The premier of Polish language version of Google Assistant is one of the most anticipated events of 2019. Google enabled all companies to add ‘Actions’ to the Assistant. ‘Actions’ are applications that enrich assistant’s offering. Marketers were thrilled to see this new channel of communication with consumers. Below, you will find 6 challenges they will face when using voice assistant in communication of their brands.
1st challenge: how to present your brand solely by using sound?
Brands that have not employed any coherent and specified language, tonality, sound effects or music in their “brand books” so far will have to add these elements without any delay. The sound identity will have to be present in other media mix channels, not only in the assistant itself. The good sound-based identity is composed of specific spectrum of sounds and voices. Therefore, the importance of recognizable readers and voice actors will increase.
2nd challenge: how to shape the algorithm of the voice assistant to make it remember our brand?
Clients rarely use brand names in everyday life. They do say “I need to buy a washing agent” but they do not refer to any specific brand. This is the place where voice assistants may jam in with the interpretation and recommend products. They can ask the question like “which brand would you prefer, product A or product B?”. The marketers will have to ensure that the brand is among these few, accepted options.
The assistant is constantly learning about its users, so it will remember the selected product after getting answer to the initially asked question. Eventually, it will be harder and harder for new marketers to get through solidified consumer purchase-related preferences.
3rd challenge: how to become the voice assistant’s first choice?
Unlike the website browser, which offers the user a few pages of possible solutions, the voice assistant provides one answer, as much adjusted to preferences as possible. Much like the “second Google page” is the synonym of oblivion, each place other than the first one will be treated as such in case of voice assistant.
So, placing the brand in the voice assistant’s search engine to ensure that it occupies the first place is the key problem marketers should focus on.