Now Businesses can 'Lure' customers using Pokemon Go, here's how

Yesterday, I just decided to take a walk to the nearby park. I could hardly see any kid playing, rather they were all taking random pictures near the dumpster (at least that’s what it seemed). I went close and then I realised it wasn’t just pictures they were taking; they were all streamed on Pokemon Go. In a timeframe of 5 minutes, three kids had bumped into me and one asked me if I knew the this address, of course I did, you can probably guess what that place was – Pokestop or a Poke Gym. Then came that thought, when I just said to myself, the world of marketing has changed. Instead of paying heavy money to advertising agencies, you could just become a Pokestop and attract more audience than ever before.

For a fact, this game has just been in UK and US for a couple of days and has already surpassed Candy Crush’s daily 20 million users. It gathered more users than twitter in 7 days of launch. Astounding! Isn’t it?

The game incorporates places called PokéStops (where users can stock up on adornments and apparatuses required in-game) and Gyms (places where clients go to prepare their caught Pokémon and battle them against different players). These virtual locations are combined with real-world locations. These real-world landmarks could be anything — a dumpster, an expansive tree in a recreation centre or a nearby Cafe.

In coming future brands will have the capacity to make their own business locations PokéStops and Gyms, introducing crowds of gamers to real physical locations. To end up one of these supported locations, most likely the brands will pay liberally.

How can you Capitalise this opportunity?

- Apply to be a Pokestop or Gym- It’s easy; one can log on to the site and fill in the details. The game is more than ready to involve local businesses in the game.

- If you somehow become a Pokestop or even if you’re near one, try spending a little money on buying supplements like ‘Lure’. Once the Lure is activated in front of your business door, it’ll attract Pokemons in the nearby area for 30 minutes, which can be seen by everyone around. Wait, till you have to put a FULL sign.

- Once you become a Poke Gym, you could offer special discounts to the team that holds the Gym. Also, find out if there’s a rare pokemon nearby, reward the one who catches it.

- This should have been the first point. If you’re using the game for marketing purposes, please download the app and understand how it works. This will not only give a common topic to engage with your users but you can also take screenshots of Pokemons you catch and use it for advertising purposes.

Niantic has announced that they will soon offer the opportunity for sponsored locations by advertisers. This will run on a "cost per visit" basis, which means you will only have to pay for the people you are actually able to draw in.