Catch Em All at your business with PokemonGO!

How Your Business Can Benefit from Pokémon Go

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past week there is no way you have not noticed the increasing popularity of the free app Pokémon Go. Topping Apple’s App Store ‘Top-Grossing’ and ‘Free’ Charts, it has received over eight million downloads in the United States alone after only a few days of being released.  From small kids to grown adults you will see many roaming the sidewalks in your town or city with their smartphones or tablets in their hand, trying to catch ‘em all! Pokémon has perfected the art of creating a new fandom with a young generation that may have not grown up with the popular anime series while bringing out the inner kid in many adults.

But it doesn’t stop there! Since the game requires you to leave your home and walk around to capture the wild Pokémon, many businesses have been capitalizing on this opportunity to increase revenue and you can too! Here are three ways you can benefit from Pokémon Go.

Download the App

Your first step should be downloading the Pokémon Go app and exploring how it works. This will give you a complete understanding on what the game is about and allows you to have hands-on knowledge of the game when promoting your business. “But I don’t know the first thing about Pokémon!?” Relax. You do NOT need to be a guru and know each character but you should know the basics of the game. You will look real silly if you tell players that they can catch ‘Swampert’ at your place of business (side note: this is silly because the app only involves the first generation Pokémon for now… that one is in the third generation, it’s okay, you’ll catch up). Also downloading the app will allow you to see if your place of business is a PokeStop or a gym. A PokeStop is where players catch wild Pokémon and the Gyms are where players battle each other out. Knowing the difference is crucial.

Throw Down a Lure

Throwing down a lure is like throwing up a lob in basketball. All you have to do is throw the ball and wait for the ultimate dunk. A lure is an in-app purchase where you can increase the number of wild Pokémon in your area for half an hour. This may sound crazy to do but you will not believe the numbers of players you will see roaming around your area in just a few seconds for these characters are very rare to find. A number of restaurants have done this and saw business boom for them from a number of hungry players. We suggest doing this on a Friday or Saturday night for many friends like to team up catch Pokémon together.

Advertise on Social Media

After understanding the game and creating a lure, the next step is to promote on all social media platforms. If your place of business or the area that surrounds you is a PokeStop or Gym, let players know! Tell players to screenshot the wild Pokémon that they caught in your area and send it to you so you can post it, while also giving the player a shout-out so you can build customer loyalty. Make sure to use the hashtag #PokémonGo and #Pokémon so can boost your awareness.