The Voice Will Soon Be in Control
The growth of smart speakers and voice commands is booming. The number of smart speakers in U.S. households grew from 67 million in December 2017 to 119 million in December 2018. With that growth rate, it will not be long until smart speaker penetration is at 50% of U.S. homes. 
So what are people doing with their smart speakers, other than asking silly questions? Remember when we used our cell phones to actually call people? What we do with our smart speakers today is not necessarily what we will be doing tomorrow, but Adobe Analytics tried to determine usage in a recent study. What Adobe found was that more than half of consumers who have voice assistants use them a least once a day. Here is what they were doing:
- 61% playing music
- 60% weather
- 54% fun questions
- 53% general research
- 39% getting directions
- 39% setting reminders
- 22% shopping
The proliferation of smart speakers will change how we use them. There is a learning curve, but what we do know is this new technology will change how we write for websites, how we use audio such as podcasts and search marketing. What we say is so different than what we write. It is another disruption and another new media to wrap your ears around.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle.
After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant.
He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.”
Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.”
One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College.
Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board.
Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.