insight : will hanke
How Customers Are Trying to Find You in 2021 Typing? That’s so 2020. Companies need to focus on voice search to maximize search engine results and online marketing success BY WILL HANKE
M
y wife and I unknowingly bought each other new Fitbit watches for Christmas. These watches can show me my text messages, make phone calls, track my heart rate and play my favorite books on Audible. They’ll even tell us what time it is!
We’re now talking to our wrists like we’re Maxwell Smart, and we’re not alone. Around 3.25 billion people will use some form of voice search this month. Many will use it multiple times a day. Currently, nearly 78 percent of people that use smart devices for search say it has become a normal part of their daily routines. It is estimated that over half of all U.S. households will have at least one smart speaker by 2022.
26 | MARCH + APRIL 2021
| wf-vision.com
These voice assistant devices, whether they live on your phone, living room table or wrist, have now become an integral part of our lives. As business owners, it’s important that we recognize this trend and adapt our companies so we can leverage it for growth. Here are a few ways to take advantage of this change in customer behavior.
FIRST, MAKE YOUR CONTENT PERSONAL
Alexa, who does drapery cleaning near here? OK Google, where can I get a chair reupholstered in Denver? Hey Siri, find me a blind repair shop close by. If you want your company to be found when someone asks a question like those listed above, you need content, and that content needs to have a conversational approach to it. It should
