Category: What’s Next?

Who listens to what, why and how

Podcast, web radios and audiobooks are becoming increasingly popular and moving ever more into the focus of media makers. (statistics). This means that not only is the medium through which the content is heard changing, but so too is what is listened to and how it is heard. And these changes offer potential – one more reason to take a closer look at forthcoming developments and opportunities in the audio market.

Technology opens up new auditory worlds

In the beginning was the radio. Only later was it joined by mobile variants such as cassettes or CDs, which, however, required additional players and thus presented obstacles to unlimited audio consumption.
It was only with the smaller MP3 players that listening became an almost endless pleasure, limited only by the amount of gigabyte memory. And even this problem has since been solved by web-based streaming portals, such as Spotify, iTunes and Amazon, and numerous web radio offers and podcasts which are available anytime and anywhere via smartphone, laptop, TV, or smart speaker There are no longer any obstacles in the path of uncomplicated, unlimited audio consumption – and you can tell.

Opportunity makes the listener

The act of listening can take place anywhere and at almost any time: driving, cooking, light DIY and renovation work, cleaning, gardening, shopping, homework, or in a crowded train in the morning. You listen above all when your hands are full in the truest sense of the word and you have to direct your gaze to other things. It is rare to listen to music or an audiobook consciously, without doing anything else.

This development is influenced by two things in particular: the opportunities for listening are increasing and so too is the desire – perhaps also the pressure – to make ones time effective and meaningful. Opportunities are arising from increased mobility and easier access to audio content, as well as from a better connection between devices and offerings. The desire to make life as effective and fulfilling as possible is accompanied by the desire to be successful in ones career, to be there for friends and family, while still engaging in numerous hobbies and leisure activities. This time-pressure leads to behavioural optimization. And the need to find out about a special topic, a hobby or world events, or to further our education leads to us consuming more media in the course of our daily routines, for instance, listening to audio content during sports activities.

Less music, more content

Not surprisingly, less music was listened to 2017 with more news, entertainment, books, information, and sports news being listened to instead.
After all, you learn something through this kind of content. Or you can be entertained while performing necessary tasks or boring activities, such as cleaning. In short, audio takes the tedium out of those daily chores and is entertaining or educational to boot. What more could one ask for? (statistics).

Interim conclusion

Thanks to technology and, if you like, a self-optimization process, the audio trend is picking up speed. However there is an art to ensuring that users are not disappointed and that the effort put into audio content is worthwhile for the media makers. In the next article we take a look at upcoming audio trends and examine how audio content should be produced and prepared for optimal use.

Read in our blog soon which upcoming trends will influence the audio market.

In recent years, the evident trends in marketing and commerce are all towards artificial intelligence and automation.
The goal is to address the user as individually as possible and create the best possible product experience. This includes customised service offers and individual customer journeys through the online shopping world, as well as technologies and applications that make everyday life easier and more efficient.

Here we illustrate four trends for companies to watch out for in 2018.

More technology, more time

Collect data, evaluate it, pass it on, and finally match it. Of course, automation is not promoted for its own sake. Rather, it serves the basic idea that a positive, individually tailored customer experience – be it shopping or the response to a customer service request – leaves behind an equally positive impression (and also a feeling). This in turn creates a close, trust-based connection to the brand or the company. Consequently, the customer will primarily buy products of this brand, now and in the future.
(study)

We are already in the middle of a development that aims to simplify everyday tasks. Be it shopping from the sofa, fully automatic washing machines and kitchen appliances, remote-controlled heaters or financial advice via app, there are currently numerous technologies and applications to help optimize our resources and save time for essentials – reading a magazine, for example.

Trend 1: E-commerce was yesterday – now it’s automatic

The truth is that these days we can have products from other countries delivered straight to the front door within a few hours, even by robot – or in the near future flown in by a drone, wherever we happen to be.
We are offered a choice of ten different payment options, but what initially sounds like a good service actually overwhelms many customers and lengthens the buying process unnecessarily. In order to simplify the buying process and make everyday life easier for users, automisation is being implemented more and more, which means that e-commerce is increasingly giving way to a-commerce (automated commerce).

A-commerce does not mean giving the customer a packed wardrobe thanks to individually suggested garments on the shopping page (although Zalando does plan to revolutionize that in the coming months). An example that you may be familiar with is the Amazon Dash buttons which allow you to place your order (e.g. your favourite razor blades) directly from the bathroom at the touch of a button.

Trend 2: Support thanks to smart assistants

Alongside creative ideas in the commercial sector, intelligent lifestyle technologies and assisted development are in demand. These should not only support everyday life, but also embody a new attitude towards life, perhaps even a new attitude towards adulthood. In the course of a globalized, digital world, many people are enjoying more freedom and gaining a new perspective on adulthood. Instead of settling for stability with a secure job and starting a family, people have less fixed, more open approaches to their futures.

Many first go travelling to find themselves, then spend years testing out the professional world before settling at some point – or not. Other values are associated with this approach to life such as lifestyle, freedom, independence, work-life balance, but also money and a higher level of consumption.

The new adulthood is supported by Smart Home Assistants with apps for health, finance, and coordinating appointments or through innovative co-living spaces – areas where new products and offers are added almost daily.
Intelligent refrigerators that let you know when the milk has run out, app-controlled hotplates which regulate the heat themselves, and search queries via speakers help to manage small tasks as they come up in a straightforward manner.
Thus a whole new way of living is evolving. Working singles with aspirations share creative luxury flats equipped with high-quality appliances, integrated sports-centers and plenty of common areas for networking – starting at the breakfast table. It’s independent living, popular not least because no one can afford an apartment in larger cities.

Mirrors with built-in assistants are truly smart, providing each flat-mate with their individual appointment schedule, emails, a personal news-feed and camera functions – all perfectly integrated into day-to-day living. Everything can be controlled by voice or swipe function, of course.

Trend 3: Bots and Virtual Companions

When it comes to handling standard customer requests quickly and providing an all-round service, bots are simply unbeatable. And thanks to a mass of voice data from the speakers and the increasing learning ability of the little assistants, answers and response options are steadily improving – technology that will definitely find more uses in the coming year.

At the moment there is still a distinction between different bot-types. Service bots accept the first customer requests, e.g. on a website, and provide both help and orientation, while so-called social bots interact with users via messenger and social channels. Both forms follow prescribed dialogue processes and react to customer keywords. The action bots on the other hand are more sophisticated. With their help, , individual news tickers can be created and flights or entire trips can be booked, as with the bot used by the Dutch Airline KLM.

Smart assistants and bots are completely in sync with the zeitgeist. They satisfy the user’s needs by simplifying life and sometimes even entertain. Above all, they, or the brand and the company behind them, have earned the trust of the users. Which leads us to the last trend.

Trend 4: Transparency and brand positioning

To ask users to hang a mirror with an integrated camera and direct access to Facebook in their home, one needs their trust. Of course, this includes secure technology. Most importantly, users should know what kind of attitude, opinion and intentions a company has.

In fact, there is a trend here, indeed a movement, where companies that make their intentions transparent are particularly popular. Part of the trend includes taking a stand on current social and political issues, especially those that affect one’s own industry. This trend is in line with the new image of adulthood, too: what I buy makes me and is part of my identity. In such a context, dealing with mistakes and scandals should be as transparent and open as possible. Who wants to do an Uber?

For companies, it means clearly rethinking their attitude. Are we making a statement? What do we support? What bothers us? What do we want to get involved in? This is all part of the brand identity that should be lived by the company instead of just appearing on some flipchart. It includes distinctive statements and perhaps ones own voice, the latter in the truest sense of the word, considering the numerous opportunities in audio applications.

Conclusion

From automated commerce to smart assistants and companions to brand utility, all trends are based on developments which are already taking place with initial pilot projects or have already reached the stage where a well-advanced product exists. All such trends serve one goal: service, efficiency and identification with the user.
Companies should keep these trends in mind and understand the technologies as an invitation to build upon them and create truly relevant offerings for the users, which benefit both the users and the development of the company.

One trend is a continuation: In 2018, smart speakers will be added to many more living rooms. Do you know how to use this potential? We’ll tell you..

Apps offer many ways to extend the reach of your magazine, increase sales or strengthen customer loyalty. But to achieve any of these, the first thing you need to do is let your readers and customers know about your app – and the best way to do that is with advertising. In this blog post, we’ll introduce you to some helpful tips for advertising your app and to consider in the planning stages.

Before the app is up and running

Regardless of whether you want to promote your app with a larger-scale campaign or with a few select ads and promotions, the first step is to establish a goal. You might want to increase app downloads, for example – say, to a certain number of downloads in the next three months – or boost magazine sales by a certain number within a set time period. The more precisely you define your target, the easier it will be later to see whether you have reached it.
Start planning your small ad campaign or “one-shot” ads before the app has been created or has gone live. This will give you the time you need to book ad space and brief copywriters and graphic designers.

Who uses your app?

Define your target group using a little thought experiment: Who reads your magazine and why? Why should they immediately switch over to a digital version? What advantage is there to doing that? Do you want your digital magazine to be read by other (new and different) readers? What does a typical day in the life of your reader look like? Questions like this – and, of course, the answers you find – will help you formulate messages and slogans, and decide where you want the ads to be placed. Make sure to coordinate your advertising messages across the different media that you use. This will avoid confusion among your readers and generate higher product recognition.

The agony of choice? Instead, let’s say: creativity knows no bounds

Now that you know your target group and have an idea of what you want to say to them, it is time to find the right advertising vehicle.

The classic print ad

Print ads are a simple but effective way to acquaint readers with your app. After all, print ads are noticed by 90 percent of readers and are perceived for an average of seven seconds. That leaves enough time to direct attention to your app or magazine ad. If you can, use full-page, visually compelling ads in your own and related media. And, most importantly, advertise your app in the magazine for which the app has been created.
Using QR codes, you can steer the reader directly from the ad to the app store. Some QR-Codes automatically recognize the type of device doing the scanning and guide it to the appropriate app store.

Digital readers, digital advertising

Magazine apps are perfect for attracting younger audiences and readers that largely consume media on the go. So it makes sense that digital ad spaces are the effective way to publicize your app. Publish ads on your website, blog and newsletter, and on social media. It’s also a good idea to use newsletters and websites that publish material related to your own. Do you have a fishing magazine? Why not rent a banner in an online fishing shop. You publish a medical journal? How about an ad in a blog that’s popular among doctors.

Just as in print ads, focus on graphic designs with relatively little text. In addition to pictures, you can integrate animations or even videos (showing how to use the app, for example) into the ad space.

Digital ads are also ideal for “customer journey” marketing. Use a simple link to steer users to an appealing landing page or directly to an app store, where you can offer them a free download of a special edition of your magazine and in so doing gain new readers.

Flyers, posters, and stand-up displays

It might sound old-school, but flyers, posters, and stand-up displays are still very effective. Using these standard outdoor advertising media, you can reach readers where they regularly spend time. This is where the “day in the life of the reader” thought experiment comes into play, and you can extend that experiment in a variety of ways. Where do your readers work? How do they spend their free time? Where do they go shopping? The answers to these questions will give you a feeling for where to place your material.
Stand-up displays in cafés located near shopping malls or at the next Fashion Week are great for lifestyle and women’s magazines. Advertising for a business magazine app, on the other hand, is better placed in the first-class compartments of high-speed trains. A good approach for customer and employee magazines are stand-up displays at trade fairs, conventions and conferences.

When employing this type of advertising, special attention should be paid to the images used. The visuals should be easy to understand and appropriate for the target group. In terms of size, the product should occupy ten to twenty percent of the poster, ensuring that the ad communicates your message effectively, even from a distance. Use QR codes to steer users directly to the app.

Actively promote your magazine app and increase exposure

You’ve seen it before – students in colorful outfits handing out flyers or samples, or chatty salespeople tempting potential subscribers with the latest newspaper or magazine issues. Promotional campaigns are often garish and loud but they are effective. You don’t have to give away thousands of copies of your magazine at some random location, but a special edition for your next sponsoring event or at a trade fair will gain you future readers. If you take the digital approach, you can publish the offer in your app and save printing costs.
You can also extract specific content or articles from your publications and distribute them digitally for a variety of occasions. Call on your readers and the public to submit content themselves or report live on an event. You can then present exclusive coverage of the results and winners in the app.

Guerrilla marketing events are also popular. They range from well-placed posters and print ads to conspicuous objects and participatory events. You have countless options, but whichever one you take, it should fit in with your magazine topics and your corporate image. Your app doesn’t have to be the main focus of the ad. Referencing it with a logo or linking to it with a QR code suffices. You can find great ideas and inspiration on this blog.

Conclusion

Hopefully, this introduction has helped you see that there are many ways to advertise your app and draw the attention of potential readers. Just take an hour and do some brainstorming – either alone or in a team – and then discuss your ideas. Make sure to take your other ad campaigns and any special events into account. And remember, you don’t need to do all your advertising at once. Try a more dramatic approach and take the customer on a marketing journey that starts with a somewhat cryptic but intriguing attention-getter and then, once the reader has become curious, gradually reveal the product. Ideally, you would offer a magazine issue, or some premium content, free of cost in the app.

How to make for a good App Store appearance, read here.

Part II: Illustrate the look and feel of your app.

Thanks to the right keywords and categories, you have successfully led your customers to the app. Now what counts is the first impression. In part II of our ASO tips, we will show you how to impress users with informative screenshots and well-designed preview videos.

The app icon/logo

The app icon plays an essential role. As a permanently visible symbol on the smartphone display, it is your digital entrance-ticket to the user’s daily life. To constantly encourage the user to use the app and to do so in a variety of situations, the app icon must have a high product-recognition factor. The benefits and the intrinsic value of the app must be directly reflected in the icon. A practical example: The magazine icon of ‘Natürlich gesund und munter’ – naturally healthy and happy – is a white leaf on a dark green background. The promise of a healthy, natural lifestyle, which the magazine promotes with advice and tips, is already apparent in the logo.
Graphical aspects should also be considered with the icon or logo: do not use photo portraits, detailed representations, or longer words, because these are difficult to recognize later on a display. The logo should work as a small icon image as well as in higher resolution on posters.

Screenshots as preview images

The user gains their first impression of the app through the preview images and screenshots. These must be striking, stimulating and informative if they are to convince the user to download. Don’t use simple screenshots showing different perspectives of the app. Explain images with additional captions, text, and graphics and embed the screenshots in suitable backgrounds. This gives the user a sense of where and when they can use the app, e.g. road-traffic scenes for a navigation app; for language learning, beautiful locations in a country where the language is spoken. You don’t have to rush straight to your graphic artist to spice up your screenshots – great tools and screenshot builders are also Screenshot-Builder available on the web.

In the Apple App Store, for each type of device you can add five preview images; in the Google Play Store this goes up to eight screenshots. Make the most of this – anything else is a wasted opportunity to reach your customers.
In both stores the first one and a half screenshots are displayed. You can determine the order of the images yourself, and you should use these to illustrate navigation through the app or ideal app usage. The images can thereby reflect the functions and the added value outlined in the description and contained in the keywords.

Storytelling on the app store with preview videos

In both stores, instead of screenshots, videos can be integrated to playfully explain the functions and use of your app. Videos speak to the user at an emotional level, placing them directly in a specific usage situation or location. Use background music, voice-overs or animations. Keep in mind that the app video must work without sound. When necessary, integrate subtitles, or show in a real exemplary case how the app is used. Regardless of what variation you choose, it is worth writing a short script in advance, in which all scenes, settings and texts are noted down.

In the Apple App Store, you have the option to upload your own video with a maximum length of 30 seconds. You can also upload different videos in other languages for the various parts of the world where your app is offered.
A YouTube link can be integrated into the Google Play Store, which means the duration of the video is not limited. To avoid giving users unnecessary information and thus losing their attention, limit the length of the video to 60 seconds.

Feature graphics – only in Google Play Store

In terms of usability, Apple often has the edge. However, when it comes to app stores, the Google Play Store offers a larger digital playing field. The videos in the Google Store allow more content and additional animations than the Apple App Store.
Google also allows you to integrate another graphic or a video into the header of the app store page: the feature graphics. The space is ideal for referencing your company or magazine, for instance with the company logo or the latest edition’s cover. Alternatively you can place ads or promotion videos here.

And finally: After the app download is before the (next) app download. The app store users themselves reveal what ought to be considered in descriptions, keywords and, of course, concerning the app itself.

Customer reviews – your guide to the reader

Having downloaded your app, users can rate and comment on it with a 5-star rating system. This rating, which is prominently placed in the Google Play Store, is not unimportant for first impressions and for finding the app. To encourage as many users as possible to evaluate the app, you can interactively integrate a review request. This saves users the long journey round the store. Make a call for app ratings on the web and social media. Use vouchers or prize-games to create incentive and motivation for the user.
In addition to quantity, the quality of the evaluations is crucial. User comments provide you with an inexhaustible pool of feedback. Through a personal response to your readers’ questions, criticism and praise, the readers feel taken seriously and this strengthens customer loyalty. For queries on app features or subscription models, refer the reader to explanatory videos or the Help Center. If the customer has a suggestion, look into it and thank them for the feedback. Every criticism and every compliment is a basis for optimizing your app and the content and adapting to customer requirements. In addition, customer ratings provide good ideas for keywords and can help anticipate future trends.

Conclusion

There are many opportunities, with both text and graphical elements, to effectively advertise and present your app in the stores. Use these and experiment! Exchange keywords and alter images and description text to increase the download count. This provides Apple and Google with a constant feed of new material, which helps their search engines find you and ensures a better ranking.
You’ll see – ASO, like your website, is a steady process that requires some work, but thanks to some tools and integrated app functions, it is quickly incorporated into the usual marketing processes. Get started and get creative!

What can publishers do better?

Subscription models were a tried and tested medium in the newspaper and magazine industry for decades – until the introduction of the iPhone ten years ago. Since then, publishers and media houses have been increasingly struggling with declining subscriber numbers. To complicate matters, numerous niche magazines are competing for the small readership pool.
Paradoxically, subscription models in branches such as film, music and retail are gaining in importance.  So what’s going on? What are the market leaders in the subscription sector doing differently? And what can publishers and media do better to secure future readers? We try here to shed light on the issue and make some suggestions for your subscription models.

A closer look at Spotify, Netflix and Co.

The film and music industry were given a much-needed boost by streaming services. And subscription models from the retail trade, from ironed shirts to razor blades, are increasingly finding customers. The key to such success is relatively simple. There is a great variety of offers out there, which can sometimes be overwhelming. The desire to have controlled and manageable access to ones favourite music or series competes with the excitement of trying out something new. These subscription models offer both.
Many users benefit from such flexible accounts, which allow access to content on all devices.
Additionally, with flexible subscription lengths and notice periods, the user has more autonomy and doesn’t feel tied down. The monthly rates are manageable, and even a real bargain with family and friends accounts. The accounts can be expanded or cancelled with just one click.
It’s not surprising that readers desire such a service from print subscriptions.

Facts from current studies

At the VDZ Distribution Summit in October, the VDZ together with the Siegfried Vögele Institute presented the study “Future of the Subscription – What the reader wants! First results of a large population survey” The responses of around 2,000 respondents aged between 14 and 75 contain interesting indications on what readers expect from print subscriptions.
The study gets straight to the point and lists factors leading to subscriptions being cancelled: decreasing interest in the product (24%), overpriced and underutilized subscriptions (23%), discontinuation of the favourable subscription model (21%) and too little time to read (17%).
These answers are not surprising. Subscriptions are only slightly less costly than single purchases; reductions for permanent readers or students are rare.

In addition, participants were asked about their prior expectations concerning the subscription and how these compared to reality. Reality clearly split with expectation when it came to unlimited access to normal and exclusive content or the availability of the magazines on laptop and smartphones without additional charges.
At the same time there is a lot of potential in the subscription market. 44% of respondents can imagine subscribing to a magazine in the future – provided services such as punctual delivery, a favourable price relative to the retail purchase, flexible duration and notice periods, as well as additional premiums during the subscription period are met.

The study results already clearly indicate how future subscription models can be designed. Some of these can most certainly be applied to your subscriptions.

Choice encourages individuality: Print & digital

Your readers should not have to decide between print and digital. Simply offer your print subscriptions in combination with digital editions along with a digital-only subscription for mobile or environmentally-conscious readers. Bundle-subscriptions can be easily managed using magazine apps and access codes or individual reader accounts.

Another possibility is a print-on-demand subscription. A digital subscription can include the option to reorder individual editions as a print copy. Additional costs can be charged via monthly invoices or you can set a fixed price for such a subscription combination.

Digital or print? — Give the reader a choice

Bundle-subscriptions with related topics

Along with form, content can also be used to define a subscription. What about a package of theme- or product-related magazines? A trade publisher can offer three cookery magazines in a package (at a lower price of course). Another alternative might be a duo subscription for couples with two magazines from the assortment, e.g. a “GQ” for him and a “Glamour” for her.

Multiple accounts for a magazine

These days you could be forgiven for thinking that every flat share and every group of young friends shares a Netflix premium account. After all, with access on up to five different screens for 14 euros monthly, it’s pretty much unbeatable. This is not to say that you should underprice your magazines, but merely provide easier access. The classic print magazine is generally read by all family members or flatmates. Why not allow digital access to the magazine from several devices?
You gain additional readers, who in the long term could sign up for their own subscriptions.

Flexibility and periods of notice

Even though lengthier subscriptions and periods of notice confer long-term planning security, not everyone is ready for a long term commitment. Whether this is due to lack of time or finances or simply the extra hassle, you need to react. Offer subscription lengths and notice periods on a monthly basis that can be conveniently managed through an online account and through your reader service.
The option to pause a subscription, for example during the holiday, also gives the customer more elbow room. You’ll find that granting the reader this autonomy and freedom of choice takes away the pressure and encourages their curiosity. You’ll benefit from satisfied readers, who you can win over in the long term with great service and content.
Also, in the spirit of flexibility, check out the payment methods for your subscriptions. Do you offer enough choice?

With multiple accounts, readers can read on multiple devices at the same time.

Test and trial subscriptions – the pathway to regular customers

Many publishers already offer the classic trial subscriptions or free booklet to entice future readers and subscribers. Target existing subscribers with these offers – most consumers listen to tips and recommendations from friends, family and experts before trying out or buying a product. A refer-a-friend subscription or a free trial issue create incentives for readers to recommend your magazine. With a magazine app, unlocking single editions is uncomplicated.

Flat-rate reading

Providers such as Readly and Amazon Prime Reading have completely integrated the concepts of Spotify and Netflix into the world of publishing. For a monthly fee the reader has access to a wide range of magazines. But what’s good for the reader isn’t necessarily good for the publisher. Flat-rate billing, charging according to pages read, or having to share a substantial portion of the revenue is rarely financially profitable.
If you wish to offer readers a wide selection of magazines for an acceptable price in the future, a kiosk app may be the solution you are looking for. You can provide your whole range of magazines or a selection in an app that readers can unlock for a monthly subscription. The advantage over third-party providers is an in-house product in your own design without additional financial investment and without competitors. You also determine the structure, the categorization and the prices.

Find what works for you

Providing an all-round service at a low price is a thorny issue in publishing and media because of the value of the content. Good content requires creativity and time-consuming research. Nobody wants to give it away for free or sell under value. However, the changing world of media usage and the reader’s desire for varied content means a rethink is necessary. And the more flexible and versatile the offers and subscription models are, the more readers they will attract. Familiarise yourself with the different possible subscription models and test out how readers respond to changes.

The study presented at the VDZ Publisher Summit will be complemented by the VDZ Publisher Summit on 6th and 7th November in Berlin. PressMatrix will be attending and look forward to seeing you there!

Our new browser client 3.0 in slim design is now also available as mobile version as well as
for all current browsers. Thanks to the high compatibility your publications are thus everywhere on the web independent of the browser and device.

Similar design, new features

In addition to small performance changes, the browser client 3.0 offers new and enhanced features that have been primarily developed based on customer and reader requests.
You can now edit the translations for your browser client independently of the app. In addition, we have introduced a separation of links to platforms. With this you have the possibility to set links for the mobile apps and the browser client separately in order to optimally present your website and e-commerce offers.
Your readers also benefit from extended account settings, such as password reset and additional subscription management in the user menu within your browser client.

Article Publishing in the browser client

With our new SaaS-solution ReadMatrix you can already publish single articles and posts in your PressMatrix-App and social media. From now on, the articles published in your app are also visible in the browser client.
You do not know ReadMatrix yet? Learn more here.

Discover now your new browser client

With our preview function, you can preview your own browser client in the new version. Simply log in to your workbench account and click the browser client preview.
For all soon to be customers is here our Showcase-App on the web as new version.

Any queries on the new browser client will be answered by our service team at service@pressmatrix.de.

A short wake-up call and a friendly female voice is there, asking what she can do for you – play music, order your favorite food, record an appointment; or should she turn the heating up? Digital assistants from Amazon, Google and Co. are making everyday routines easier for users, especially in the smart home and the service sector. Content providers and companies on the other hand – as so often – lag behind; unnecessarily, because audio files and feeds are ideal for providing an initial, uncomplicated entry into the world of the smart assistant.

More Usability

The voice assistants open up a new field of usability. What began with dictating text messages on-the-go now plays out mainly within ones own four walls. In smart homes the consumer can control numerous gadgets through the sound of their voice. They can also forgo lengthy online research and have messages, sports and weather reports or topical facts read out to them. It’s easy, saves time – after all, most people speak faster than they write – and is efficient – since while listening, the user is freed up to deal with other chores. Thus, just like the Second Screens of smartphones and tablets, the audio mode offers further help in dealing with everyday multi-tasking.

AI meets designer lamp

At first glance, the smart voice assistants are reminiscent of mobile boxes or designer lamps. Behind the deceptive exterior, however, is an intelligent sound system with integrated microphones that can obtain optimal sound in large rooms and receive commands and queries from the user. For such purposes the assistant connects to the provider’s cloud server and can access the user’s music or data, e.g. via Kindle with Echo or iTunes with Apple.

In addition to preinstalled functions, there are also so-called skills and actions, which the user can activate, e.g. by app. Along with smart-home skills and actions, content-related skills, such as retrieving news and information from the web, and services, such as meal-delivery, online banking or booking a trip, are very popular. These functions are being developed by third parties and are opening up a new product field.

Publishers and content providers: the knowing off-screen voice

Innovative skills-projects such as those led by the Bild newspaper, Tagesschau and ZDF give a taste of how content can be processed for Echo and Co. These providers use an audio file summarizing the most important news of the day or a news feed that is read out by the language assistant. The initial extra cost is manageable; after all, such formats are already used by most daily media. The smart speakers are basically another medium alongside print and social media; they represent an opportunity for the content providers and publishers to attract new listeners and readers and convince them of their expertise. Further, monetization possibilities – although initially excluded by Amazon – will not be long waiting.

Publishers can score here with their own core territory: knowledge and content. They are specialists on particular topics, hobbies or expert fields and can provide the relevant information to the listeners. For example, a cooking guide can be read out step-by-step, a product test for new computer models can be summarized in a short article.

Popular radio features and programs or podcasts serve as the inspiration. They are the proof that with the help of original sound, acoustic effects, and a clear text, the listener can be introduced to completely new worlds.

How companies are heard

For companies, the skills open up new product areas and service offers. Equipment and electrical manufacturers are already working diligently to interface their devices with the speakers. Ordering the milk directly at the refrigerator or querying the user’s power consumption or account balance is much faster than using a tablet and offers a lot of comfort.
But the meticulously developed content-marketing can also be expanded into the audio realm. Why not have Alexa read out the tips on saving electricity when Echo notices that too many lamps are burning? Or provide the FAQs as an audio file? Here, the focus is moving to the context in which the listeners and consumers use the product and the question becomes: in what situations can I as a company help my customers and what questions can I answer?

A few years ago, it was still slightly irritating to hear people formulating text messages or search queries out loud in the direction of their smartphone. In the meantime, 28.3 million Germans are talking to their smartphone, which has since become the trailblazer of the smart speakers of Amazon, Google and Co.
Here we give you a brief overview of which smart systems are already available and what they do.

Alexa, play my favorite song from Spotify!

In 2012 Amazon had already launched the first test models of its Echo, establishing a strong advantage over its competitors. Designed as a loudspeaker, Amazon’s Echo is now available in two versions in Germany, along with various accessories such as a camera or a tablet.
15,000 applications, so-called skills, have already been designed inhouse as well as by external companies and developers. These include many smart-home functions, various services, such as delivery and taxi-services, as well as games and media streams.

With the aid of the skills, the user can have Alexa read messages and content from the Web, play music and audiobooks from their own Amazon account or from third parties such as Spotify, and control connected home appliances. With the integration of the shopping platform, even ordering the groceries is possible with the assistant.

Alexa gets to know the individual user better every day and with each query, thus improving the quality of the answers and pronunciation. The lack of advertising opportunity may be a disadvantage for companies.

Google Home: The whole web on request

Not to be outdone, Google followed in 2016 with its Google Home speaker, which is expected to be available this summer in Germany. Some functions are also provided here, 378 so far – in this case they are called Actions – which have also been released for external developers. Despite the few functions, the great advantage of Google is its integrated Google search, the calendar, Google Maps and YouTube, which offer an almost infinite source of information, providing more accurate answers than Alexa. Unlike Amazon, Google is also testing the integration of advertising. For example, a filmstart was recently announced in the personal daily summary for some listeners.

Microsoft Undercover

Clearly, Microsoft’s pendant to Amazon’s Echo should not be missing. The Invoke, however, was developed by Harman Kardon company and uses the voice and intelligence of Microsoft’s Cortana. This was already integrated into Windows 8 and thus accesses a now well-fed data set.
The speaker, which looks very much like the Echo, should be available this Autumn in the USA. Like Google and Amazon, Cortana also uses in-house programs and data. Invoke will have access to Microsoft Office, Bing and Skype and data from the user’s cloud can be called up. Opening up for third-party providers is also planned, in order to expand the (currently only 65) available skills.

Apple’s designer speakers

One player’s presence was previously missed in the battle of the speakers. Now Apple, too, with its HomePod and Siri is set to start in December. As usual with Apple, it is mostly still hush hush. The focus, however, unlike Amazon or Google, will be on high quality sound when playing music: the HomePod comes with the technology to scan the room for optimal sound reproduction. Other functions, such as the reading of messages, weather reports, and a timer, are also to be included.

Improved usability; New behavior?

With digital voice-activation, all speakers promise to improve home comfort and make running a household more efficient. The user can deal with tasks simultaneously and faster.
Interestingly, studies have shown that users always give certain commands at the same or similar times of day, thus creating a digital routine. At the same time, new daily rituals emerge and the approach to handling other appliances changes as does communication with family members and partners.
However, the use of devices such as smartphones and tablets remains unchanged to-date, since many functions still require a screen, or this is preferred by the users.

PressMatrix Insider insights

Our UI & UX Designer Daniel, Business Development Manager Andreas and Head of Client Development Tobias have not let the new speakers escape their attention. They talk about their experiences:

1) How many Amazon Ecos or Echo Dots do you have?

Andreas: I have an Amazon Echo Dot, which is placed centrally in the living room.

Daniel: I also have an Echo Dot.

Tobias: I’ve got an Echo Dot at home, which is used in the living room.

2) Have you connected other devices to your Amazon Echo, and if so, which ones?

Andreas: My Echo Dot is connected to a Netatmo weather station as well as to my Philips Hue. With the Amazon Echo, I can output weather data via the voice interface and also selectively control the brightness and light colour of two light-sources in our living.

Daniel: I have two each of Yeelight LEDs, Yeelight Light Bulb Color and TP-LINK Smart sockets to control and regulate the light.

Tobias: I have a Broadlink RM Pro connected to my Echo using the accompanying app, which allows me to use infrared signals. It means that theoretically I can control all devices possessing an infrared remote control via my Echo. At the moment this applies to three radio sockets, each of which controls one of my lamps, my TV, and my music system. The music system is connected to the Echo via Bluetooth.

3) Which functions of your Amazon Echo do you use most frequently?

Daniel: I mostly use Echo for the TV and also for switching on or dimming the light and LEDS to create the right atmospheric effect. When cooking, I often use it to set a timer or read out weather data and messages.

Andreas: Mostly I use it to listen to music from the Amazon universe as well as daily news from my message file, and to set the timer and regulate the lighting in the living room.

Tobias: At the moment I mainly use the Echo voice-command to switch my devices on or off. I also use the timer function relatively frequently when cooking.

4) What information do you call up daily or several times a week?

Daniel: I use the daily summary of the Tagesschau and the weather report, sometimes several times a day.

Andreas: I listen daily to the news service of Deutsche Welle and Tagesschau. Both skills are read by professional speakers.

Tobias: I don’t use the Echo much for getting information.

5) Have you taken up offers by the media and publisher yet? If so, which ones?

Andreas: So far I’ve only been using the media service of Welt.

Daniel: The media offers are still very limited. So far, I’ve only had one test version of a Kindle e-book read out to me. With better boxes, I would listen to music from Amazon more often; so far I’ve only used the offer occasionally.

Tobias: No.

6) Have you ordered food yet, a product from Amazon or used any other service, for example ordering a taxi?

Andreas: No. I like to process orders manually for the sake of transparency.

Daniel: Not yet.

Tobias: Me neither.

7) Which functions do you think are not yet mature?

Andreas: The voice-recognition itself could be improved. Also the news dossier. For example, when news from Heise or N-TV is selected, advertising text is also read out. There are also linguistic hurdles; for example names or technical terms are simply misread. Here, Alexa obviously lacks product maturity.

Daniel: I also find the reading fuction improvement-worthy. It’s true to say that tools like calendar entries, notes, or the listing of To Do’s work, but they don’t offer any real added value in their current form.

Tobias: The speech recognition is already quite good in my opinion, but could also be somewhat more precise.

8) What functions would you want?

Daniel: Better reading and searching functions.

Andreas: Well, overall, I’d like a lot more skills. The product itself is generally good, since many options from the Amazon world are already provided by Amazon Prime. However, there is still a lack of depth of the kind you find in the current app world. A good thing would be a device networking with NAS servers and also an extension of the smart-home pallet. Along with that, better speech recognition and output. Also conceivable is the networking of several Echoes in the sense of a WLAN- box-streaming system through several rooms combined with a follow-me function. And quite a bit more.

Tobias: Unfortunately, so far there’s no possibility to link several commands: for instance I’d like to give the command “Echo, play music on my system,” whereupon Echo automatically connects to the system via Bluetooth and then starts the music. At the moment it is not possible; you are forced to give two commands – “Echo, connect with Bluetooth” and “Echo, play music.”
In addition, there still doesn’t seem to be a link to the Amazon Fire TV-stick. So I can’t give a command to play a series or a movie on television via the TV-stick.

Many other providers such as Samsung are also working on smart loudspeaker systems. To date most of the systems are still in still in their infancy. It remains to be seen where the journey takes us.

The motto “content first” has recently reached the communication and marketing departments of the business world. But it is often forgotten that content is not only written for its own sake, but is subject to very specific business objectives.

By offering value to customers in the form of high-quality content, enterprises strengthen their brand and their relationship to their customers. Both are indispensable and involve long-term and strategic planning. To generate traffic and leads with such content, a targeted distribution of content and subsequent monitoring is necessary.
If this makes you wonder how much effort goes into creating such content, we can reassure you – it is not about constantly producing new content, but rather about reusing existing material and distributing it purposefully. A much-read article from your blog or customer magazine will also perform well in social channels.

Brand awareness through social media

Take, for example, your own social channels. Content that leads to interaction with the customer is specially relevant. This can range from liking, sharing, or activating a backlink to registering contact data or purchasing a product. The resulting interactions provide feedback on your products and the viral effect increases your online visibility and the public awareness of your brand. Individual articles, such as Facebook Instant Articles or Google AMPs, have a high potential for interaction because of the extra value users derive from their indepth content.

New leads with existing content

In order to generate traffic on your website or landing page via social channels, it is worth backlinking the individual articles in the social channels or in your app. Linking to your blog or to free offers is an especially easy way to generate leads. Such content offers extra value and shifts your expertise to the foreground. In order for customers to receive, for instance, a white paper or a how-to, or to participate in webinars, they must enter their data, which can be used later to contact them.

Know what the customer wants

To discover which articles are popular in the social channels and in the app, take a look at the relevant KPIs. Use tools to track traffic, page views, conversion rates and the performance of your articles. Tracking in real-time enables you to react quickly to changes and to measure the effectiveness of your content strategy in the long term

Feeding each channel separately requires some time and effort. It is worth using the appropriate tools and software solutions to enable cross-channel publication and save yourself the trouble of having to adapt content individually. Our article-publishing software ReadMatrix provides you with such efficiency.

If you have any questions concerning ReadMatrix, we’d be delighted to hear from you. Call us on +49 30 220 138 32 or write an e-mail to sales@pressmatrix.de

In the last newsletter we introduced our new component ReadMatrix, that publishes individual articles directly in the PressMatrix app and on social media channels. We have now expanded our repertoire and are presenting Twitter as an additional channel for your mobile storytelling.

For over ten years, the microblogging platform Twitter has been number one when it comes to rapidly and globally distributing the latest news, trends and opinions. And with 328 million active users monthly, it is still enjoying a high level of popularity. The short 140-character messages provide users, thanks to their tags, favourites, sharing and comment functions, with a quick type of social interaction and the opportunity to publish their own news, ideas and opinions without great effort and with a wide reach. Journalists, influencers, experts and organisations in particular use the platform to publish the latest announcements, comment and initiate discussions. Publishers and companies too can have their say on Twitter without a lot of effort, but with great effectiveness.

Nevertheless, 140 characters is somehow not enough space to provide in-depth feedback or share an opinion. With the ReadMatrix article function for Twitter, you can now add to the commonly known speed and high interaction levels detailed and sustainable content.

Cross-media publishing in any format

Around 83% dof Tweeters use the platform via their smartphone. To modify your articles to reader’s mobile use, we prepare your Twitter article in AMP format in ReadMatrix. This format enables the article to be opened within seconds in Twitter and is perfectly adapted to the mobile display. The reader benefits from detailed content alongside the short messages, without having to leave the platform and without additional waiting times.

The layout and operating mode bring Facebook Instant Articles to mind. As is same Twitter also allows the direct integration of adverts and web banners into the articles. In this way, the readers can be made aware of your publications or products or you can generate additional revenue, providing targeted advertising spaces to advertising partners.
It is possible to design the articles as usual with images, links, videos and HTML elements in order to shape your content across multimedia and interactively, and for the readers to enjoy reading in a digital format.

Your own experts and discussion platform

There is hardly any other channel around where you have the opportunity to share your opinion and news so rapidly and establish yourself as an expert and adviser in the long term, as you can on Twitter. Publish individual articles with interesting content such as helpful tips or background information on the latest news to give your readers fresh, interesting input every day. This is the way to arouse both, interest in your content and trust in your brand.

Twitter is also an excellent platform for contacting your readers and customers directly and quickly. Ensure that your content stimulates inspiring conversations amongst them and ask directly for feedback on the latest range of topics, products or your new layout. Or strengthen the connection to your publications by sparking a discussion on a specific topic, a statement from an article or a new product. As a result, you receive direct responses on the latest products and topics that correspond exactly to your customers’ wishes.