Trick #1: Think Through Your Strategy. – Pokemon Go is a great advertisement tool for businesses, but you must know how to leverage it. If you don’t think it through then you will simply incur more costs without any return on investment. Take your time, ask the hard questions. Get convinced.
Trick #2: No Man Is An Island. – You can of course come up with a great idea that becomes an instant hit. Still, sound off your ideas with others. Google them to see what other marketers are up to. Look around, ask around. Find out how others are going about marketing using Pokemon Go. Inquire about their experiences; apply them to your actions.
Trick #3: Action. – After you have done all your research, don’t let analysis paralysis get you. Action your strategy. They say the richest place in the world is not Fort Knox or Birmingham Palace, with the gold and riches of world powers, but the common village cemetery. So many poems that were never recited, so many projects that were never commissioned, so many books that were never written. Act. Now.
Trick #4: Simple is Elegance is Genius. – The simpler the strategy, the better. You might be tempted to start with the most complex and intimidating initiatives, but their return on investment is usually very difficult to correlate with the investment. If your strategy involves several initiatives, by all means begin with the simplest initiatives—putting up a simple sign inviting Pokemon Go players in. Some businesses aren’t so welcoming.
Trick #5: One Initiative at a Time. – One of the greatest frustrations of all marketing initiatives is reporting on return on investment. The trick is simple: Do one project at a time. You might be spending money on an “initiative A” that isn’t effective, but because other initiatives B, C and D are effective, you’ll never know you’re losing money on A that could be spent well on the others.
Trick #6: Monitor, Monitor, Monitor. – Keep records of your engagement and traffic (on your website, social media pages, and in your physical store) prior to beginning initiatives so you have data to compare. Let initiatives run for one week, then monitor to see if it has driven up social media engagement or in-store sales.
Trick #7: Match Your Business With Your Online Brand. – Ensure your online presence matches the style portrayed by your physical location. Is your brand recognizable in both physical and digital locations? Match your colors, design choices, and even the attitude portrayed by your posts with what is encountered at the store.
Trick #8: Reward The Best. – If you’re lucky enough to be a Gym, trainers will naturally come to you to claim it for their own. There are three teams: Instinct (yellow), Valor (red), and Mystic (blue). Offer a special promotion for the members of the team who hold your gym. Offer an even better promotion for the gym leader! You can check a trainer’s team on their Pokemon Go app, and the gym leader from your own.
Trick #9: A Little A Day is Better Than A Lot One Day. – It’s tempting to conquer a mountain of work all at once, then sit back and relax. It’s a lot easier that way. Unfortunately, that’s not how social media works. Social media is driven by engagement, and engagement is constant. Better to have one post per day than 7 posts on one day with nothing else for the rest of the week. Keep your followers in the loop, every day, that you’re an active Pokemon Go participant!
Trick #10: Videos and Pictures. Your Social Media Presence Is Not A Newspaper– This really is straight forward. Have lots of multimedia options, but emphasize on images and video clips, not text. This is a great opportunity to invite your patrons to submit or post pictures of the Pokemon they encounter at your store or restaurant. This is great content that features your storefront, plus it encourages loads of engagement on your page.
Trick #11: Ubiquity. – Ensure you are everywhere. Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook… If you’re a PokeStop or a Gym, make sure everyone knows–online and at your store. Put a sign out front to welcome Pokemon Trainers. Are you going to drop a Lure Module at a certain time today? Tell everyone that, too! Get creative, up front and involved.
Trick #12: Respond, Respond, Respond. – Nothing kills social media engagement like a page/site that doesn’t have interactive owners. You must respond to queries and appreciate comments within the hour, else traffic will move on. If 100 trainers ask per day what time you will release a Lure, answer 100 times.
Trick #13: Don’t Waste Lure Modules. – Some businesses drop Lure Modules when they don’t need them. Very bad strategy. If your shop or restaurant is full, why would you want to attract even more people? Does a fisherman bait the hook when the fish are so plentiful that they’re jumping into the boat?
Trick #14: Drop Lure Modules When They’ll Be Most Effective. – Let’s say Wednesday afternoons are notoriously slow. This is when you’ll want to activate Lure Modules. Make sure to notify your online following as well, so both trainers around the corner and trainers browsing Facebook at home will be tempted to come in.
Trick #15: Avoid Monotony. – If everyone knows that you only drop your Lure Modules at noon from Tuesday to Thursday, why would trainers check your social media pages or stop by any other time? Now what if they only know when to check online for your announcement, which changes each day? They’ll bookmark, or like, your page to keep in the loop on when you’ll be a Poke-hotspot.
Trick #16: Go to the Trainers. – If a Gym or PokeStop isn’t within reach from your business, go to them. Head to a busy PokeStop-saturated park, and possibly drop a Lure Module or two. You can hand out flyers with promotions geared toward Pokemon Go players, or even better, give out bottled water that has been rebranded with your logo and information! Engage with your potential customers; be a saviour in the heat of summer and your business is sure to gain some recognition. You’ll be surprised how far word-of-mouth between trainers has spread the tale of your good deeds.
Trick #17: Become One of Them. – If you are a player, you can engage with your patrons about the game. You will also be able to guide those of your patrons who aren’t experienced trainers. This can increase engagement and even competition between your customers!
Trick #18: Don’t Become One of Them. – Yes, the opposite also works wonders. Let them educate you on the game, ask them to share their achievements with you, as you wonder in genuine curiosity. Do you have any idea how many deals have been won because a salesman lost a game of golf?
Trick #19: Honor Your Champions. – Keep track of your patron’s Trainer Levels and display the top 10 at your store and on your social media pages, refreshed daily. Everyone will want to earn a spot in your “Hall of Fame.” Whenever they get better, they must show you in person, driving both online and foot traffic. Offer promotional discounts for your champions! Once Trainer Levels are no longer viable to due the cap many are likely to soon reach, start measuring their Pokemon’s Combat Power instead!
Trick #20: Outsource Pokemon Digital Marketing– If you want to take advantage of what Pokemon Go can do for your online efforts but are not digital marketing- or Pokemon-savvy, you don’t have to flounder. Hire an expert to handle it for you, so you can focus on what you do best: Providing outstanding service and products for your customers!
Trick #21: Monitor Your Outsourced Digital Marketing. – If you have outsourced your digital marketing, ensure that you keep monitoring it. Don’t just sit back and assume that since they are experts they will do the right thing. Social media is about engagement. If you don’t engage with them they’ll never know if they are doing the right thing for you. Make sure they know your brand and know if you’re a PokeStop, Gym, or are offering other promotions.
