Pok?mon Go Plus Your BusinessPok?mon Go Plus Your Business

If you haven't heard of Pok?mon Go you may be living under a rock. Ok, just kidding (kind of), but I'm sure you've seen the masses out wandering the streets & parks nearby with their eyes glued to their phones. What are all these people doing? Answer, playing?Pok?mon Go.

If you remember back to the 90's,?Pok?mon became popular with kids on Nintendo Game Boy, card game, TV series, & trading cards. Fast forward to 2016 & it is now a?free-to-play application based game which uses your phone's GPS to detect where you are & make?Pok?mon appear around you (on your phone screen) so you can ‘catch' them. The idea behind the game is to get you off the couch, out into the real world, connecting with others.

The app quickly rose to #1 on the App Store – ahead of Snapchat & Facebook Messenger. It is also close to outnumbering Twitter for daily users. For a frame of reference Twitter has been around for nearly 10 years &?Pok?mon Go came out last week.

If you aren't thinking of ways to take advantage of the?Pok?mon Go craze for your local or small business than you are truly missing out.?Pok?mon Go can help you ‘lure' more customers into your place of business.

Here are some ideas for taking advantage of the #PokePhenomenom:

  • ‘Lure' customers into your business by using an in-game item called a ‘lure'. You can earn lures by playing the game, but it may be best for business owners to spend the money. 8 lure modules cost 680 Pok?coins. You have the option of purchasing?Pok?coins from 100 for $0.99 up to 14,500 for $99.99.? This is especially useful for restaurants & bars that want people to stay for awhile & spend money.

Let's do the math:

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

  • Host a #PokeParty at your place of business by inviting people in to play & offer special incentives. This could be especially great for businesses that want to connect with the community. Examples are realtors, banks, automotive, local library or book stores, etc.
  • Fitness centers could create fun fitness challenges around?Pok?mon Go. Encouraging people to work-out while chasing those crazy Pocket Monsters.
  • Is your business a Pok?mon Gym or near one? Take advantage by offering the current team in control a discount. This will encourage teams to fight for control & stay at your location longer.
  • Get social – take pictures of people participating & post on your various social media platforms.
  • Have a mobile business such as a food truck, Uber or Lyft driver? Go where the ‘lures' are set, stay close to gyms & Pok?Stop's. There have bee Uber drivers finding all the best places & driving people to them. Afterall, don't Pok?mon Go & Drive.

I want to add this game is reaching a wider audience of people than anything I've ever seen in my life. This is attracting ages 8-10 year olds up to 50+ demographic. I was in college when the?Pok?mon craze hit the first time & didn't pay any attention, but this time around I'm all about it.

In fact, last night I thought it would be fun to head to Wash Park near my home in Denver, CO & see what kind of?Pok?mon I could hunt down. There were a number of lures set around the park & as I approached them there was a group of approximately 30-40 people gathered all on their phones, laughing, smiling, & chatting with one another. I've never seen anything like it.

This game really can bring people together & I think what better way to do that?than find clever ways to connect your business to this #PokePhenomenom.

I would love to hear how your business is doing this & even better if you send pictures! Image to the left is an Eevee in my office! 🙂

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