VOICE ENTREPRENEUR WITH BEN SMITH #27
<5 min listen by audio:
Am I crazy for doing a daily podcast and voice skill?
People think I’m crazy for doing a daily Alexa voice briefing and podcast. They all tell me that it’s nuts to publish daily, as it’s an impossible schedule to keep up. Everybody asks me if there is enough content to discuss if I publish everyday. In other words, maybe the content will stink and I’ll run myself into the ground.
Here are the reasons why I’m crazy enough to publish voice daily:
1. Create a habit for the user
The number one problem if you’re developing a voice skill for Alexa today is that it’s difficult to get your users to come back and use your skill daily. Even if the user happens to find value in your voice skill, the user has to somehow remember to evoke your skill on the device. There is no simple bookmarking system on the Alexa, Google Home, or Siri device to date.
One of the genius elements of podcasting is that the content delivery system is subscription based. Once a user subscribes to a podcast, it’s delivered into the user’s app every single time you decide to podcast. This is ideal for podcasters as each new subscriber is much more likely to listen each time you publish.
Yet for voice platforms like Alexa, there is no clear subscription system quite yet. The closest thing to a “subscription” on the Alexa platform is the “voice briefing” routine. Once an Alexa users puts your skill into the briefing routine, your skill will come up everytime they need to be briefed. However, Amazon buries the voice briefing routine in the app and on the site, and makes it nearly impossible for the average user to understand how to use and manage their voice briefing routine today.
In order to solve for this conundrum, voice bloggers and voice developers need to take matters into their own hands. The best way to do that is to publish fresh content every single day. This content needs to be timely and systemized, so the user comes to expect the content on a daily basis. In fact, the content should ideally ASK the user to come back everyday to use the skill.
Amazon, Google, and Apple are building these platforms using A.I first, people second. The technology has been created for A.I to answer search queries. I think that’s a giant mistake. It’s always people and connection that makes platforms successful. In order to “combat” these giant tech companies, I publish Voice Entrepreneur daily so that I create real connection with listeners. It’s the only way to create a real habit on these platforms in 2018.
2. In order to stand out
Voice Entrepreneur is not just published as an Alexa voice skill, it’s published as a podcast on iTunes and Spotify etc. At last count, there are over 500,000 podcasts. Whether you’re using the Apple podcast app, Overcast, or Stitcher, the average podcast listener is getting oversubscribed to podcasts. In order to break through the long list of podcasts, I publish daily so that my subscribers see my logo pop-up every single day.
At some point in the future podcast listeners will need a better system to manage their podcasts. When they do, hopefully I will have already built the daily habit enough to stay in the daily rotation.
3. In order to create an actual conversation
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, I want to have an actual conversation with my listeners. That means I want my voice skill and podcast to feel more like a conversation with a friend, not some professionally produced “show”. One of the reasons I don’t use intro music for my daily briefing is that I don’t want my briefing to be considered a “show”. I want it to feel like I’m your friend Ben, and that we’re able to talk back and forth. In fact, as time goes on, I expect that the Alexa will allow for more conversation between me and my listeners. So I’m building a daily conversation for that day. Connection is about taking away the barriers between people, not adding distance between us. I want to get closer and closer to all of you so that we can eventually all be authentic friends. That’s really why I’m crazy enough to publish voice daily.
If you have questions, hit me up. I’m around, and here for you! As always, thanks for reading– Ben
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