It is no secret that we are on the cusp of the audio revolution. Digital assistants like Google Home and Amazon’s Alexa are swiftly transforming the way we buy groceries, manage our calendars, consume content, and even buy real estate.
By all indications, those that develop a winning voice strategy now will become the real winners of today and tomorrow. Consider these jaw-dropping stats that illustrate just how important voice has become:
“There are over one billion voice searches per month. (January 2018)” estimates Alpine.AI
“50% of all searches will be voice searches by 2020” according to comscore
“Nearly 50% of people are now using voice search when researching products and services.” via Social Media Today
There is no question that it is completely necessary to create your own Alexa Skill to remain relevant and generate leads from online search. Here are three tips to help you launch your first Alexa Skill successfully:
Select A Strategic Name
While you may feel tempted to choose a fun or creative name for your Alexa Skill, this could be a disastrous mistake. It is far more important than the name of your skill clearly communicates what and who it is meant for. The more obvious it is what your skill does, the more users you will attract.
Crafting Concept And Content
The concept and the content of your Alexa Skill will ultimately make or break it. If you plan on using your Alexa Skill to generate leads, like most real estate agents will, your skill should be providing useful tips to buyers and sellers through their Flash Briefing, which will allow you to “touch” your clients 365 days a year, on auto-pilot. Be careful that the content you include in your Alexa Skill doesn’t constantly try to sell you, but rather positions you as the local expert.
Getting The Word Out
Just like launching a new book, or show, you need to promote the launch of your new Alexa Skill. Use your social media platforms, blog, newsletter, podcast, etc. to let your friends, family, and followers know how and why they should download your new Alexa Skill.
Social proof will also be very useful in helping you to gain notoriety and popularity with your Alexa Skill. I suggest that you offer a gift card or something else of value to the first few hundred people that download, rate, and review your skill. This will help to push it up in the rankings, get your featured on the Alexa Skill Store, and show skill shoppers that yours is one worth having.
Get In While The Getting Is Good
Just like with every other revolutionary trend, there is a deadline to get in on the ground floor of the audio revolution and reap the financial rewards for doing so. That deadline is fast approaching.
Whether you decide to develop your Alexa Skill yourself, hire a professional coder, or hire a real estate content marketing agency, you need to do it today. The longer you wait, the harder and more expensive it will be to get leads from your Alexa Skill, so strike while the iron is hot.
