when talking to Alexa on a Smart Speaker, and its many capabilities, visit this FAQ page in Amazon. https://amzn.to/2ZAnQFS

To review your voice recordings in the Alexa app:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201602040

Google Voice Search FAQs

For instructions on how to manage your Google Voice and Audio Activity, visit the "Data and personalization" link in the left-hand navigation of your Google Account.

Books 4:27Marketing Rebellion: The Most Human Company Wins by Mark W. Schaefer – I read this book in Spring 2019, and took copious notes. Mark was the closing keynote at Social Media Marketing World conference in 2019. I recommend that every marketer and every business leader who has a marketing leader reporting to them should read this book. We are in a different marketing environment today than even just a few years ago. Years of marketing experience in business (or academia) and old methods for buying and placing digital advertising, and ways of engaging with customers are causing customers to block ads and/or to seek education and entertainment that is ad-free. If you aren't already changing your plans currently to align with the new marketing revolution, this book will cause you to re-think what you've been doing in your marketing efforts.

Podcast Episodes

6:27Book Marketing: Voice Search For Authors With Miral Sattar – The Creative Penn Podcast Joanna Penn, author and podcast host, interviews Miral Sattar about the steps you can take in 2019 to help voice-activated assistants find your book upon request. In this episode, they touch on a variety of subjects from updating meta data on your web pages so that the snippets are answering the questions that people are asking in their attempts to find your books, to the importance of the audiobook format, to the differences between on-screen searches that are typed in a search engine such as Google, to asking a voice-activated assistant for a result.

7:179 Ways That Artificial Intelligence (AI) Will Disrupt Authors and the Publishing Industry

You don't have to be a book author to benefit from this episode of The Creative Penn Podcast. Joanna Penn tracks through a list she has created that indicates we're on the cusp of disruptions for authors and the publishing industry. Penn runs a multi-six-figure business as an independent author and speaker. She is published in 86 countries. Her energy and enthusiasm about AI is contagious. The insights she shares as she outlines the ways that authors and the publishing industry could be effected can provide ideas for your own business plan for the future.

9:30 Understanding Voice Search and the Future of SEO For interesting insights in to how voice is changing the "search" industry and what we might need to be expecting as businesses of the future, take a listen to this episode of Skill Up podcast. This is another episode that I've played more than once so that I could take notes on my second time through. Epsiode 7: https://www.hubspot.com/podcasts/skill-up/s01/e07-voice-search-future-seo

10:08 Measuring Position Zero's Impact on Your Business – Searchmetrics Podcast, Episode 7

This is a discussion on the difference between rich snippets and featured snippets. There is no process for submitting for featured snippets. Are you optimizing your content? Are you formatting your content in a way that it can answer a specific question? https://blog.searchmetrics.com/us/podcast-voices-of-search-rich-and-featured-snippets/

10:38 Businesses – Prepare for Voice Search – Agile Digital Business podcast

You may have heard of voice search, or use of voice-activated assistants such as Alexa which is the assistant for the Amazon Echo smart speaker. There is also the Google Home Assistant or Microsoft's Cortana, Apple's Siri, and others. As people gravitate towards voice for search, it has brought about a marketing niche that is often referred to as voice search marketing. Voice has been referred to as the next big thing. The data is showing that it IS the big thing we need to be preparing for in business and marketing of our products and services. Vickie Maris, host of Agile Digital Business podcast, discusses trends and definitions related to "voice," in Episode 10 of the show. Season 2 of the podcast is focused on voice and voice first searches, and how businesses can prepare for the platform. Find all episodes at the blog: https://vickiemaris2.libsyn.com

12:05 Voicebot.ai

For a look at the research available about voice, and to learn more about the technical side of the platform, I highly recommend viewing the website and the white papers available from Bret Kinsella and the team at Voicebot. Bret is also the host of the Voicebot podcast. Take a listen to an episode and visit the website. You won't regret it. https://voicebot.ai/author/bret/

12:44 Reminder about the homework assignment for taking steps to update your website for "voice." It is available for download at my Patreon account, https://patreon.com/vickiemaris

Sample of recent tweets around the hashtags: #voiceactivatedsearch and #voicesearch

SEMrush - @SEMrush - Sept. 10, 2019 #VoiceSearch started off as a hit-or-miss concept. It's now a hugely popular way of helping us go about our daily lives. @himanshurauthan uncovers 7 strategies of how you can optimize your site to return more answers from voice searches.* Audeliss Search - @AudelissPeople – June 17, 2019 Voice-activated systems are a $49 billion market. Now @Google is using #AI to make #voice recognition work for #people with #disabilities: (link: https://buff.ly/2FaQjKr) buff.ly/2FaQjKr @Forbes #inclusion

AIMC Biz Solutions @aimcbizolution – June 14, 2019 As of 2019, 20% of all Google searches are voice-activated – a number that's expected to leap to 50% as early as 2020. Voice search is here to stay. It's growing – and businesses who don't embrace it now are going to be left scrambling in the very near future.

13:46Webinar Replays

Podcasting in the Age of Voice Webinar – Aug. 26, 2019

Pragmatic and WIT Lingo hosted an webinar with several guests that provides interesting insights to the "voice" scene in Q3 2019. https://youtu.be/C2uY1dGRIZE

14:31Glossary of Terms

AI – Artificial Intelligence Sample tweet from @Capgemini (Intelligent Automation Platform) about AI: Explore how #AI based insights enable wealth and #AssetManagement firms to leverage the strengths of the advisors, uncover areas of improvement and promote best practices.

15:20CCPA – California Consumer Protection Act Starts Jan. 1, 2020 - https://ccpa.jebbit.com/

"By its terms, the CCPA protects the private information of California residents even when they're outside the state. This means that, if you sell anything to or market anything to or gather any data on California residents, you're subject to the CCPA's provisions and need to be ready." Kerry O'Shea Gorgone (guest post on the Grow blog by Mark Schaefer)

16:05 Flash Briefing – A Flash Briefing is a term related to Amazon Skills for Alexa-assisted devices. It's a short (10 minutes or less) news update that Alexa can read or play.

16:25 GDPR – General Data Protection Regulation Enforced May 25, 2018 In statements on the EU GDPR website it says that the GDPR is "designed to harmonize data privacy laws across Europe and to protect and empower all EU citizens' data, and reshape the way organizations across the region approach data privacy." https://eugdpr.org/

16:57 Intent – The meaning of whatever a user has verbalized to a voice-activated assistant.

17:04 Machine Learning – It's an offshoot of artificial intelligence. Machine learning makes assumptions that machines can learn from data. As patterns are determined, decisions get made with little or no human involvement.

17:18 Position Zero – The top search result in a screen-based, keyword search in a search engine such as Google. It's above the ads; it's above the snippets. It's the position used in voice search.

17:35Screen Search – A screen search is the type of Internet searching that was previously thought of as traditional. It involves typing of questions, key words or phrases in a search engine such as Google or Bing. A method of typing and a screen are involved. The search results are displayed in multiples per page.

17:58SEM – Search engine marketing

18:02 SEO – Search engine optimization SERP – Search engine results page*

18:05 Skill (Amazon), Action (Google), Capsule (Bixby for Samsung) – Amazon calls these "voice-driven capabilities" that can run on their respective platforms. Google calls these Actions. For Bixby, they are capsules. Consider the Amazon Alexa Skill for an example. I've created an Alexa Skill for my podcast, Agile Digital Business, to make it easy for Amazon device users to ask Alexa to play my Flash Briefing for the podcast. The Alexa Skill can be found on search in the Amazon Skill store. If a user knows the name of the Skill they are looking for, they can request it of the assistant by saying, "Enable [name of Skill]." For the podcast, I set the Alexa Skill up with the blue print provided for a Flash Briefing. It saved me from having to code, and it enables a user to search in their Alexa app for the specific Skill to add to their Flash Briefing.*

19:05 Smart Speaker – A smart speaker is also known as a voice-activated assistant, and several other terms. Examples include the Echo by Amazon (assistant is Alexa) or the Home by Google. Sonic Branding – Phrases such as "tone of the copy," "find your voice," and "it should sound like our brand," have a literal meaning in this era of voice search. Sonic branding is what your brand sounds like as it is responding, verbally, to your customers.*

19:22 Utterance – This is the term used to describe the vocalizations a user has with a voice-activated assistant.

19:31 Voice – Any interaction that allows you to control a computer program using natural speech.

19:40 Voice Commerce – Transactions for goods and services conducted via voice search and commands given to the assistant in the smart speaker. Users can connect their accounts such as Amazon.

19:55 Voice First – The phrase, voice first, refers to the first in a string of searches, starting with a voice search, that a user conducts. They may go to a screen search after getting an initial response from an assistant.

20:11 Voice Search – A voice search is a question asked by a person talking to their digital assistant (voice-activated speaker or voice-activated assistant) such as Siri or Alexa. The assistant uses meta data to return one result that best aligns with the question that was asked.

20:46 Voice User Interface (VUI) – This is an interface that allows a person using voice for search to interact with a device when there isn't a screen involved.

21:00 BIO – Vickie Maris

Voice first, voice platforms and preparing content so that it is more discoverable in voice search are topics that have the focus of Vickie Maris, author, speaker, digital marketer and idea coach. Vickie is the host and producer of Agile Digital Business. Season 2 is devoted to the fast-moving adoption of smart speakers and uses of voice-activated assistants in a variety of forms. Through her podcast and conference talks, she helps business owners and marketers plan their transition of content for improved discoverability in voice search.

Vickie has also studied and taught social media marketing and engagement, and development of online learning experiences in scalable business models for executive education units. Her career spans over 30 years in industry and academia.

At the university, she is responsible for the sales, marketing and evolution of non-degree programs for business people in leadership, supervision, and business analytics. She has also held roles in marketing and business development in the fields of agriculture and engineering at Purdue University where she led a team that developed and marketed online certifications in Lean Six Sigma and project management. The online courses attracted over 1,400 business professionals per year. Vickie has served as a communications director for a non-profit and as an account manager for an advertising and public relations firm. She holds her Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma. Her degrees from Purdue include a B.S. degree in Agricultural Communications and MS Ed in Learning Design and Technology.

Vickie is a published author and a recording artist. Her books, podcasts and music can be found in Amazon, Apple Podcasts, Apple Music, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio, Spotify, Pandora and other digital locations. She and her co-writer/musician husband, Scott Greeson, reside on their farm with their llamas, Connemara pony, and cat, Frank.

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23:04 To find the resources that I mention in my conference sessions, search on #teachinspireconnect and/or #agiledigitalbiz. You're invited to connect with me in LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/vickiemaris; emails = [email protected] or [email protected]

* Indicates a content reference that was added after this document was audio recorded as part of Episode 12 of Agile Digital Business podcast. If you'd prefer to listen to my recommendations about these resources, plus my added commentary, check out Episode 12 of the podcast. The episodes of the podcast are available here: https://vickiemaris2.libsyn.com

Gary Vaynerchuck is on the Voicebot List for 2019 Top 10 Influencers in Voice. Neil Patel is a marketing thought leader, and named by Entrepreneur Magazine as a creator of 1 of the 100 most brilliant companies. Both are preparing their companies for voice.

Between the two of them, they have many successful businesses. In Episode 11 of Agile Digital Business, I summarize both their sense of urgency about preparing your business for the voice platform and tips provided by Neil for updating your website for voice.

There are changes you can make to your website that will enable the assistants to more readily find and serve up your content when your customers search for your business with their voice.

Here are my notes from the episode along with the time codes:

1:11 Introduction to Episode 11 by Agile Digital Business host, Vickie Maris

1:30 Voice search is the focus of Season 2 of Agile Digital Business podcast

1:52 Sense of urgency for businesses to get ready for voice search

2:10 Summary of video on the GaryVee YouTube channel in which Gary Vaynerchuk is being interviewed by Charles Warner of Innovation & Tech Today. They talk about several subjects from block chain to esports to voice. The conversation in the video about voice search is towards the end of the interview.

5:35 Thoughts about getting your website ready to be easily found in voice search

5:45 Enthusiasm about the podcasting platform since it is voice.

6:54 Preview of last section of this episode which includes four tips from Neil Patel in a video on his YouTube channel, Neil Patel.

8:55 Poll uploaded on my Patreon account where you can respond to the single-question survey. Visit this link and click the "Posts" tab in the left-hand navigation. https://www.patreon.com/vickiemaris

9:29 Sense of overwhelm about voice, voice search, voice first, and being ready for heavy uses of voice during search.

10:16 Mention of the need to get my own website updated so that it better represents my books, podcast, and speaking.

11:22 Location of the Agile Digital Business membership area in Patreon and the free access to the homework assignment that accompanies this episode. You are welcome to download and work on the homework assignment no matter if you support the podcast in Patreon or not.

12:18 Summary of 4 tips from Neal Patel

12:30 Confirm that your site is https compatible (rather than http).

12:55 Build authority within your domain.

13:36 Verify that your site loads quickly; at least 4.6 seconds or faster. You can use a Google Developer tool to check the speed at which your site loads. Do a search on Google for "site speed, insights," and you'll see the link to the tool.

14:15 Include short answers in your content that respond to the questions being asked by your customers. It is suggested that a blog post be at 2,200 words or more which allows Google to index your site for more terms.

15:18 Bonus Tip #1 from your host, Vickie Maris

15:27 Review your About page in your website and be sure that it is current. It should represent your brand really well. You can include questions and answers. For an example: Vickie Maris About Page

16:23 Bonus Tip #2 FAQ page

16:33 Create or update your FAQ (frequently asked questions) page for your website.

17:15 A summary of commentary from both Neil Patel and Gary Vaynerchuk that while the majority of your search traffic may not be coming from voice search, it isn't too early to prepare.

17:45 Updating the site, one page at a time.

18:02 Keep a positive mindset about the changes to voice search, whether you are leading the effort or doing the coding.

18:23 Thank you for listening to Episode 11 of Agile Digital Business

18:56 Sharing of the frequency of the podcast episodes.

19:17 Music under Vickie's statement that we Teach. Inspire. Connect.

You may have heard of voice search, or use of voice-activated assistants such as Alexa which is the assistant for the Amazon Echo smart speaker. There is also the Google Home Assistant or Microsoft's Cortana, Apple's Siri, and other others.

You may have also heard the older phrase of "voice attendants." As people gravitate towards voice for search, it has brought about a marketing niche that is often referred to as voice search marketing.

Voice has been referred to as the next big thing. The data is showing that it IS the big thing we need to be preparing for in business and marketing of our products and services.

Here are the topics addressed by host, Vickie Maris, in Episode 10 of Agile Digital Business:

2:24 Voice is the next big thing

2:38 Statistics on smart speakers, and basics of voice in blog posts available at Pragmatic.digital/blog

3:12 Reference to llama training and the teenage students' uses of voice-activated assistants

4:17 Should B2B businesses leverage the use of voice?

4:50 Voice search or keyboard and screen search?

5:28 Can the media find your company in voice search?

6:03 Vickie's prediction about SEO and on-screen searches

6:23 Attending Podcast Movement 2019 in Orlando, Florida

6:48 "Voice" panel discussion at Podcast Movement 2019

7:42 Alexa Skills and Google Actions

8:06 Voice search marketing and voice search

8:16 Talk given on smart speakers and voice search marketing by Vickie Maris at the Social Media and Digital Marketing Institute, Minneapolis, MN

9:02 Updating digital content so that it appears in results

10:06 Request that you grab a screenshot of this episode and share the episode in your favorite social media channels

10:54 Definitions of voice search and voice-activated assistants as well as voice search marketing

11:56 Interest in marketing of a book was what led Vickie Maris to explore and learn about voice search marketing

12:18 Publishing a book in digital (ebook for Kindle), paperback and audiobook format

12:42 ACX and Audible (This is Vickie's referral/affiliate link to Audible. You can use it if you would like to try out Audible for listening to audiobooks. The URL below for Self-Publishing School, which Vickie Maris participated in online in 2018, is also an affiliate link.)

12:55 Self-Publishing School

13:04 Pew Research data on audiobook consumption

14:19 Recommendation to listen to Joanna Penn of The Creative Penn; Episode 437; 9 Ways That Artificial Intelligence Will Disrupt Authors and the Publishing Industry

16:44 Voice-first mode of using a smart speaker

17:37 Position zero in search results

18:33 Listening to voice of our customers

18:53 Adjustments to improve function of website and web content

20:22 Poll on Patreon account about possibility of homework assignments in future episodes of Agile Digital Business to prepare for upward trends in voice search

22:00 Email your ideas for upcoming episodes in Season 2 of Agile Digital Business to agiledigitalbusiness @ gmail dot com

22:26 Quote about leaders from E.J. Smith

Let's continue on this journey to Teach. Inspire. Connect.