In May at VoiceCon, after the closing cocktail reception, the comments I heard the most was, this wasn’t totally new. Most of what I heard today I already was aware, as we have been following the technology for a while now. Every now and then on Twitter, Facebook groups of voice applications, this comment pops up, but it’s that the next big thing, is voice in real state/medicine/travel? People asking for examples of really successful skills or actions, investors asking for voice apps with engagement to put their monies on.   

There’s always new stuff out there, and most of it’s not very good. Rather than looking for the next musing, it’s probably better to be thorough about what we know is true and make sure we do that well. Our brain has a weakness for novelty. We thrive when we look at something new, curious, extraordinary. But we can not have amusement all the time. We need to do the ordinary in order to get to the extraordinary. This time in voice is time of creation. Engagement is low still for the vast majority of voice skills and actions. The weather might be the most used voice application so far. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be looking for the next thing and be aware of new services, but this time is the time to build your dreams in voice. I have been saying this repeatedly and it will become my motto for the rest of the year. This is the time to experiment. Go and experiment, hire that agency and build your conversational presence for your company or service. The voice strategy that you plan today it’s gonna give its results, true results in at least a span of two years. For instance, according to several informal posts on twitter and surveys, people do not listen to Alexa flash briefings that often or that many. Does that means that you shouldn’t have a flash briefing? No, we certainly have one, and when you have content you can just repurpose it to voice and be present, but be cognizant that the audience it’s just not there yet, and also have the same content in other audio and podcast platforms. Bottom line is, instead of focusing on the next big thing in voice, go and build your thing, play and understand where the audience is, and where is likely gonna be in the next 12 months.

Thank you for listening