Why Alexa Is the Greatest Opportunity for Your Business
Master marketer Gary Vaynerchuk sounds off on why you need an Amazon Alexa skill right now.
Would you like $10,000 each month?
That’s how much 22-year-old David Markey earns each month
Are you struggling to grow your business through social media? You’ve tried posting on Facebook, Facebook Live, Instagram, Instagram Stories, Twitter, Snapchat, and the plethora of channels in our fragmented digital landscape.
But you’ve gotten few results.
Well, great news. There’s an opportunity you may not have discovered.
In his new book Crushing It!, master marketer Gary Vaynerchuk focuses on why an Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing is the key to unlock your business’ growth.
Vaynerchuk states that devices like Alexa, which he terms Voice-First, “will transform how the world consumes content.”
Gary Vee compares creating content for Alexa right now to buying undiscovered Malibu beach-front property, using Twitter in 2006 and Instagram in 2010 . He even goes as far as comparing the Alexa “land grab” as equivalent to Thomas Jefferson purchasing the Louisiana territory for 3 cents per acre. By comparison, land in the United States is now worth $3,000 per acre on average.
Vaynerchuk encourages readers to use their flash briefing to occupy the transitions in people’s everyday lives. Specifically he believes important intercession moments occur when people wake up, return home from work, and before they go to bed. That’s where your flash briefing comes in.
Providing valuable content to individuals during this time could be the reason people get hooked on your content and business.
Your morning inspirational quote on Alexa could be the reason people listen to your podcast on the way to work in the car, rather than NPR or their favorite classic rock station.
Your fitness tip on Alexa could be the reason people purchase your workout plan rather than Bodybuilding.com.
Your nighttime meditation on Alexa could be the reason people choose your guided breathing exercises over the Headspace App.
The outspoken and opinionated Vaynerchuk, who has practiced and preached the importance of establishing yourself early on emerging social networks (like he did with Twitter and YouTube), believes Alexa’s value proposition is speed. Much like a Keurig saves people time making coffee, Alexa allows individuals to multitask, and access information. No fumbling past push notifications on your phone. Just ask Alexa, and you shall receive. But not really. Alexa has very few content creators on it, and therefore is not fulfilling people’s specific asks.
In short, there’s a massive demand for content on Alexa, and a scarcity of supply. Almost 40 million Americans own an Alexa. But, people have created just 5,000 Flash Briefing Skills on Alexa, according to GeekWire. That’s just one flash briefing for every 8,000 Alexa owners. And that’s why it’s such a land grab.
And listenership is increasing. By 2022 Alexa will be in 55% of households. And Alexa will drive $10 billion in sales in 2020. Beyond households, listenership will explode as Alexa comes into cars. Vaynerchuk boldly predicts:
“In the future, we won’t go anywhere without it.”
Skills 101 — The Elements of a Great Alexa Flash Briefing Skill
Vaynerchuk defines a flash briefing is a short report or key bit of information that users receive by enabling your skill on Amazon.com and then receive by asking, “Alexa, what’s in the news.” He produces a daily flash briefing focused on motivation. Meanwhile, the Skimm airs a breakdown of top news stories. And eHow provides a daily life hacks brief.
Overall, Gary recommends your brief be:
- Brief — That’s probably why it’s called a brief.
- Native — Make your brief specifically for Alexa users.
- High Quality — Create something fresh and valuable. It’s really easy to remove a brief. “Alexa, remove X Flash Briefing.” So, keep your listeners coming back.
Imagine This
You make a popular skill that attracts thousands of Alexa listeners, and Amazon starts cutting you a fat check each month.
That’s exactly what happened to David Markey.
Amazon sends Markey a check for $10,000/month for his skill, “Word of the Day.”
In Crushing It!, Gary Vee puts out a couple hypotheticals. The first is of an etiquette coach. This coach records the answers to every etiquette question he can think of like how to fold a napkin for a formal table, and how to end a conversation at a cocktail party. “The Manners Maven” flash briefing takes off, and the coach uses calls to action in the skill to direct listeners to longer pieces of content and grow her business.
The second hypothetical is of the owner of a landscape business. The owner creates several flash briefings for each different regions in the U.S. And the briefs provide advice on how to make the most of their landscape — when to fertilize tulips in the midwest, when to plant citrus in the south, etc.
Imagine the Alexa curator at Amazon sees this new and interesting skill, and promotes it on the main page, and in the weekly e-mail to all Alexa users in the world. Better yet, Amazon runs a video ad showcasing your skill. And suddenly Amazon just did for your skill what Apple did for dozens of now ridiculously popular musicians with their creative iTunes ads.
Remember what Apple did with these creative ads for artists like Jett, Feist and Nickodemus? Amazon is going to do the same for creators of flash briefings. Become the flash briefing creator they spotlight.
Amazon is already sending out weekly e-mails to the 40 million Americans who own an Alexa, showcasing Amazon-made and user-made skills.
Now imagine a franchise specialist hears your briefing, and decides they want to franchise your company. All of the sudden “your $200,000-a-year landscaping business is collecting a $25,000 check each year from seven hundred people all over the country.”
Why You Should Start Now
In closing, Vaynerchuk writes:
“Create content for Alexa now. It will not take you too much time or effort to be discovered for creating a Flash Briefing because of the early novelty. It will five years from now, however. Five years from now, everyone will have a Flash Briefing, and it’s highly unlikely that yours will get noticed without marketing the living sh*t out of it.”
“Five years from now the moment will be gone. Do. Not. Wait.”
Gary Vaynerchuk has been correct about the importance of establishing yourself on platforms early, whether that was Twitter in 2006, Instagram in 2010 or Snapchat in 2012. Those early adopters have reaped the greatest rewards. Now it’s time for you to take advantage of this emerging technology, and reap the massive rewards.
How to Get Started
My cofounder and I started Effct.co, because I wanted to start a flash briefing but couldn’t figure out the computer science behind it. My co-founder, a former NASA software engineer, designed Effct’s easy to use web app that takes all of the coding out of it.
And best of all, with Effct you can start your own flash briefing for free.
It’s quick, it’s easy, and most importantly it’s valuable for you and your brand or business.
