Beattie, the integrated communications agency, is pulling out all the stops to become a global leader in voice search.

Voice will revolutionise the way we purchase goods without a screen and search for information online.

A fifth of online searches are already conducted by voice and according to Google that will increase to 50% within two years.

Beattie has established a team of six digital specialists to become the core of its voice search operations.

The agency’s focus on Voice Search for 2018 comes as Beattie is in the process of building a digital marketing team in Manchester, based at the company’s penthouse office in Mosley Street.

Beattie is already working with a fleet of clients on voice search optimisation, and the agency will be staging a series of Voice Search seminars in London, Manchester and Glasgow in the Spring.

Beattie’s digital clients include health supplements brand Seven Seas, Discovery Channel, High Street TV, the Scottish Football Association and electronics giant Philips.

Team leader and studio director Adam Christie said:

“With the rise and rise of mobile, dictating searches is so much easier than typing them. Brands which are not optimised for voice search will be struck dumb.

Voice is a whole new way of searching for information. Voice search requests are much longer and more colloquial than typed searches, so brands can’t afford to delay their preparations.

They need to gear themselves up for voice searches with immediate effect if they want to be ‘visible’ now and in the future.

By 2020, half of all searches will be conducted by voice. That’s 1.2 trillion searches per year – a marketing opportunity no brand can afford to ignore.”

Voice activated assistants like Amazon’s Alexa are also changing the way we purchase goods without looking at a screen.

Jessica McAndrew, digital comms director, said:

“Consumer goods brands need to get up to speed for voice ordering or they will be left behind by their more technically advanced rivals.

According to Google, 58% of those who regularly use voice-activated speakers say they create or manage shopping lists at least once a week.

Voice is an exciting new route to market for every brand whether they operate in the b2b or b2c sector.

It will have a transformational impact on the way we live and I believe it will prove to be as commercially powerful as the Google search bar.”