A recent Media Post article made official what I had already suspected: voice-based marketing is going to be the hot new marketing thing of 2019.

Do you have any idea how this could transform marketing? I do.

The end of the (marketing) world as we know it

Voice-based marketing has fascinated me for at least the last year, in part because marketers are rushing to embrace voice-based marketing without realizing what it means for marketing.

I don‘t want to get all dire here and say something apocalyptic like voice-based marketing represents the death of marketing, but voice-based marketing represents the death of marketing.

Okay, it may not represent the death of all marketing, because voice-based marketing will always have voice-based marketing to fall back on. But it represents the death – or the the very least, the precipitous decline – of many types of marketing that many voice-based-marketing supporters also embrace.

SEO

Let’s take SEO, since it’s the quintessential example of bright shiny object-chasing in marketing.

I was just reading an encyclopedic guide to being incredibly successful at SEO, which is a phenomenal piece of scholarship that nonetheless is no more practically useful than the Monty Python show “H ow To Do It.”

The fact is, if it were that easy, everyone would do it, and if everyone did it, you’d still lose.

No, SEO is rigged from the get-go in favor of large, powerful organizations with the ability to win organic search on the basis of who they are and the marketing budgets to win paid search as well.

Another way to think of paid SEO is as a sponsorship deal, but instead of paying money to be the official sausage of the Green Bay Packers (a hotly contested designation, currently held by Old Wisconsin), you’re paying to be the official sponsor of the keyword phrase “best toilet plunger.”

Who’s going to get that sponsorship? Whoever has the most money to spend on it.

Organic search is sort of the same thing without the dollars and cents. Here it’s more like you’re currying favor with and writing love poems to “best toilet plunger” so that a third party recognizes you as a couple.

Well, voice-based search totally wrecks that little snoodling party between you and “best toilet plunger,” unless you’re truly best toilet plunger’s No. 1.

If you ask Alexa, “Hey, what’s the best toilet plunger?”, Alexa is not going to give you the contents of the first page of a web search or even the top three or four listings. It’s going to give you one, and if you’re not that one, you might as well be number 3,764, because as far as the person asking that question is concerned, you don’t exist.

Voice search concentrates power in the top listing, and since the top listing for most consumer queries is not going to be your organization, you’re going to need to come up with a new way to connect with that customer.

The pillars will topple

What’s that new way going to be? Social media? #VoiceFirst is sort of anti-social media. Many of the new voice-actuated communication devices, like Facebook Portal, are more one-to-one communication facilitators.

That would seem to mean a return to prominence for word-of-mouth – genuine word-of-mouth, not review-farming or Yelping or anything that’s word-of-mouth-ish.

Why do you think Facebook came out with Portal? In addition to using Portal as an even more intrusive means of collecting and sharing data without your permission, Facebook is anticipating a post-social-media future where people communicate directly and do, instead of watching other people doing.

If you thought social media was forever, remember that people thought the telegraph was forever, too – and it was, until a telecommunications infrastructure sufficient to handle millions of calls drove down long-distance rates and let people communicate the way they really wanted to – person-to-person and voice-to-voice.

What other marketing pillars will voice-based search topple?

Web advertising, because you’re not going to be spending nearly as much time on websites.
Website marketing in general, especially the sort where you use a microsite or webpage to drive people into a purchase path.
Email and newsletter marketing, because you’re not going to have Alexa read you a newsletter all the way down to a call to action.
And influencer marketing, because you’re probably not going to ask Alexa what Kendall Jenner has to say about Proactiv; instead, you’re going to ask Alexa to recommend a good acne treatment.

So how do you do it?

So the real question is, how are you going to market in a #VoiceFirst world if you can’t make it to the top of page one?

Marketers are nothing if not cockroach-resilient, so new forms of old marketing approaches will need to be adapted for a #VoiceFirst world. You may see advertising embedded in voice, so when you ask Alexa about acne treatments you’ll hear Kendall Jenner’s voice say, “Hey, I’m Kendall Jenner, and I really like Proactiv.”

Live marketing will rebound, particularly event-based marketing or PR stunts, since they can grab eyeballs without going through a voice-search gatekeeper. The same applies to hoary tactics like outdoor advertising and direct mail.

When a voice-search tool sits at the doorway to the Internet, shrewd marketers will bypass the Internet. It’s as simple as that.

On the Internet, the crucial step will be going from voice search to purchase, so being embedded in a purchase path will be essential for products or services that complement a major purchase.

And once you’re in in a #VoiceFirst environment, expect to stay in; after your voice-search tool learns your purchase cadence, you’ll be prompted to purchase again at regular intervals, and unless you have a major issue with the product, you’ll likely go along with the recommendation.

In a scenario like this, initial customer-acquisition cost may skyrocket, but customer lifetime value will more than make up for the front-end investment.

Voice first … right behind CX

Actually, I don’t think #VoiceFirst represents the death of marketing. For marketers with a full quiver of strategies and techniques, the rise of voice search is a new opportunity for them to hone and display their chops.

And as always, organizations that provide a superior customer experience will do just fine, since CX thrives on or off the Internet, and authentic word-of-mouth recommendations trump all.

So if you can hear me, Alexa, I say, “Bring on the voice.” Let the next marketing revolution commence.

#VoiceFirst: How To Survive In The Brave New Marketing World