Originally published Jan 30, 2019
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Hello you! This is Albert, VOOOZER’s CEO, and I will tell you about one of our greatest achievements so far.
It all started in late 2016, when Mateus, my partner, and I joined forces and were determined to change the internet for the better. The idea has always been simple and objective: to facilitate the consumption of online content through audio.
The reason, even simpler: 83% of people say they can’t read everything they would like on the internet.
In other words, since people are unable to read, we thought ‘what if people could listen to the contents of their interest?’. So, VOOOZER was born!
Since then, a lot has happened, obviously, but perhaps the biggest highlight is that we found people who shared the same vision as us. The famous early adopters, visionaries, pioneers, partners or however you prefer to call them.
Day after day, we realized that our research was right. Really, most people can’t read everything they would like to on the internet. And day after day, we found people who value and understand audio as a solution!
The big news: Google is now directly supporting us!
More than 2 years after we decided that we wanted to change the internet for the better, Google endorses that we are on the right track. VOOOZER was selected for the 2019 class of startups on the Google for Startups Residency Program!
If, by chance, you do not know, it is a very cool program that supports selected promising startups that are in a rapid growth stage. Each startup receives personalized guidance and workspace on any Google for Startup Campus in the world.
This means that in the next 6 months, our official base will be the Google for Startups Campus in São Paulo, where we will have access to support, mentoring, networking and best practices from Google itself.
Behind the scenes
It was not easy to get here. Especially because we didn’t even achieve it at first. In the past, we applied for the 2018 class but were not selected.
But the negative answer was also a positive one, since we were advised to continue doing our work and apply to the next class, when we would be more mature.
Today, looking back, I see that it was better that way.
We are really much more mature, full-bodied and even more determined than we were a year ago.
- Our customer base has tripled.
- We have a more solid growth strategy and vision.
- We feel more prepared, as a company, to take advantage of the residency program and everything it has to offer.
- We’ve built up our toughness – the good old experience.
As our chat with the folks at Google for Startups was very good, we felt that the feedback ‘it is not the time for you yet’ was really sincere.
We remained focused on our growth goals and, as a consequence, 1 year later, we were selected for the 2019 class.
But it is not Google alone that endorses our Audio Marketing methodology
As I said at the beginning, one of the main highlights on our journey was finding the right people. People who identified, like us, that audio offers tremendous potential, such as:
- increased engagement;
- increased consumption of content;
- SEO improvement;
- lead generation;
- lead enrichment.
Below, I bring some testimonials from these professionals and specialists open to innovation, focused on results and that have been generating results using VOOOZER for a long time.
André Mousinho – Content Marketing and SEO Specialist at Rock Content
“At first I came across the partnership a little reluctantly, without putting much faith on it. I am not a big fan of ‘reading’ through audio. However, it would not make sense to say ‘no’ without testing and seeing the reaction of our buyer persona, after all, the blog is for them and not for me.
The result was impressive, in addition to helping to increase our Time on Page (one of the main SEO factors), the value it generated with our audience was absolutely relevant. We received countless incredible feedbacks that proved the value of having the audio version on our blog.
Months later, when we started using the lead capture generation of the player, VOOOZER became one of our main sources of acquisition of subscribers to the blog.
At the end, I was wrong – and I’m glad.”
Flaubi Farias – Head of Content at RD Station
“VOOOZER is a fantastic platform.
At RD Station we use it in two ways: narration of blog posts and audiobooks. In addition to improving the users experience, giving a new option for them to consume the content, we are also generating many leads with the player.
I highly recommend it!”
Daniella Doyle – Head of Marketing at Siteware
“Our goal at the time was to offer yet another convenience to visitors of the blog and improve our SEO.
We had no expectations of capturing leads through audio posts. To our surprise, today the numbers show that about 21% of the leads captured on the blog arrive through Audio Marketing.
We also note that contents with audio greatly improve their ranking. A simple action, with excellent cost/benefit and that only brings positive results for Siteware marketing.”
From now on: what is next?
Now we have a lot of work to do, a lot to learn from the residency program and new goals to pursue. From what lies ahead, there is still a lot to be done by Audio Marketing and its main current methodologies.
Of course, we are extremely happy and satisfied with our results so far. In the beginning, we didn’t even have the term Audio Marketing. We coined this term in 2018 to make it clear that our mission is much bigger than ourselves.
It is not about VOOOZER – it is about Audio Marketing, a methodology of engagement and digital consumption that benefits companies and the general public. On an even larger scale, we are talking about giving due attention to the gigantic audio opportunity in recent years.
We cannot be satisfied with 10,000+ audios published and having 6 people listening to our customers’ audios at any given moment, we want to take the voice of Audio Marketing to thousands of other companies that could be generating more results with their content, we want to make life easier for millions of people who are interested in growing, learning, getting informed and be entertained, but they simply have no time or willingness to read the contents of their interest.
Thanks to everyone who helped us get here!
Thank you for the trust of the early adopters and of those who challenge us to be even better.
Thank you, Google, for the recognition and for welcoming us with open arms in the 2019 class of the Google for Startups residency program.
Thanks to the entire VOOOZER team for their excellent work!
Thank you, Mateus, for being on this journey with me!
Audio Marketing is here to stay.
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