How Pokémon Go can bring more customers to your business

It’s back and it’s better and there’s no avoiding it! If you’re not on it yet, there’s no doubt you’ve heard about it. For the past week, my social media feed has been filled with Pokémon Go related posts. Almost everyone is playing Pokémon Go.

This is the same game that has been keeping many of us driving around town in circles, face-locked into our smartphones, and getting out of the house just to catch them all.

This is an addicting and interactive game indeed, but did you know that that Pokémon Go can actually bring more foot traffic to your business?

What is Pokémon Go?

If you do not already know, Pokémon Go is a mobile game that features augmented reality and uses your smartphone’s GPS location and camera to turn our reality into a virtual Pokémon world where we can find and capture these famous creatures, meet and battle other Pokémon trainers, and explore new places.

The most interesting part about this game is that it turns local landmarks and business registered in Google Maps into Pokémon Gyms and PokéStops where trainers like you and I could battle or meet each other. You will probably discover places in your city that you’ve probably never heard of before!

Released for only a week, the game has created its own marketing channel. With Facebook events, diehard Pokémon fans are organizing meet-up events in local cities so users can all catch Pokémon together, meet other trainers, and battle one another “to be the best like no one ever was”.

Here are some mind-blowing statistics:

As of July 7th, 2016, it has been estimated that Pokémon Go generates a daily revenue of $1.6 million and an estimated download 7.5M downloads from the iOS App Store in the U.S. alone.

In terms of daily users, Pokemon Go will soon be outperforming Twitter:

According to Forbes.com, “as of 48 hours ago, Pokemon GO was installed on 5.6% of all Android devices in the United States, and is installed on more Android phones than Tinder (insert “Pokemon is now more popular than sex” joke here). Not only that, but on average users are spending twice the amount of time engaged with Pokemon GO than they are on apps like Snapchat.”

Over the past weekend, I witnessed hundreds of other Pokémon Trainers within my local park. It was strange yet amazing to see hundreds of people with their smartphones out staring blankly at their screen and walking around in circles. The best part about it was that everyone was laughing, smiling, and meeting each other.

At this point, I realized this game was becoming more than what it actually was. Although the game is all about “gotta catch them all”, it seems like the mantra is “catching them all together”. It’s a great way to unite millennials and kids outside for some fresh air.

How it can grow your business

If you’re a local business owner, I strongly recommend you download this game because there’s a great chance your business could be located next to a PokéStop or Pokémon Gym. These are locations in the game that attract the most users for in-game accessories and items like Poke-balls, eggs, potions, and much more.

On top of that, users can add what is called a “Lure Module” to intentionally attract Pokémon. When a user activates a lure module at a PokéStop, there are moving pink-animations that move around to indicate this. This has been extremely effective at bringing TONS of users to the location, or even stopping foot traffic for 2 reasons:

1. People are incentivized to stop at this location because Pokemon are actively appearing where the lure is placed.

2. People are more likely to stay at the location, since lures remain active for 30 minutes.

You can take advantage of this and place a lure during off-peak hours of your business or even a permanent lure. With a little creativity in marketing, you could turn a Pokémon Trainer into a paying customer!

For example, if you have a coffee/tea shop, you could create a Pokémon inspired drink/dish and offer a discount to those who show the game on their phone. This will get people talking about your business and is free publicity.

Unfortunately, not every business or landmark will feature or be close to a PokéStop/Pokémon Gym. Currently, these locations are pre-determined by Niantic Labs. There’s clearly a huge opportunity for revenue and marketing here. Imagine if they decide to allow local businesses to turn their stores into PokéStops/Pokémon Gyms.

This game is starting to catch on and is becoming a viral worldwide hit. It’s making its way into our daily routines and changing the way we live. Local business are already taking advantage of this system by tailoring their marketing efforts towards Pokémon Fans to attract more customers. If you aren’t on it yet, this growing platform will soon be oversaturated and widen the barrier to entry.

If you’re interested in how to make money with Pokemon Go as a TRAINER, check out this link!

Originally posted on TKMLabs.