Pokémon Go or Not To Go?

There is no question Pokémon Go is the hottest craze going at the moment. It seems EVERYONE is playing it…..

…..and judging by the number of people on our local beach and park the last few days, it really may be everyone.

Many are posting how your business can take advantage of the Pokémon Go craze and I have received a number of calls and messages from local business owners asking for help in determining how they can use it to their advantage.

For me, created one small problem. Remember I said it seemed like everyone was playing it?

It isn’t quite everyone. I didn’t download the game. Time to get educated before I could even think of providing sound advice. I reached out to my friend Adam Fout, content writer and creative genius over at Blue Steele Solutions. Seems he’s played Pokémon Go quite a bit.

Adam broke it down into pretty simple terms for me:

You wander around town using your phone’s GPS and staring at your phone’s screen (remember those videos we laughed at when people fell into fountains while texting?) as a guide to locate Pokémon. Once found (as you get close enough, they appear on your ‘radar’) you use Pokeballs to collect them. Eventually, you’ll run out of balls. To get more, you’ll need to make your way to a Pokestop, a predetermined location where you can pick up a few free items, including Pokeballs.

Sounds simple enough. But what aspect of the game lends itself to a marketing tool? Adam explained the ‘lures’ module.

You can use an item called a lure to turn a Pokestop into a hotspot for catching Pokémon. Players can use them to bring Pokemon to them rather than having to hunt them. For a business, it means bringing players to your location to catch the Pokemon.

Lures only last 30 minutes but you can drop them all day. Inc did the math. It only costs $1.19 per hour to attract wild Pokémon (and new customers) all day. Very cheap marketing and easy to promote via social media (hint: that’s where we come in)

Back to the original purpose for my conversation with Adam. “How can I use capitalize on Pokémon Go for my business?”

Prior to answering the ‘How’ I had to ask…

“Should you even being trying to capitalize on Pokémon Go?”

Seems like an odd question to ask when the cost is under $60 to lure potential clients for an entire weekend. Small business owners are notorious though for thinking “it’s only a few bucks so let’s try it”. The end result – nothing from their investment, and albeit it a minimal one, over time these small gambles add up in dollars spent with little to no return.

So…. “Should you even being trying to capitalize on it?”

  • Logistics: Lures only work at Pokestops*. If your business is located nowhere near one, unless you can set up shop near one, you might be better off sitting this one out.
  • Your target demographic: Every business should have created a Buyer or Client Persona and will know who their target client is and know their demographic makeup. Simply stated, if you do any marketing, you’d better know your target market.

    As of July 14, 2016, according to Vox Culture, while more than 40% of those who downloaded the game are over 24, data shows 92% are 34 and younger!

    Even if you’re business IS a Pokestop, if your primary client base is primarily made up of the Baby Boomer generation, your $60 might be better spent elsewhere.

  • Mindset: If your business is close by (or you can set up near) a Pokestop and the 18-34 year old demographic is your target, you need to understand HOW people are playing. People are showing up, collecting their Pokémon and moving on. They’re not hanging around. You’ll need something to offer as an incentive to offer which can be consumed quickly.

    Restaurants and mobile food vendors are perfect examples of an ideal fit for leveraging lures and they are seeing amazing results. Drop $60 in lures over 48 hours, attract hundred of players and offer them huge food and drink discounts. They get their Pokémon, grab that Pepsi and slice of pizza and the business owner generates tons of cash business.

The first 2 points above are critical. The third matters, but if you don’t have a quick sale product or service, some creative marketing options exist.

Adam had a few thoughts of his own to share:

  1. One idea (this would be great for restaurants) is to offer to help players hatch their eggs. Eggs hatch by accumulating steps. You could offer a service, like “Hey, stop by, get some food, relax, catch some Pokémon, then while you eat, your waiter keeps your phone in their pocket while they run around. You get a phone-free meal with a friend and get your phone back at the end of your meal with hatched or close to hatched eggs”. Brilliant. (Though I’m not sure a 20 something would give up their phone for that long Adam.)
  2. It could be a great branding tool as well. Rather than focusing on selling, a simple booth set up giving away promotional materials makes for an inexpensive (aside from the promotional products cost) way to get your name out there.

I ran this idea by my friend Carolyn over at Standing Stones Photography:

Set up a photo shoot near a Pokestop, paying for lures while you’ll be at the location and promote it through social media (we can help). When any player with a dog comes by to catch their Pokémon, hand them a flyer with a session discount and offer to take a few pictures on the stop for free. The catch for them – they have to provide their email address to receive the images. As long as it’s done properly, they know the free photos are for providing the email address, you have the perfect lead generation tool.

Adam: This is great — I’ve also seen a lot of people walking around with their kids, either in strollers or older children playing with their parents. I think it’s more of a family game than people realize, so [businesses] marketing to families with kids who play (or new parents) could be a viable options. I’ve also seen lots of couples/groups of friends playing, and not nearly as many individuals. It’s not a lot of fun to play by yourself.

Then there’s the out of the box options. Check out some of the creative ways these 8 brands are rocking the Pokémon Go craze – not all of them take advantage of the game itself. We’re partial to #4!

The Bottom Line

Pokémon Go is a perfect marketing tool for the right business. Just make sure it’s right for YOUR business.

If you’re unsure if it will work for you or how to make it work, grab the buyer persona template then contact us.

We’ll help create a campaign tailored to your business and provide the social media marketing to get the word out there.

Now go catch those Pokémon, but please be careful.

*Pokémon may introduce a way to request a Pokestop (there are rumors that you can do this now, but I haven’t found it to be the case, just that you can request a Pokestop/gym be taken down) – Adam