049 - The Killer Voice App - Dave Isbitski, Chief Evangelist Alexa - Pt. 2 of 2

Dave Isbitski, Chief Evangelist, Alexa at Amazon

Guest: Dave Isbitski, Chief Evangelist, Amazon Alexa. We discussed Alexa Flash Briefing and the future of AI and how it will teach us about ourselves. The killer app is the connection. Part 2 of 2. (Listen to Part 1.)

We also answered a top question among marketers: how do you overcome discoverability challenges with early voice to get your Alexa skill found? 

Friendly reminder: please mute your Alexa device before listening.

SHOW NOTES:

1:05 Flash Briefing - a consistent way to engage your customers. Beats a silly CEO email no one opens. This is a better company update.

2:00 "I want to engage and connect on a human level”

Cross modalities to drive engagements

2:45 Teri Fisher - Voice First Health Podcast: using SEO to share and promote all his Flash Briefings (Alexa in Canada, the top briefing in Canada). Put all the briefings onto a blog. This is how to harness Flash Briefing across modalities and web as well as helping your SEO. 

3:20 You offer customers value. You must give. Pippa.io is a good tool to get your briefings embedded into your site with a simple widget which is also search-friendly (thanks for sponsoring our show, Pippa!) Here’s how it looks for the Voice Marketing Flash Briefing:

Get a $25 Amazon Gift Card when you sign up for Pippa to host your podcast or Flash Briefing!

4:00 What do you see coming down the pike as far as interaction within Flash Briefing? How do we move from passive to interactive, if we do at all - in voice experiences?

4:30 Dave: I’m a product person. I love consumer devices. I feel strongly that you want someone to get a new idea or understand how something will work, it must be a physical product. That was Echo. People want devices that work with Alexa. That customer sentiment has evolved - the future will be similar. 

7:50 Alexa Conversations

8:00 The future of voice

8:20 We as humans don't think in terms of TASKS but in terms of scenarios, ideas, and things we want to get done (re:MARS example)

9:35 Burn your current ideas down. AI will help. Existentialism. 

11:00 There is no killer voice app. The killer thing is the relationship and context with AI. Like a long friendship - it’s not any one aspect that makes it meaningful, it’s the entire relationship. 

Connect with Dave Isbitski:

thedavedev.com

Twitter @thedavedev

LinkedIn

048 - Dave Isbitski - Power of Alexa for Marketing - Pt. 1 of 2

Guest: Dave Isbitski, Chief Evangelist, Amazon Alexa: Introducing the world to the power of Voice

Dave Isbitksi, Chief Evangelist, Alexa - Amazon

Dave has helped launch numerous products for over two decades while at both Microsoft and Amazon. He’s made a career out of helping people be successful with technology and have keynoted major conferences around the world.

Dave and Emily talked about why voice is a departure from previous technology (leaving Tap, Type, & Swipe - entering Voice First) and how you can harness Alexa to learn more about your customers. Plus: how you can use voice as the ultimate frictionless up-sell. 

Plus, hear Dave’s answer to a top question among marketers:

Discoverability challenges: how do you get your Alexa skill found?

Friendly reminder: please mute your Alexa device before listening. :)

Show notes:

2:05 Dave has worked in web and mobile for decades: what is different about voice?

3:40 “Voice cuts across all industries. From finance to CPG…” You’ll see people talking about voice in finance, then doctors and healthcare professionals about what does voice mean for patient care? And you’ll see others ask what does it mean for shopping and pay? Brand ask what it means for them and customer?

3:32 “Every technology I’ve ever talked about has always had training, we had to teach customers how to do this first before they can tell us what they want.” - Dave

4:00 There is no learning curve with voice: it’s natural for everyone to speak

5:54 Inclusivity:

It’s not about how well you can code, it’s about how well you can converse

(Dave mentioned this in his keynote at VOICE Summit 2019)

7:10 The marketer’s bottleneck with IT - this is less a problem with voice (Emily)

7:50 Ruder Finn / PR Week event where Dave made a point about organizational education about voice - how it’s not really new but is easier:

8:30 “There must be a doc somewhere in your organization that can help you with voice” - a group is still responsible for teaching new tech (like with cloud) but getting people up to speed now is much easier

9:40 Alexa can learn easily - these are just restful web services passing JSON across SSL request - which we are already doing on mobile. It calls the same API. The magic is that Alexa is taking normal human language and figuring out which function to call, vs you hitting a button or tapping a screen to trigger that call.

10:25 Alexa stands on the shoulders of all the tech waves that came before

11:00 Let's have a discussion about your customer who engages not in a silo but on phones, tablets, social, and other on-ramps

11:10 Alexa Skills Kit enables you to teach Alexa how to have a conversation about things. “Set up parameters of a conversation our customers have with us.”

11:45 Alexa Voice Service is why you see Alexa in cars, radio services, Windows desktop, and other mobile devices

Voice presents the easiest upsell opportunity ever

12:30 Upsell- with voice, this is the moment where your customer essentially already has their money out (movie theatre popcorn and Coke analogy). They’re already logged in. Brands can use their own POS like Domino’s does, or Amazon Pay - so it’s just very simple and natural in the moment to get an additional sale

13:00 The real difference with voice is being in the moment. We process sounds differently than other senses - it is in real time

14:00 Carl Jung reference - the subconscious collects 11 million but we can only process about 40 things in our conscious despite thousands of inputs coming into our brains at all times

16:00 Four years ago, Dave said "Get in early now to figure out what people are asking or saying"

16:42 Discoverability: how can marketers get their Alexa skills found?

17:00 When you first launched your brand's mobile app what did you do, just submit it to the App Store or Google Play? No! Let customers know it's there and why it's faster or better.

17:20 Banking app example - when it went mobile customers would choose that bank for its ease of use

17:50 MyFitnessPal Alexa skill - track calories by voice (Dave found out about it through another marketing message on the mobile app)

18:40 Remember that customers are multimodal - silo launches don’t work

19:00 If you already know the top three things your customers do on your mobile app (via analytics), those are your three functionalities to start with in voice

20:00 Reviews - flywheel of customer feedback on Alexa skills for usability studies

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Tune in next week for Part 2 to hear Dave and Emily discuss the “killer voice app”. Subscribe now so you don’t miss it!:

Connect with Dave Isbitski:

thedavedev.com

Twitter @thedavedev

LinkedIn

044 - Paying Voice Talent, Junk Alexa Skills, and Business Integrity - Melanie Scroggins

I spoke with Austin-based professional voice actor Melanie Scroggins, Owner of Melanie Scroggins Voiceover. Melanie found me based on my tweets about junk skills (Alexa skills with no content that are squatting on search terms).

Her story resonated with me because it opens the door to a larger conversation about how we value and pay talent.

For voice actors who are providing the important sonic branding that we in the voice community are effusive about, communities like SpokenLayer are underpaying freelancers to a surprising degree.

And somehow, no one is talking about it.

This hopefully serves as a conversation starter. Let’s openly discuss these things so we can create a better place for everyone, from users and customers to developers, brands, voice actors, and content creators.

We mentioned:
Here is the rate guide for GVAA (Global Voice Academy)

While this is a standard rate sheet a lot of voice actors use to rate out projects, there
actually is no end all be all. It's really up to the individual actor, but
this provides a solid foundation on which to start charging.

Connect with Melanie Scroggins:

melaniescroggins.com

LinkedIn

038 - Audio Brand Identity - Brent Barcus, i65 Music

• Brent worked on a spot for Nashville Predators NHL team’s sonic branding for ticket packages for the upcoming season

• Sports brand sound for teams - edgier sound, guitar for hockey - what goes into creating the theme for a spot

• Considering in-game entertainment in suites with Alexa devices

• Get Urgently Alexa roadside skill for a flat tire - frictionless

• Voice skills for musicians to offer fans special experiences

• ISP (in skill purchasing) for the entertainment vertical

• What can artists and labels do in the voice space to promote their music?

Brent Barcus, i65 Music

Connect with Brent Barcus:

• i65music.com

• @brentbarcus

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032 - Simple Works: Voice Marketing for Brands with Michelle Excell

Hear my SXSW interview about voice marketing with Michelle Excell of The Antipodean. Michelle is an innovation strategist in the emerging technology space. And an all-around badass AND kind person.

1-click play episode on Apple Podcasts

Brands, Voice AI, and AR/VR from The Antipodean

Michelle Excell, AR/VR and Emerging Technology Expert

Show notes and timestamps:

01:41 Discussing voice and Michelle’s clients: what are you noticing with recent briefs?

02:25 Brands are interested invoice but unsure where to start

02:40 Some agencies are jumping in head first

04:15 Brands must start somewhere: they should start small with voice marketing and smart speakers

04:50 Consider voice or AI within chat bots or retail where people will spend more time

5.08 Find contextual places where customers really interact

05:14 Is it worth doing a single use or delightful skill or should skills be intended for repeat use?

P.S. Michelle and Emily met as guests on Bob Knorpp’s marketing and advertising podcast, The BeanCast. <— A VERY good show worth catching if you’re in marketing, advertising, or the agency world.

Check out past episodes

Hear Emily’s top tips about voice marketing:

Click to hear Emily Binder discuss voice marketing strategy on Teri Fisher’s podcast. This is the #2 most popular episode of all time on Alexa in Canada!

Enjoy - stream it or hear on Apple Podcasts.