#COMMSTRANSFORMATION - Three reasons to look at the voice
"Nothing reveals a person's character so much as their voice." This quote from the British writer and Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli highlights the importance of emotional language, which is expressed mainly through the tone of voice.
In the Public Relations (PR) industry, we accept the 7-38-55 rule. These numbers stand for to the results obtained in the 1960s by psychologist Albert Mehrabian, a specialist in non-verbal communication: only 7% of the information comes from what is said, 38% from how it is said and 55% from what the body says.
Although in the experiments carried out to observe these three languages, there is no doubt that emotional language, that is, the way in which we use the voice (intonation, projection, resonance, tone and volume) is a key element in communication processes. Strangely, it is the least trained skill in oratory and dialectic, despite the fact that the margin for improvement is often wider than in the other two languages.
The voice has always been present in communication processes. However, during the last century PR has been dominated by the written word and the image. The former has been closely linked to the informed public, while the latter has been tremendously popular since the invention of television in the 1930s.
The television quickly changed the way organizations communicated with their stakeholders, especially their customers. A huge playing field was then opened up for brands. The new visual format took advantage of the brain's greater ease in processing images. According to a study by MIT scientists published in the journal “Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics” in 2014, the brain takes only 13 milliseconds to identify an image. In addition, the brain transforms words into pictures to make it easier to remember them.
A century after television positioned the image as the most effective communication medium for organizations, the voice returns to focus the most innovative looks, mainly due to the popularization of virtual assistants and chatbots, to manage automatic customer services.
According to the research made by the Center for the future of work, “when it comes to transacting with the world, we’re rapidly shifting from using our eyes to read text, to our fingers to swipe, and to our voice and ears to talk and listen. In our recent research “From eyes to ears: getting your Brand heard in the new age of voice” reveals that 93% of companies believe that the shift towards voice will accelerate in the near future. Saying something is much faster than typing something. Young generations are indeed moving from “gradual” to “sudden” adoption of voice changing the way we search information, interact and play.
Brands that adopt voice technology quickly will have a first-mover advantage. A large majority of respondents (74%) view voice as important or extremely important for their business. And voice means money: “On average, companies plan to spend 3% of their revenues on building voice capabilities in the next five years; and they’ve got high expectations for returns, as they’re aiming to drive 6.3% of their revenue through voice during the same period”.
In this context, there are three reasons for keeping an eye on the resurgence of the voice.
The first is as simple as not losing the pace of innovation in the field of voice applications for communication processes. Just ask yourself: What is my organization doing regarding artificial intelligence and voice channels to interact with of our audiences? How to make the most of the human aspect of the voice to deeply connect with them? Many companies invest in technology with smart speakers, virtual assistants or chatbots to make the lives of humans easier through conversations and offer assistance around the clock efficiently and at low cost. Voice also allows easy-to-use and easy-to-produce communication tools to engage with clients and employees and create a high-impact voice experience through podcasting, masterclass or even new types of social media based on voice, like Clubhouse. These has been seen particularly valuable in our pandemic time when many people are deprived of human contact.
The second is to give brands a voice. It will be necessary because the image may not appear anymore. The use of an audio process like Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant to purchase a product has changed people’s view of brands. Brands need a voice strategy to interact with potential or current clients in their homes, cars or at the gym without seeing visuals in many cases. Brands need also voice with personality. Organisations not only have to take care of what they say in terms of content, but also how they say it, that is, what emotions they convey with their tone of voice. Is your brand ready to sound the way you imagine it? Creating a voice experience conveying intimacy, authenticity, emotion and personality in a way to and create a powerful connection with clients and employees.
And the third reason is because the spoken word has to regain the value of the written word through ethics and trust. What we say must be a contract with privacy, plurality and against misinformation. Security concerns also abound in terms of user data, mainly data protection rules in Europe, known as GDPR. Customers must trust voice platforms to do the right thing with their data, not to share it or misuse, keep it secure and not providing bias or inaccurate predictions. Ethical considerations when using voice are of the utmost importance.
Remembering Disraeli's quote, we have to forge our character and that of our organizations through words and facts. Let's talk, but above all, let's listen more to all the voices.
Silvia Arto
Chairperson of the European Regional Council
Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management
Any thoughts or opinions expressed are that of the author and not of Global Alliance.