Alexa, Siri, Google Home: voice-activated technology is no longer a newcomer to the scene. Not only are these players household names, but they’re also integral parts of many households around the world.

Emarketer estimates that 111.8 million people will use a voice assistant at least monthly this year.

And yet, we’re only really at the beginning in terms of the opportunities that this kind of technology offers. There is no doubt that voice search will become one of the major innovations of the next decade.

We can already control many elements within our home and search for things like directions using voice, but the next step will be for brands to establish how they will utilize this technology to influence consumer behavior.

Big brands like Procter & Gamble and Unilever are big for a reason. They’re excellent at making sure that their products are at the forefront of customers’ minds when they’re looking for a trusted brand to guide their buying choices.

They’ll be seeking ways to maintain this as users turn to voice search.

But the flip side of the rich opportunities for creativity and innovation is that smaller brands can also display their agility and cleverly harness this technology too.

Let’s take a look at BBC Good Food. What does your home cooking experience look like? Greasy phone screens and splattered pages of recipe books? BBC Good Food recognized that voice search could revolutionize the way people seek and follow recipes at home. They were also facing losing out on market share as voice search started to take off; when users asked Alexa for a recipe for chocolate cake, for example, brands risked losing control over their recipe being picked by Alexa.

The UK’s no. 1 food media brand across print, digital and live, BBC Good Food faced several major challenges. With 11,000 recipes, they needed a way of funneling users to the recipe they wanted, and fast. Their recipes were visually enticing, with clear instructions for a reader – but they didn’t translate to sound-only effectively. They also needed to be able to monetize their voice search recipes; while their digital and print versions relied on selling advertising space, this was a challenge for voice search.

They embarked on a thorough analysis of what it was those home cooks wanted from voice search recipes, completely overhauled and optimized their recipe archives for voice search, and took their results one step further by integrating smart appliances. One feature included Alexa offering your healthy recipes based on the real-time contents of your fridge. A little scary? Maybe. Incredibly useful? Definitely.

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