Voice Search: Future-Proofing Your Small Business Marketing

Black-and-white TV shows like Gunsmoke and I Dream of Jeannie are some of the first things I remember as a kid. If you wanted to check the weather, you went outside and looked up at the sky. Your other option is to wait for the meteorologist to give you the forecast during the prime-time news hour. Back in the day, my favorite cartoon was The Jetsons.

To say that things have changed since then is an understatement. The science-fiction future that we imagined in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s is slowly becoming a reality. It took a while longer for the 21st century to actually feel like the 21st century, but I think we’re getting there.

The Rise of Consumer Voice Assistants

One of the top consumer features that seem to make Stanley Kubrick’s version of 2001: A Space Odyssey feel more real is voice search and voice assistance technology. Remember HAL? The HAL 9000 is a fictional artificial intelligence character and is the chief antagonist in Arthur C. Clarke’s Space Odyssey series.

Voice assistance and voice search have become commonplace in the 21st century. All the feverish consternation over ChatGPT and its ability to offer us instant access to information seems to have overshadowed the fact that we’ve had daily interactions with AI for years.