What listening devices mean for the modern marketer.

“Hey, Siri, call Mom” is fun to yell into a crowd. Especially when speaking at a conference. A few iPhones usually go off and I hear some quick curses. But this is the power of voice today (and of the pulpit, I guess). Controlling a phone is just the tip of the iceberg. You’ll find virtual assistants like Siri in your car, in your kitchen, on your laptop and even in your bathroom. They’re especially helpful anywhere you need your hands or eyes away from a screen. Who wants to put oil-covered hands on their phone just to change the song on the shop stereo? Hands-free is as amazing as it is ubiquitous.

While driving my car, I can hold down a button on my steering wheel and call a friend without looking away from the road. I can ask: “Hey, Siri, where’s the closest gas station?”, and my iPhone will give me directions. Hungry? Ask Siri. What’s 11% of 788? Thanks, Google. How many teaspoons in a cup? Alexa knows.

We take this help for granted and don’t give a thought to the amount of engineering that goes into making a computer “hear” and make sense of your northern Wisconsin accent: “Oops, let me squeeze by you, der.”

Even with technical — almost-magical — advances, the devices themselves got cheaper. I bought my dad an Amazon Echo for $25. He uses it for news, music and, of course, metric-to-imperial conversions. Cost and usefulness go hand in hand and are why the popularity of smart speakers in the United States has grown exponentially. A few studies suggest that U.S. households will have more smart speakers than tablets as soon as this year.^1,2 Amazon is projected to sell over 130 million Echos by 2025.² That’s a lot of speakers. And they are all listening.

The point in all of this is that voice assistants are here to stay, and the modern marketer cannot ignore this immense audience. Within home automation, voice calls, informational searches and music are opportunities to those who can see them.