Alexa for Advisors: If you haven’t been living under a rock for the last decade, then you are familiar with the need for a strong website and SEO. Utilizing proper keywords to get found on popular search engines and high-quality links can get you a step ahead of your competitors and in front of the right customers. But what do you know about voice search, audio blogs, and marketing yourself on voice-enabled devices like Alexa and Google Home?
According to a report from GlobalWebIndex, 27% of consumers use voice search on their phones and 34% said that they are interested in using voice-activated smart assistants in their homes. Additionally, 53 million U.S. adult consumers who are currently using voice-activated smart devices confirm that they make purchasing and buying decisions using the device.
These numbers will only go up, so if you are a financial advisor hoping to stay on top of consumer trends, then you should really think about implementing an Alexa or Google home marketing strategy, or both.
ILLUMINATED AUDIO BLOG: What Can an Alexa Skill do for Your Firm?
Why You Should Have an Alexa Skill for Your Business
If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’re in the same place as many marketers these days — you might be on the fence about Alexa for business, wondering how to decide whether creating and operating an Alexa Skill is right for your team. To answer this question, it’s critical you figure out whether Alexa Skill will allow you to reach your target audience.
For example, is your brand positioned toward consumers, or other businesses? While Alexa is becoming increasingly integrated with business tools, it is still primarily a household feature, so it makes the most sense for B2C businesses.
For financial advisors, adding an Alexa Skill to your marketing strategy can help to promote your brand by providing your clients and potential clients with convenience of information. This may not directly impact your revenue stream, but brand loyalty does. Enhancing your user experience can help people interact with your brand more readily and ultimately, that drives an increase in new revenue and a decrease in attrition.
Alexa for Advisors
The first place you might want to begin is by creating a flash briefing for your blog. Using this easy to set up Alexa skill and a podcasting site like Pinecast or Soundcloud, you can record your blogs or other useful financial tips and upload them to your podcasting site. Once there, you can create your flash briefing so that your listeners and subscribers can tune in with their morning coffee.
But there are other tools that can prove even more useful. Take for example an Alexa skill that tells people about your business, allows them to schedule meetings with you and lets them know what types of clients you work with. The next time a client tells a friend about you in passing, that person can simply say “Alexa, tell me more about Financial Advisor ABC company.” The skill will open and can introduce them to your firm, prompt them to ask more questions and basically, give them a guided audio tour through your business’s services and values. It’s something along the lines of an audio website or brochure.
Another great way to utilize Alexa skills if you have an existing radio show or podcast, is to make it available as a skill on Alexa. If you have a radio show that airs every Saturday, chances are that it is currently airing on the radio station, but it is also probably housed on a podcast service site. Why not give loyal listeners the opportunity to listen to it on their favorite voice powered device or their mobile device using the Alexa or Google Home app?
Where You Can Implement Your Own Alexa Skills Strategy
Now that you know why you should have an Alexa Skill for your financial advisory business, as well as how it can benefit you, there are a few different ways to strategize for your company’s custom Alexa Skill. Here’s how to get started.
Using the audio blog or radio show example from above, let’s look at how you can create a content strategy around that.
Use the Content You Have
If you already write a blog once or twice per month, then you already have content. All you need is a basic audio recording and editing setup to record your audio blog. And podcasting hosts are an inexpensive monthly investment to store your audio files. If your customers can listen on their Alexa device to the blog it is just one more way to share your content in a fun and creative way.
Send out Regular Emails
When you send out your monthly E-newsletter, share the blog and add a link to listen to it. Remind your readers that they can also listen by saying, “Alexa, listen to the ABC Financial Advisors blog.”
Share on Social Media
Sharing the different ways to read, listen, and engage across your social media platforms adds an additional platform for engagement. If you utilize facebook ads manager, then you can also add a $10 – $15 post boost to your posts regarding your audio blog and Alexa skills to expand your audience.
If you opt not to use Alexa Skills for your business, it doesn’t automatically mean that you are a relic. But depending on your brand and your audience, you might just become that in a couple of years. The number of consumers with smart speakers is growing exponentially and they are using them more regularly than ever before. Optimize your Alexa marketing strategy now to avoid falling behind your competitors.
Don’t know where to start? You’re in luck! Illuminated Advisors makes custom Alexa skills like flash briefings, podcast skills, audio blog skills, and about your firm skills. We can even build the marketing launch and ongoing strategy for you. For more information, visit our Alexa page and test out a few of our live skills. You can also schedule a discovery call with us and we can walk you through how it all works, what your options are and help you custom tailor an Alexa marketing strategy that fits your brand, your needs and your budget. Alexa
