Back on 08-30-2018, he was Alex Wunschel’s guest in the legendary first regular episode of the DMEXCO podcast: Howard Lerman, Co-Founder and CEO of Yext. In that episode, their chat focused on voice search and conversational marketing. Now, Howard Lerman is returning as the guest of host Alex Wunschel to round off the year in style with the final podcast episode for 2020.
Howard Lerman founded Yext in 2006 on the principle that the ultimate authority on a business should be the business itself. In practical terms, this means that the Yext platform helps businesses and organizations to deliver up-to-date location and company information via search engines and online directories.
Voice search will again play an important role in this episode. As well as asking about what has changed for Howard Lerman and Yext since the last conversation during our podcast, we will also look at how voice search in general has developed since then. What is the knock-on effect of these developments for brands, and how should companies and brands handle search engine marketing? How can businesses take back control of branded searches for their brand?
The increasing popularity of voice search has triggered a sea change in how people search the Internet, with questions now replacing keywords. If companies want to remain relevant, they must be able to provide the perfect answers, wherever the question is asked. Consequently, it is essential that these businesses and brands have fundamental control of their facts, regardless of where users and customers find these facts – in search engines, on the company website, on social media, or via other channels.
“Every customer experience starts with a search. It always starts with a question. There’s two places where that question can happen: it can either happen on your own site or it can happen on google. And it's kind of up to you where you want them to happen.”
According to Howard Lerman, the quality of the user experience and thus the success of the brand and the company behind it depend directly on the currency and accuracy of the answers that brands offer users, potential customers, and searchers on the web.
In the last DMEXCO podcast of this year, Howard Lerman and Alex Wunschel discuss a range of points, including:
- How has voice search evolved over the past two years?
- What role does voice search play in the user experience and in search behavior?
- Why is it worthwhile for marketers to actually use their search engine marketing budget for this purpose?
- What about the assertion that Howard Lerman made in a blog post to take the “B.S.” out of branded searches?
- What is the biggest challenge right now for successful brands that want to stay one step ahead of the competition when it comes to searches?
- Is it possible for brands to take back their branded searches from Google if the search engine displays ads for competitors in response to search queries?
- Yext launched Yext Answers in summer 2020. This is a new landmark product that is already creating a stir in companies and organizations across Germany. What does Yext have up its sleeve next for Germany and Europe as a whole?
- And last but not least, what will searches look like in the future?
We hope you enjoy listening!
