A coffee shop in San Francisco promised to drop a Lure for each 15 drinks purchased. Notice the following:
- You can imagine what happened next. Friends invited each other to go buy as many drinks as possible. As long as the patrons bought the drinks, the coffee shop dropped the lures. Not only did this bring in more patrons, it made more profit for the coffee shop. This is the most sustainable model as the number of Lures dropped is directly proportional with the number of drinks bought.
Sometimes businesses provide Lures without any conditions. No strings attached. This attracts a totally different profile of customer: Those who will not buy anything.
The patrons attracted by this clever San Francisco shop were those who would buy, hence increasing sales. Peer pressure amongst themselves ensured that they bought, as none wanted to be seen as a hang-on.
For the clients with disposable income it was an obvious meeting point to avoid the college students who preferred the free lures in other places.
- There was a direct relationship between the amount spent on dropping Lures and sales. The ROI was not just positive for this coffee shop, it was through the roof! Sometimes it is tempting to drop Lures without a pre-condition. Be warned that such a strategy may attract patronage but doesn’t tie in with the investment.
- The insight to gain from this is that the customer profile attracted by Pokémon Go should be the profile that will benefit your business. If the profile attracted by the game is not your customer base, your campaign will be dead from the get-go.
In fact, your campaign could be working against you. One restaurant in Kentucky had to put up signs denying Pokémon Go players. It was having too many intrusive trainers who weren’t purchasing anything, disrupting business, and standing all over the place, blocking walkways and basically being a nuisance.
- Only use Pokémon Go lures when your business is low. If your business is more than you can handle at the moment, then you clearly don’t need extra customers through Pokémon Go.
But if you are like most businesses that have highs and lows, you have a great opportunity to use Pokémon Go to flatten out your demand by encouraging those patrons who can come during your off-peak to do so. This is easily achieved by only offering Lures when you are low and ensuring they are finished within half an hour of your peak periods. This is possible because the Lures are available in half hour sessions.
When all is said and done, the direct purchase of Lure Modules and setup of “Pokestores” appears to be a specialist area. Digital marketers will most likely be involved in setting up and designing the solution, but running it appears to be a simple operation that the owners of the shop can achieve by themselves.
The social media interaction is however a little more demanding, and may require either training or outsourcing to digital marketing experts to run the show there. This will free the entrepreneurs to do what they know best: selling their product to the increased number of customers. Ultimately if Pokémon Go distracts you from your core business then it is not benefiting you. It must add to your work, hence your bottom line, else it is a distraction. This you can only ensure if you think through your strategy very carefully and only implement what you are sure will work in your setup. As noted before, constant review is necessary to ensure that the investment is having returns and is not just a cost.
By now it should be obvious that Pokémon Go was created as an advertising channel for businesses. That is why players get the game for free without paying for it. That is why players have to walk and not use a cab, unless it can crawl along at walking speed. That is why PokéStops and PokeGyms are business premises and not public parks or beaches. That is why a business can buy Lures for attracting wild Pokémon and players. And finally, that is why a business has all the control on exactly how many Pokémon it will attract, at exactly what time, for exactly what duration. And all this is done strictly online, ad hoc, with no contracts of any kind.
With such a great opportunity designed specifically for you, why wouldn’t you want to use it? For one dollar an hour if you are a PokéStop you can use Lure Modules that will keep your shop as busy as your imagination can get you to make it.
Quick Reference Guide
- Pokémon Go – Pokémon Go is an augmented reality game for iOS and Android mobile devices. A player’s main goals in Pokémon Go are to capture Pokémon, battle at gyms, and level up their Trainer. They do this by exploring the real world. It was downloaded by more than 15 million people within a week of its release, and despite being free-to-play, it has earned more $35 million in under and month through in-app purchases.
- Pokémon – Pokémon, or “pocket monsters,” are the creatures that randomly spawn in the game, Pokémon Go. Players must explore the real world to find them. Once a Pokémon appears on the screen, a player can tap it to start a “catch” sequence. This is where the augmented reality really comes in – the Pokémon appears to be in the player’s real surroundings, using the player’s camera. The player must then throw a Poké Ball at the Pokémon by swiping up on the screen to catch the Pokémon.
- Experience Points (XP) – This is the “score” the player accumulates to level up his or her in-game avatar, or Trainer. Just about every action in Pokémon Go awards a player with XP, such as catching Pokémon.
- Eggs – Pokémon also hatch from eggs, which a player hatches by walking a certain distance. (Car rides do not work.) Eggs can be hatched within 2, 5, and 10km. The longer it takes to hatch, the rarer the Pokémon will probably be. Players find Eggs at PokéStops.
- Teams – At level 5, a Trainer must choose a team to join. There is Team Valor (Red Team), Team Instinct (Yellow Team), and Team Mystic (Blue Team.)
- Map Interface
- Poké Balls – These are used to catch Pokémon. They can be collected for free from PokéStops, or purchased from the in-game Shop. At higher levels, a Trainer can receive Great Balls and Ultra Balls.
- PokéCoins – This is the in-game currency, which can be purchased with real money. The only other way to earn PokéCoins is by defending gyms with you Pokémon. We recommend to purchase PokéCoins in bulk bundles to take advantage of the bonus PokéCoins you get for free.
What’s Important to Know as a Business Owner?
It’s most important to know if you are within range of a PokéStop or a Gym, which you can check by downloading and opening Pokémon Go on your mobile device. It’s also important to know if any rare Pokémon spawn nearby to make it easier to engage with patrons. See this handy rarity chart made by a Reddit user for more information.
I’m a PokéStop, What Now?
If you’re a PokéStop, or within reach of one, the most important item for you now is the Lure Module, which can be purchased for about 75 cents each in bundles of eight. A Lure Module can only be used by attaching it to a PokéStop, which is why being a PokéStop is such a great boon for you! Lure Modules attract a ton of Pokémon for 30 minutes for everyone. Because everyone can tell when a Lure Module is active, they easily attract Trainers. Put a sign out front welcoming trainers, advertise your status as a PokéStop online, and check out our full marketing guide and tip sheet for more marketing ideas!
I’m a Gym, What Now?
Gyms are where Trainers go to prove their Pokémon prowess. They battle in the name of their team for control of the gym in order to receive a daily Defender Bonus, which consists of PokéCoins and Stardust, an item used to power up Pokémon. Gyms are fewer than PokéStops, so they naturally attract Trainers looking for a challenge. Get in a competitive spirit and participate with specials that correlate with your Gym’s current winning team to keep Pokémon Go players coming back.
I’m not a PokéStop or a Gym, What Now?
You can still easily benefit from Pokémon Go even if these important markers are missing from your business’ location. Simply head out to where Pokémon Go players gather – usually popular parks or areas downtown saturated with PokéStops and Gyms. They’ll be easy to find. Pass out flyers, or better yet, bottled water with your logo on it, and befriend and invite the Trainers to your business. See our full marketing guide and our other bonus books for more ideas!
More Pokémon Go Terms You Might Not Know
- Combat Power (CP) – Combat Power is the score used to track how strong a Pokémon is. The higher this number, the more powerful a Pokémon is.
- Evolve – Most Pokémon can evolve into bigger, stronger versions. When a Pokémon evolves, its CP increases a huge amount.
- Pokémon Candy – Pokémon Candy is collected by catching and hatching Pokémon. The Candy collected depends on the specific Pokémon caught. For example, catching the Pokémon Charmander will reward you with three Charmander Candy. Catching a Charmeleon, the evolution of a Charmander, will also reward you with three Charmander Candy. To evolve a Pokémon, you must feed it Candy of the corresponding type (i.e., feed Charmander Candy to a Charmander.) Pokémon Candy, in conjunction with Stardust, is needed to “Power Up” a Pokémon, which increases its CP.
- Stardust – Stardust is gained by catching or hatching Pokémon and defending Gyms. It’s used to power up Pokémon.
- Razz Berry – Razz Berries can be collected from PokéStops and are fed to wild Pokémon before a Trainer throws a Poké Ball to increase the probability of capture.
- Revive – A Revive will resuscitate a Pokémon that was knocked out in a battle against a rival gym.
- Lucky Eggs – These items can be purchased in the shop and are also sparsely given out as level-up rewards. When activated, a Trainer will receive double the XP for 30 minutes.
