I've recently gotten into building Alexa Skills.

22% of Americans now have an Alexa-enabled device; up from 1% a year ago. This according to information I picked up at VoiceCon, a one-day Voice Conference by VaynerMedia in Manhattan.

99% of Alexa users simply use it to play music, check the weather, ask what time it is, or play their Flash Briefing (click here for "What Is An Alexa Skill?"). The "more advanced" users actually ask Alexa to check their calendar.

It's clear the future is happening now. There is less friction with Alexa than with even checking your phone or watch for information.

If you're an Alexa user, have you thought about what it would be like to have Alexa in your car?

I mean, you can already add Alexa Skills to customize your experience at home (or in the office), and you can add blueprints and do drop-ins and all kinds of stuff.

But what if you could communicate with Alexa while driving? And what if Alexa could give you information about what's happening on your route?

Forget looking down at your phone for WAZE, Maps, forget texting or adding things to your calendar while driving.

Hmmm, you already can...

...have Alexa in your car, that is.

The Roav Viva, by Anker, is an Alexa - enabled 12V charger device that plugs into any vehicle.

It's set up process includes integration with an iOS or Android app, that integrates with apps on your phone. It's specialty is playing music, letting you ask for directions, letting you ask for the nearest types of places on your route, as as well as reading you your calendar events.

Here's how to set up and enable the Roav Viva Alexa-enabled device by Anker...

Step 1: After getting it out of the box, plug it into your car.

Step 2: Download the Roav Viva App on your phone and blue-tooth enable it.

Step 3: Allow your location and enable notifications

Step 4: Sync with Amazon (you have to already have the Alexa App on your phone).

Step 5: Ask Alexa for Something like "directions," "play songs by..." or "read me my calendar." You can even ask for "gas stations near me," etc.

What Does Alexa-Enabled Car Devices Mean For Marketers / Developers?

I mean, this is where I get REALLY excited. It's clear that this technology is just in it's infancy. The ability for development company's like ours that think like a top tier CMO to build Alexa Skills for our clients to promote their "on the go" based business is already there. For example, we can build Alexa Skills that consumers can download on behalf of brands that "put them on the route" of the user and "deploy special offers" when a user is in a particular location related to our clients' business location.

Taking users eyes off the device and creating a frictionless experience to communicate via voice and get alerts via sound is going to get more and more common over the next 24-36 months. The Roav Viva device will become the "adapter" and the norm will be Alexa-enabled cars.

While the current user experience may seem a lot like "Sync," or basic Navigation or "Siri" in cars, it's actually very different with Alexa.

You can't ask your navigation system for deals at a local coffee or tea shop around you. You can't ask your navigation system to add something to your calendar for the day. You can't ask your navigation system how your Shopify store's revenue looks and you certainly can't ask your store about the status of your website project with your agency.

With the proper Alexa Skills, you can. And as marketers and developers, we have an amazing whitespace to change the game in terms of how business can be conducted, and how consumer marketing can occur.

If you buy the Roav Viva today, you likely won't feel like it's an amazing game-changer from a marketing standpoint. But it's the "Friendster," and the "Facebook" is coming soon.
Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

Paul Hickey, Founder / CEO / Lead Strategist at Data Driven Design, LLC has created and grown businesses via digital strategy and internet marketing for more than 10 years. His sweet spot is using analytics to design and build websites and grow the audience and revenue of businesses via SEO/Blogging, Google Adwords, Bing Ads, Facebook and Instagram Ads, Social Media Content Marketing and Email Marketing. The part that he’s most passionate about is quantifying next marketing actions based on real data.