Technology and marketing go hand in hand, and we are always looking for ways to stay ahead of the competition. Therefore, Wichita Park & Recreation is excited to announce the launch of our new Alexa skill “Wichita Parks” which can be enabled on any Amazon Echo or Alexa device. Our skill is the first City skill in the country to interact with users via text to send direct links to websites.

Currently one-third of US citizens have smart speakers, two-thirds of those are Alexa. Over 50% of adults use voice commands and 33% of the users utilize voice commands daily. In 2020, half of all searches will be voice. In the last five years, developed skills have grown from only 45 to over 100,000.  These figures show the importance of staying current with cutting edge technology and how we interact with our consumers.

Alexa responds with Wichita Park & Recreation information about numerous topics including classes, parks, special events, booking a tee time, reserving a tennis court, renting a facility and more.

Alexa speaks directly to the user and answers questions with pre-loaded responses.  Alexa can also interact through text messaging by asking the user for their phone number to send direct links to websites. Staff can track interactions to show what topics are popular with users through Google Analytics and email notifications when a potential customer requests information.

Alexa is multi-lingual which is great for any community. Push notifications can be sent to users notifying them of services and events, so there is flexibility to include activities that pop-up and may need extra marketing attention. All these features are very exciting and affordable.

I had the pleasure of working with Tim Moore, Channel Manager at VoPro. He can be reached at 417-875-5889 or tmoore@protelsystems.com.

Shana Appelhanz
Wichita Park & Recreation