3 Ways Your Business Can Benefit from Pokemon GO

Unless you spent the last week hiking in the Himalayas or galloping through Greenland, you’ve certainly been exposed to Nintendo’s Pokemon franchise reboot in the form of Pokemon GO. The mobile app has exploded since it’s release, more than doubling Tinder’s downloads and poised to be installed on more phones than Twitter.

As a Pokefan myself, I’ve gotten into the game and, as of the time of this writing, am the gym leader of the local Chick-fil-A. As I’ve watched my hometown spiral into a frenzy over this game though, I started wondering how businesses could take advantage of this wave of enthusiasm before Pikachu and his pals go dormant for another decade. If you’re looking for ways to turn Caterpie into cash, here are some ideas:

1. Put a lure module in a Pokestop at your business

The world of Pokemon GO is filled with little supply depots called “Pokestops.” These areas are pre-determined by the game developers and often coincide with local monuments, community art pieces, religious establishments and other points of interest. Chances are, your business is close to one. For $0.99, you can turn that market into a homing beacon for local trainers by installing a lure module.

Lure modules are items the game allows players to install in Pokestops that, for 30 minutes, will attract wild Pokemon to them. In the real world, these work to lure players to your geographic location where they remain captive for 30 minutes searching for Tauros and other hard-to-find little monsters. Why not offer these folks a coupon? Sell them some fries? Offer to let them come inside and wait in the air conditioning? The possibilities are endless and the cost near nothing.

2. Place a “Pokemon Found Here” sign on your building

Trainers spend, on average, almost one hour a day walking around adding to their collections and trying to hatch eggs (which require a significant amount of walking). Consider placing a sign on your storefront advertising the types of Pokemon that have been found at your place of business to encourage trainers to stop by and hang around a while. In fact, you could even allow trainers to add lists of Pokemon they’ve caught there, building a crowd-sourced journal of successful trainers to attract people to spend more time at your establishment.

3. Host a Pokemon Photo Contest

Pokemon GO is an augmented reality adventure. It melds the world of Pokemon and reality together to give Pokemon a chance to “live” in our world. Conveniently enough, every Pokemon battle also allows trainers to take photos of where they “found” the Pokemon with their smartphone camera and already, the results have been hilarious. Why not host a Pokemon photo contest of your own? Have users submit their best captures or post to your site or social media platforms photos of the little critters that run around your location. Here are some examples:

This is just the beginning of where Nintendo could be taking this game. I wouldn’t be surprised to see sponsored gyms and Pokestops, events and even geo-fenced Pokemon availability in the near future. Monetization possibilities are nearly endless for this game and I can’t see it limiting revenue streams to just in-app purchases (after all, the rumored $30 million development bill will be hard to pay off selling only $1 lure modules).

As this game continues to develop, the most savvy businesses will leverage its popularity and following to build their brands and their bottom lines. The world of brick and mortar have been hurt by the ease of eCommerce and the unwillingness of consumers to get up and move. Pokemon GO, in less than 48 hours, changed the way millions of people spend their day. Walking downtown just became hip again. Don’t miss out on the wave.

And, if you really have been hiking in the Himalayas…were there any good Pokemon there?

What do you think of these ideas? Do you have more? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!