Let’s put this in perspective. Pokémon Go had 21 Million DAILY users in under 24 hours of release. That is more than what other successful applications took a week to reach. The daily engagement pales in comparison to what Whatsapp and Facebook, Twitter experiences. The game is addictive at a totally new level. What can you do with that much traffic? How can your business benefit?
Below are the steps to benefit from this windfall. Remember to strike when the iron is still hot, else come Fall you may not have been as successful as your competitors. We are, after all, talking about a phenomenon that is barely a month old. This is the time to milk it dry, else it will pass by and you’ll not know what could have been. Regret is a terrible feeling!
1. Is Your Business a Gym or PokéStop?
In most other games, you sit down in front of a powerful computer running the latest hardware and gadgets and you become better by doing it over and over. You can end up very good at the game, but you can also end up an overweight couch potato.
What makes Pokémon Go different from many other games is that it doesn’t keep people shut in their rooms. The game runs off an augmented reality heads-up display of the real world. Players’ avatars explore with them as they catch Pokémon, collect rewards from PokéStops, battle other users at Gyms, and team up to defend their territory.
Yes. That means walking. That is what the “Go” in Pokémon Go stands for. Going. Walking. Exploring. When the history of games is finally written, Pokémon Go will have a special place among the games that actually improved the health of a generation of game lovers. For the businessman this one feature of the game makes everything possible with Pokémon Go exploitable.
Figuring out whether your business is a PokéStop or Gym is absolutely the very first thing you should do. PokéStops and Gyms attract foot traffic without any effort; players flock to them for rewards and to battle other players, and can therefore be leveraged for massive sales if you know how. This ranges from buying Lure Modules to investing in digital marketing.
There is no official Niantic map that lists all the PokéStop and Gym locations yet, but simply opening the Pokémon Go app will show you if there are any PokéStops or Gyms in your vicinity. One workaround if you want to see what’s around beyond about a half mile is to use the online map of portals created over the last three years for the game “Ingress,” also developed by Niantic, which maps virtually 1:1 with Pokémon Go’s PokéStops and Gyms. With time we may end up with better lists.
Check out the map here after you install the Ingress app on your phone and sign in (you can use a Google account, and it only takes about a minute to set up. It’s also free to sign up, as is Pokemon Go) Once you have it set up, you’ll be treated to a searchable world map of different “portals,” each one being either a PokéStop or a Gym in Pokémon Go.
2. Of Lures and PokéCoins
Pokémon Go offers a range of in-app purchases. The most important purchase for any business is Lure Modules if your business is a PokéStop.
Lure Modules increase the rate of Pokémon generation in the area around the PokéStop where they’re placed for 30 minutes. Until you play the game and realize how difficult it is to get Pokémon you will not appreciate the zeal with which players seek places with lures.
Several businesses have reported overwhelming response with a direct link to purchasing and dropping of Lure Modules. From pizzerias to pubs to coffee shops, Lure Modules have attracted clients who have ended up purchasing from the premise. What makes Lure Modules even more attractive is their cost proposition: About a dollar per hour. It is unlikely that any marketing can get any cost effective for the return on investment this generates.
To buy these Lure Modules, you’ll have to purchase the in-game currency PokéCoins. Consider getting larger bundles instead of the 99 cent 100 PokéCoins pack to make the most of your investment. For example, the $99.99 pack gives you 4,400 PokéCoins for “free,” compared to if you were to only buy the 100 PokéCoins pack. Since 8 packs of Lure Modules cost 680 PokéCoins, 14,500 PokéCoins can get you 168 Lure Modules–that’s 84 hours of Trainer-Attracting-Action for only 100 bucks! For a little more than a dollar an hour, you can bring virtually guaranteed crowds to your business.
The ROI here is ridiculous, so if your business is anywhere near a PokéStop, this is something you absolutely have to try. Going by current trends, it is very likely, as has been the norm with other successful digital marketing solutions that Pokémon Go will soon allow retailers to pay to have their businesses featured. When that happens don’t even think about it twice. By all means get yourself the PokéStop before your competitors do and maximize the potential before anyone else jumps on the bandwagon.
Gyms are a separate kind of animal entirely from PokéStops. You can’t put down Lure Modules, but you don’t have to either, because users are converging on Gyms day and night to face off with other users and “take control” of the Gym for either team Mystic, Valor, or Instinct.
To see if your business is near a Gym, you can check the Ingress map, or just open Pokémon Go on your phone and look for the tall structures with little Pokémon near the top. They’re not hard to spot-they’re the biggest structures on the in-game map. You can tell which team controls the gym by the color: Red for Team Valor, Yellow for Team Instinct, and Blue for Team Mystic.
Capitalizing on your proximity to a Gym is more about creative marketing in real life than anything else. Here are some ideas for ways to engage with the droves of people standing near your business with their eyes glued to their phones:
- Giveaways: Order Pokémon Gym badges from a supplier that can customize them for your business. A quick Google search of the keywords “custom Pokémon Gym badge” should get you what you need. Make sure to get badges with Team Valor, Instinct, and Mystic insignias.
- Keep score: Put up a sandwich board announcing which team is currently in control of your Gym, and then offer a discount to members of that team! Don’t worry about staying updated on which team is winning-just ask those who are participating in the promotion to inform you when the Gym has changed hands.
- Get social: Take in-game screenshots and post them on the social-media platforms where you’re active. Use hashtags like #Pokémongo and #Pokémon to get the message out to your potential new customers.
If you’re nowhere near either a PokéStop or a Gym, that just means you have to get a little more creative. We’ll explain that too ahead.
- Go Where the Pokémon Roam
Once you know the basics of how Pokémon Go works, you don’t actually need to be near a PokéStop or a Gym to capitalize on the traffic they can create. One way to make your business a part of the Pokémon Go phenomenon is to get mobile and find a spot from which to orchestrate the Lure Module or Gym strategies. If you’re a fashion retailer, maybe this means loading up a van with some of your latest vintage finds. If you’re a restaurant, maybe this means going to the park and setting up a barbecue. Ice cream trucks and food trucks have it easy – just go to where the players are. It’s summertime, so get outside and show your creativity.
Since Pokémon are everywhere, you want to go where you have the best chance of finding success. Take advantage of places where you have clusters of PokéStops. If there are three PokéStops on the same block, as is happening fairly often in larger cities, then park yourself in the middle of them and lay down three Lures at the same time. It’s the same effect as if you were laying down one-just multiplied by three. Before you know it, you’ll have a serious crowd on your hands.
