Voice Assistants in Marketing: The Start of a New Era
Since the quantum leap in AI in recent years, voice assistants are finally living up to their promises: They now serve as practical tools for communication between humans and machines. Find out how voice assistants are transforming marketing.
Voice AI and its impact on marketing
“Voice AI is transforming not only search behavior but also digital advertising and branding: Anyone who can’t be found in a voice-controlled world simply won’t exist for consumers. Brands therefore need to prioritize voice search optimization and produce content that voice assistants will give preference to.”
Voice search is changing the rules of the game – this is a point that Klaus Streller from iq digital emphasizes as leader of the Audio x Innovation Lab within the German Association for the Digital Economy (BVDW). Conventional text-based search engine logic with keywords, SERPs, and clicks is becoming less important now that growing numbers of users are not typing their queries. Voice searches are generally longer and more intuitive and often phrased as questions. Anyone still relying on a few fixed keywords and not producing dialogue-friendly content risks being left behind. For marketers today, what matters is producing high-quality content with semantic context, precise answers, and a clear structure. And most importantly: Content needs to be equally tailored to how both text searches and voice assistants operate.
The rise of voice interfaces
Your task now is to harness the new voice interface between your brand and your customers effectively. The challenge: Spoken interactions are ephemeral. On the classic Web, you could use visual markers such as logos, layouts, and colors to build your brand presence. But in voice-first interfaces, you lose all these visual cues. What’s left is the tone of voice – in both the literal and the figurative sense. As Klaus Streller says:
“Voice AI is fundamentally transforming brand communication – and we’re just at the beginning of this evolution. For a long time, voice assistants such as Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant were seen as mere gimmicks or nice add-ons. Now they’re emerging as full-fledged channels for interaction. Already today, users are increasingly using voice to search for products, control smart devices, or have personalized recommendations read out to them.”
What does this mean for you as a marketer? You need to rethink your brand – its sound, tone, and conversational style. Brands may be losing visual control, but they can become closer to their customers by conversing with them. And this new proximity is an opportunity to build much stronger customer loyalty than is possible with conventional one-way communication. Audio branding will be decisive in this new era.
Good to know: What are the top voice assistants?
Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Samsung’s Bixby, and ChatGPT with voice are currently the key voice assistants that you need to know about for your marketing.
Conversational marketing: how to shape the dialogue
This is where conversation design enters the picture. In a voice-controlled world, what is said is not the only important thing – how it is said also matters. The art lies in designing authentic, context-based dialogues without clichés or sterile marketing copy. Any company playing non-stop audio ads will simply be ignored by listeners. Conversational marketing is about the back-and-forth: Brands need to learn how to listen and respond in a context-sensitive manner.
All these developments are radically changing the marketing playing field. Klaus Streller has been observing a shift from traditional audio advertising to an interactive experience:
“At the moment, interactive, context-based digital audio advertising is gaining traction – ads that are not just listened to but can also be answered in a dialogue. AI-powered technologies enable hyper-personalized communication in real time, tailored to location, interests, and previous behavior.”
Tools for voice search marketing
The technology for this new auditory era in marketing has been available for some time. Voice assistant marketing calls for a tech stack that covers everything from voice SEO to conversation design. Platforms such as Voiceflow can help you develop dialogue-based voice apps, while ProtoPie enables effective prototyping for voice interfaces. For keyword research in the voice space, it’s worth checking out specialist SEO tools such as Semrush’s voice search optimization services or similar extensions that are based on natural speech patterns. You also need to reassess your existing content and ask if it is voice-ready: Does the wording of your FAQs make them easy to read out? Do you give precise answers to real user questions? Does your content have a modular structure, and will voice crawlers be able to find it easily? These questions will be decisive for the future of your brand.
Voice assistants in marketing: What does your brand sound like?
But having the technological infrastructure is not enough on its own. How you position your brand strategically in the audio space is at least as important. The crucial question to ask is: “What does your brand’s voice sound like?” To get the tone right, you’ll need effective voice assistant marketing:
“The start of the new voice AI era raises a strategic question: What does a brand sound like without a screen? Brands have to learn how to speak – authentically, intuitively, and from equal to equal. A company needs its own voice identity – a recognizable audio presence that communicates its brand values. In a world in which consumers speak instead of clicking, acoustic presence will be crucial to brand success. Companies that want to be heard need to move in the right direction now.”
Creating your own audio branding is not an optional extra anymore – it’s an essential. Simply producing a jingle or an audio logo is not enough. You should also consider your spoken tone, the speed at which you speak, your phrasing, and even the personality of the voice that you use. Do you want your brand to appear dependable? Friendly? Visionary? These are precisely the qualities that need to come across in your audio presence. And they need to be consistent across all your channels – from your hotline to your customers’ smart speakers.
Looking ahead, it’s clear that we are entering a multimodal future and a new, partly screenless era. Although screens are not about to disappear completely, they will no longer be so dominant. Voice is set to become a crucial form of interaction. And it’s no surprise: Spoken interactions are more efficient, more intuitive, and more approachable. Brands that invest in defining their sonic identity now will secure a first-mover advantage in a growing market. Modern marketing needs to cater to voice assistants – without any ifs, ands, or buts.
Do you want your brand to be both seen and heard? Then get set for the new conversation and make voice assistant marketing part of your strategy.
