“Hey Alexa” has become a common household term -- with YouTube videos and SNL skits to prove it! But this technology goes way beyond making lists and playing music. Content marketers have already begun to use this technology as a content platform to reach their audience. Learn how Alexa and B2B marketing can work together for solid results.
Alexa’s success has admittedly come out of left field -- in a world where mobile is king and virtual reality is on the rise, who would have guessed that a home assistant could make such a powerful impact? It has proven to be a concept goldmine for Amazon, with other companies like Google and Apple following suit.
While this technology has achieved a level of fame in the B2C field, B2B companies have begun to carve out their own place. We'll talk more about this, with specific examples of B2B stars that have used Alexa successfully to strengthen their content marketing strategy.
Content marketers have already begun to use voice enabled technology as a content platform to reach their audience 
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The success of this device is clear and it shows that voice-enabled devices are here to stay. As marketers, we need to get up to speed on this new technology and how to use it to reach our audience.
Alexa and Content Marketing: 3 Areas Where You Can Get on Board
1. Create an Alexa Skill
Just like adding apps to your phone, Alexa can be programmed with certain skills. Most notable among these are smart briefing (news), lists, and video.
The most common skill for B2B content is smart briefing, otherwise known as news media. Once your B2B content is uploaded via one of Amazon’s skills kits, users enable your branded skill. Once your skill is enabled, people simply requests their smart brief and listento your content.
This fits seamlessly into the content marketing strategy that many B2B companies have already established. It's the same content you've been creating all along, just with a voice component. This brings us to our next point.
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2. Leverage Your Great Content to Answer Questions
At the moment, Amazon does not sell advertising space on its Alexa devices -- but that doesn’t mean your content can’t end up there. It follows the same general rules of good content marketing -- if your content is high quality and answers people’s questions, it will be welcome.
For example, in my industry, if someone were to ask Alexa, “What is thought leadership?” we could have content that answers that question. Ask yourself what questions people are most likely to ask their devices about your industry -- and create stellar content that Alexa might use to answer that question.
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3. Choose Keywords That Support Your Voice Enabled Content Marketing
This voice-enabled revolution also encourages us to choose keywords that mimic human speech.
For instance, instead of simply saying “thought leadership definition” you might choose “what is the definition of thought leadership.” People are no longer simply inputting information into a search bar -- they are voicing their questions and content marketers need to pay attention to this trend.
Review the keywords that you have commonly used in the past, and see how these can be improved to mimic modern human speech -- this will put you ahead of the curve and place you in the voice-enabled arena.
This voice-enabled revolution encourages us to choose keywords that mimic human speech CLICK TO TWEET
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How can do you go about creating content that will shine as an Alexa skill? Let’s check out a few necessary steps to creating a bridge between voice assistants and content marketing.
How to Use Voice Assistants and Content Marketing
1. Know Your Audience’s Needs
What concerns your audience most? What struggles do they face? What content can you create in an audio format that will fill that need?
2. Be Consistent
It’s your brand. Whether it’s on your blog, your social media channels, or -- yes -- your Alexa skill, it should reflect a unified voice and personality.
3. Make it Personal
Apart from convenience, people turn to Alexa and other voice-enabled devices because of the personal touch it offers. Play around with various personalization tactics to truly customize your customer’s experience.
4. Don’t Self-Promote
As with other areas of content marketing, voice assistance is not the place to promote your brand. Stick to providing real assistance to your audience.
5. Use Calls to Action
Even though it’s a new platform, some things don’t change -- and calls to action are one of those things. As your prospects engage with your Alexa skills, you can take that one-to-one opportunity to guide them to the next step. This could be something as simple as visiting your website or following you on social media.
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Alexa and B2B: 5 Brands that Have Developed Alexa Skills with Success
1. Marketing School
Neil Patel has proven his marketing skills again and again, and in a number of content realms -- from blogging to social media. He has demonstrated his savvy as a marketer once again through his Marketing School Alexa skill. Patel. along with internet marketer Eric Siu.deliver well-crafted marketing advice that you can access from the convenience of an Amazon device.
2. Social Media Marketing Tips
Digital Pratik makes social media marketing easier for its audience by delivering daily tips right into their morning routine.
3. Web Analytics
A crucial part of any content marketing plan is to keep track of key metrics -- and Web Analytics makes this super easy for their Alexa-owning customers. All they need to do is say “Alexa, ask Web Analytics for the report” -- and poof, it's delivered right to them! You can be as specific as you want with your request, even asking for the report for specific days.
4. Small Business Advice by Vistaprint
Vistaprint, a B2B company which famously provides small businesses with all the paper goods they could ever need, knows what their audience wants. The company know the struggles that small business owners and entrepreneurs face, and have created a smart briefing skill on Amazon that gives
5. Digitalist by SAP
SAP, a cloud computing and business solutions software company, knows about its audience’s concerns when it comes to technology and trends. Well-known for the content its shares via its blogs and videos, SAP is now delivering that same high quality content via voice.
Key Points to Remember…
- Alexa and other voice-enabled devices are the new thing in the realm of content marketing.
- Make your Alexa marketing consistent with your other forms of content -- voice and tone should be the same as your blogs, videos, and other content.
- Personalize your voice-enabled content to your audience as much as possible.
- Use calls to action in your skill that guide your audience to the next step, whether it’s on your website or social media channels.
Voice enabled assistants like Alexa are part of the future of content marketing -- a future that we'd be wise to embrace now! Alexa and B2B marketing are not a flash in the pan but here to stay. Ready to get on board?
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