Tag: pokemon go

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Marketing using the Pokemon Go craze

Here is a guerrilla strategy we used to create local awareness to our new venture of online courses called Curious Mondo. We made tons of handmade Pokeballs and left at Pokestops around town. (Balls are used in the Pokemon Go craze). These balls lead them to a free online course on Pokemon Go where we capture leads.

I think this was pretty clever, I’ll keep you updated on the results. It is usually a clever marketing strategy when you piggy back on something the media is talking about. You get attention easier and of course, depending on how you are marketing you can get a lot of traffic too.

Our focus was to get attention locally right now, while the topic is on top. This is the reason we went with handmade Pokeballs. If we had the time we would find a way to make the balls with another material and in a larger number. But sometimes you just need to act fast!

pokeball

pokestops

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How to Attract clients with Pokemon Go

Yes, Pokemon Go is not just a game for kids, your business can benefit from this craze.

The speed at which Pokemon Go has spread is unprecedented. Less than a week after launch, this augmented reality mobile exploration game has been installed on twice as many phones as Tinder, it has double the engagement of Snapchat, and it is eclipsing Twitter in its percentage of daily active users. 

source: Inc magazine

For those not yet in the know, Pokémon GO uses your phone’s GPS and camera to turn the real world into a massive hunting ground for the iconic creatures, but it also transforms local landmarks and businesses into Pokémon Gyms (where trainers go to train their Pokémon and battle other teams) and PokéStops, which players can physically visit to stock up on free accessories and items like PokéBalls.

People of all ages are spending a lot of time playing this game. Just walk around your local park and you will get an idea. Total addiction and we are talking about a very buggy app.

Smart businesses are taking advantage of this Pokemon Go craze too. You should too! You just need to be a little creative and read this article to learn a few tips. If you own a retail place, a restaurant, coffee shop you can get a lot of foot traffic.

If you are in another type of business you can also get more attention and create awareness in your local community.

Even if you have a lemonade stand, you can set it under a gym and have a lot of quarters coming to you.

Here are a few examples of what is being done:

A local brew house is a Pokémon Gym, and they are offering discounted drinks for members of the team that holds the gym. 

A pizza place where you get a free drink if you own the gym

L’inizio’s pizza had business go up 75 per cent after paying $10 to continue to put up Lures connected to the store.

Smoketown Helicopters in Lancaster County started offering aerial Pokémon Tours as a way to “Get one up on your competition and catch them in the air!

One business was advertising $4 off your meal if you used your own lure.

A lot of businesses adding lures, which I’ll explain in a second.

pokeballs

Here are a few things you need to do:

1. Find Out if Your Business Is a Gym or PokeStop

What makes Pokemon Go different from many other games is that it doesn’t keep people shut up in their rooms. The game runs off an augmented reality HUD, or heads-up display, of the real world. Players’ avatars explore with them as they catch Pokemon, collect rewards from PokeStops, battle other users at Gyms, and team up to defend their territory.

Figuring out whether your business is a PokeStop or Gym is the first thing you should do. PokeStops and Gyms attract foot traffic without any effort-players flock to them for rewards and to battle other players-and they can be leveraged for massive sales if you know how.

According to the company, at this point you cannot add your business as a gym or Pokestop. My feeling is that this will change very soon.

2. Throw Down a Lure, and Enjoy the Show

Pokemon Go offers a range of in-app purchases. The one that is most important for your small business is Lures.

Lures increase the rate of Pokemon generation in the area around the PokeStop where they’re placed for one half hour. That may not sound that powerful, but Pokemon are scarcer than you think.

What’s even more incredible is just how affordable luring is. Let’s do the math. With $100 netting you 14,500 Pokecoins and an eight-pack of Lures costing 680 Pokecoins:

14,500 Pokecoins / 680 = 21 eight-packs of lures
(21 * 8)/2 = 84 hours
$100/84 hours = $1.19 per hour

All you have to do is:

  • Tap the red Pokeball at the bottom of your HUD
  • Tap “Shop”
  • Scroll down and tap the purple, box-shaped Lures to purchase. You’ll re-direct to your app store’s payment system
  • Once back in-app, tap the red Pokeball again, then tap “Items”
  • Tap the purple Lure to activate!

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 PokeStop, this is something you absolutely have to try.

Capitalize on Your Business Being Near a Pokemon Gym

Gyms are a separate kind of animal entirely from PokeStops. You can’t put down Lures, 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 Pokemon Go on your phone and look for the tall structures with little Pokemon near the top. They’re not hard to spot-they’re the biggest structures on the in-game map.

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:

3. Move too

You can go to Pokestops with lures of Gyms and distribute your promotional material, coupons etc.

Not a bad idea for a food truck to go to Pokestops with lures. People get hungry when they walk a lot.

4. Social Media

Did you get a Pokemon near your office?

Post on Social Media and blog about it.

Is it a rare one? Post more pics of it.

 Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. When they discovered that Pokémon and PokéStops were scattered across their grounds, they got creative and photographed them next to various displays and pieces of art, then blogged about it on their site.

If you have a coffee shop or local restaurant that doubles as a PokeStop. Create a Pokémon-inspired drink or dish and offer customers who show you the game on their phone a discount! Announce that on social media.

You may be thinking: “This is just another fad” and you are probably totally right. But this is when smart marketing comes in. You embrace the fad, use the keywords like Pokemon Go and Catch them all in your blog etc, get creative and find a way to promote your business linking to this fad and benefit from the fad by spending no or very little money.

Or you keep doing what you are doing and getting the results you are getting.

If you need instructions on how to play the game, Curious Mondo offers a free training on Pokemon Go. So you don’t have to spend hours watching weird videos on YouTube.

If it is time for your business to reach the next level, you might want to have a marketing advisor by your side. Then, just contact us for a marketing check up!