What happens when you take a 90’s kid’s childhood dream, mix it with nostalgic young adults wanting to relive their younger years, and throw in some animated monsters that are both cute and powerful? Well, you get Pokémon Go. This new sensation has completely taken over our data plans and storage on our phones, and we couldn’t be happier with it either.
For those of you not connected to the Pokémon world, Pokémon Go allows gamers to travel between the real world and virtual world. Users have the ability to track down certain types of Pokémon based off of location and level. For example, if a player reaches past level five, then they have the opportunity to capture rare Pokémon to add to their collection. Location wise, wherever a player decides to hunt, that is the type of Pokémon they’re exposed to. For example, if a player is near a body of water, then he or she will encounter water type Pokémon. When he or she is near a gas station, fire type Pokémon will be near by to capture and train. The genius behind this new sensation exceeds expectations. With all these different rules and activities available, small business owners can use this app to benefit their local businesses exponentially.
As Pokémon Go users traverse their towns in search of Pokémon, local stores, restaurants, movie theaters, and other businesses are capitalizing on this massive opportunity, driving huge amounts of foot traffic and conversions both with simple in-app purchases and creative marketing campaigns.
To start turning these obsessed gamers into new customers, all you need is to know how to play the game. Here’s how:
Find Out if Your Business Is a Gym or PokeStop
Pokémon Go forces players to get off their couch and interact with their environment more. With PokeStops on every street corner, players have to walk towards these PokeStops to be able to interact. That goes for gym battles, hatching eggs, and capturing more Pokémon. Because of the fact that players have to interact with their environment more, small business owners can capitalize on what players need to excel further into the game. If their stores are near PokeStops, they can offer certain discounts or deals to Pokémon trainers to drive additional sales.
Use a Lure, and Enjoy the Show
Pokémon Go offers a range of in-app purchases. The one that is most important for your small business is Lures. Lures have the ability to interact with all trainers in the vicinity by providing them with a gaudy, pink design around a PokeStop. This will allow for rare to come close to this location for 30 minutes. Trainers can see this on the map, and come to that location to capture rare Pokémon. Small business owners can use this to their advantage. By playing a lure on the closest PokeStop near their store, the business will shortly be swarming with trainers wanting to capture.
Luring is an insanely powerful tool that you really have to see to believe. “I own a pizzeria that’s a Pokestop and I literally did this all day. I had a ton of kids and adults (mostly adults) come in for a slice of pizza and a drink until the lure ran out.” This incredible advancement in technology aids and promotes new marketing tactics that business owners can use to promote their business at an affordable cost. For a cost analysis, let’s do the math. With $100 netting you 14,500 Pokecoins and an eight-pack of Lures costing 680 Pokecoins:
14,500 Pokecoins / 680 = 21 eight-packs of lures
(21 * 8)/2 = 84 hours
$100/84 hours = $1.19 per hour
Capitalize on the Traffic Pokémon Can Create
Don’t forget to go where the Pokémon roam and make sure to promote your local Pokémon on social media! Even if your business is nowhere near a PokeStop or a Gym, you’re still going to have Pokémon.
One way to get people excited about visiting your business is to get on social media and show off the valuable or rare Pokémon popping up in your area. To know what to look for, a Reddit user has created a handy rarity chart just for you.
At Red Dog, we love to stay in tune with the newest advancements in mobile technology and online marketing strategies. We can’t wait to help you incorporate Pokémon Go in your marketing strategy while it’s still HOT!