Lure Customers with Pokémon GO – Your new marketing campaign for Local Business

Pokémon Go, the latest augmented reality mobile game that was created by created by Niantic Inc. and The Pokémon Co. that took the world by storm. It was released on 6th July 2016 in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. Today, it is all over the world including in Asia. According to Similar Web, Pokémon GO was already installed on more US Android phones than Tinder with average usage time higher than WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook Messenger within a couple of weeks.

Pokémon Go players walk around with the app open on their mobile phone to collect little pocket monsters or Pokémon. The game uses the phone’s GPS to track movement and location, thus it is showing the exact real map of the area while these little pocket monsters will appear and players will try to catch them, which can be typically found by visiting landmarks, known as PokéStops.

In addition, some landmarks are classified as the Pokemon gyms, where players can gather to join one of the three teams that consist of the Team Instinct (yellow), Team Mystic (blue) and Team Valor (red). These teams will compete taking over the “Pokémon gyms”.

You are the lucky ones if happens that your shop or store is marked as a PokeStop or else not to worry, as you can still use the Lure Module at any nearby PokeStops to increase the foot traffic near to your business location. The best location to catch rare Pokemon is not necessary to be the closest to a PokeStop. A Lure Module is an item in Pokémon GO that can be used to attract new Pokemon to a specific PokeStop for players to catch. Many of the restaurant and café owners have been using the lures as an advantage to their business providing food or beverages since most players will be spending some time at the location. Some restaurants spend less than $200 luring hundreds of players desperate to collect a Pikachu, Squirtle, Jigglypuff or Bulbasaur.

Get the players attraction you have lured nearby by hanging banners, giving out flyers and business cards, advertising the chance to catch various types of new Pokemon, as well as offers, discounts, promotions or giveaway chances if people tweet or post on your social media pages of the Pokemon or Pokemon selfie they have encountered or caught. Bragging about your business location is the best place to meet up new Pokemon buddy will also help to gather Pokemon players and draw people that are not playing the game.

In Australia, Lost Heaven restaurant offers up to 30% discounts for customers if they can prove that they have caught certain rare Pokemon.

Pancake Parlour has increased their earnings by 40% due to the crowds hanging around nearby PokeStops. With $12 for some pancakes, they are providing free Wi-Fi and constant Lure Module activation.

In the United States, a San Francisco Pokémon Go meet up event gathered more than 8,000 people with a pub crawl in the Mission District and many businesses were getting on board by offering special Pokemon Go promotions and deals.

Bell’s Eccentric Café leveraged on the nearby PokeStops and their gyms by holding a Pokemon GO beer garden night event, attracting good crowds in the evening via promotion and advertising.

CitySen Lounge offers those on their team a 10% discount. They have their staff on the same team to defend the gym and challenge customers to take over. This friendly competition attracts players coming back for more.

L’inizio Pizza Bar in Long Island City, Queens, New York took the advantage of the location next to a PokeStop and with the help of the Lure Module, L’inizio’s manager, Sean Benedetti mentioned that its walk-in business has increased by 75%.

Kaleidoscope Café in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania has noticed an increase in foot traffic since it is a PokeStop and started offering a 10% discount to all Pokemon Go players by showing the app on the mobile phone.

The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden, as well as many others art gallery and museum are leveraging on Pokemon Go fever by creating Pokemon Go Events, since they have many PokeStops. As a result, the visitors of Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden has increased over 60% everyday.

From the above, you can see the various effective physical marketing strategies to attract foot traffic. In order to attract more customers and build greater brand awareness, businesses should make use of popular hashtags (i.e. #PokemonGO, #TeamMystic, #GottaCatchEmAll) on social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc. In addition, businesses can also add a link to their Google local business map page (shorten URL via Google URL Shortener) to make it easy for new customers looking for direction and helps in your Google business place ranking for local SEO.

1. Open the Pokémon Go app and tap on the red and white PokeBall.

2. Next, tap on the SHOP.

3. Scroll down and purchase the number of PokeCoins and exchange for the Lure Modules, similar to purchasing an App. Each Lure Module costs 100 PokeCoins ($0.99).

4. Once you have done purchasing the Lure Module, exit the shop page and go back to the main screen. Find the PokeStop near your business. Tap on the blue circle once you are in range.

5. The details of the PokeStop will appear. Tap on the small white button on the Lure Module icon located above the PokeStop image.

6. Select the Lure Module to deploy. Once it is deployed, you should be able to see the PokeStop rain with pink confetti attracting Pokemon. Each Lure Module will last for 30 minutes. Remember to announce to your customers about it!

For greater business opportunity, it is best for local business to become a Pokemon gym or PokeStop to attract the crowds. As of now, there is no way to create a Pokemon gym or PokeStop. However, there are sources that proclaimed that they can be requested via visiting the official Pokémon Go support page and submit a request form or sending them an email at partnerships@nianticlabs.com. We recommend that you provide some ideas to your proposed PokeStop and also the location address. Hopefully, they will take up your proposal and start adding the new PokeStops or Pokemon gyms. Be patient, as for sure Niantic will need some time to manage the daily requests all over the world.