It’s the first mainstream example of integrating the “real world” with a highly addictive game; Google Map-derived location technology is incorporated into your game experience, so that you have to physically be in a location in order to interaction with the parallel game-world version of that place.

So, getting out of the house and moving around is a key part of the game experience.

Permanent connectivity comes of age

The game itself may or may not stand the test of time, but it does seem likely that this kind of Virtual Reality online / real world integration is just the start. Now that few of us ever leave the house without our smartphones, and decent strength data connections are widely available, there’s enormous potential available to marketers doing a little lateral thinking.  So, this post is going to take a look at how businesses can exploit these principles for marketing purposes.

What we’re going to look at here are two different approaches: some clever ways of “piggybacking” on the popularity of Pokemon Go, and some broader thoughts about the basics of integrating your online presence with the “real world”.

This is particularly valuable for any business that has a passing trade element – where, if a consumer is within a small radius, it’s possible to significantly increase the chances of them making a purchase.

Luring the Pokemon Go consumer

Firstly, let’s consider a few more or less ingenious ways that marketers have used the Pokemon Go craze to their advantage.

The story of the Muncie Animal Shelter’s appeal to its dog walkers has been somewhat over exaggerated online, but the story is still based on facts.  The shelter created some clever marketing,  pointing out that combining walking their shelter dogs with hunting Pokemon was a win win for everyone.

Here’s their original social media post; you can see for yourself by the Share and reaction figures how incredibly successful it was, as the combination of cute dogs and Pokemon took Facebook by storm.

A second example, shared by @ohjefframos on Twitter, may be slightly more tongue in cheek, but exploits the same idea: you need to move around, we need people moving around, why not join us?!

Both of these are entertaining (but highly effective, at least for the animal shelter) examples of looking for overlap between the behaviours that the game encourages, and behaviours that are beneficial to the organisation concerned.

As a more straightforward approach, the game also allows any player to purchase Lures, which for a given period of time will attract any Pokemon in the local area. Any number of players can catch the same critter, so there’s an obvious use of this for bars, coffee shops, restaurants – anywhere where encouraging a consumer to hang out there for a while will likely result in a purchase.

So, the business buys some Lure modules, advertises the fact with boards in the nearby area, and waits. There’s a nice case study of a Pizzeria in Queens achieving a 30% increase in sales, based on $10-worth of Lure purchases, here. Of course, you do need to be in a built up area, ideally a decent sized town or city, for this to work well. But it’s open to anyone using Pokemon Go on their phones, and as a cheap and smart marketing option for retail and food businesses in cities, it’s surely worth a try!

Bringing the Online World offline: other things to try

The whole power of  Pokemon Go is that it integrates the online and offline worlds.  This is something that we talk to businesses we work with about all the time, and it’s still under utilised.

Here are just a couple of ways that you can help consumers to make that link. They may not be quite as sexy as Pokemon Go, but they can be just as effective.

Tell ’em about it!

We’ve lost count of the number of high street type businesses we’ve seen who have a great social media presence – a thriving Facebook page, chatty Twitter feed or inspirational Instagram account – but when you visit their actual premises, the place where the money changes hands, there’s no sign of it.

At the very least, put up some posters. Better still, offer an incentive at a time when consumers are fiddling with their phones anyway – “We’ll give you 50p off of your pizza if you’ve Liked our Facebook page before you get to the cash register”. Even better,  put some cards around inviting happy customers to post a photo or review while they’re there, for a voucher or discount.  With a little Muncie-style lateral thinking, there will be ways of exploiting online social media from within your premises, which will be unique to you and hugely effective.

Lure ’em in

Your retail or food business is registered with Google Maps, right? Good. You’ve got some great reviews? Even better. Now, start sweating those assets as a Lure to draw in passing traffic.

We all have far too many decisions to make each day, and many people will keep going back to their lunch or tea break favourites rather than “risking” trying somewhere new. Or they’re visiting your town for the day, and have to choose between a familiar, predictable chain option and your business.

Here’s one way to make that choice a little easier for them. Put a poster in the window, or a sandwich board on the pavement, inviting passers by to check out your reviews before choosing where they have their lunch or tea break. It’s simple, and they don’t have to take your word for it that you’re serving the best Flat White in town!

Now, put your brainstorming hat on, and start thinking about how you can exploit the Pokemon fad – and use the same principles to skyrocket the value of your social media assets, too.[/fusion_text] ]]> http://www.rosemcgrory.co.uk/2016/07/25/marketing-lessons-pokemon/feed/ 0 http://www.rosemcgrory.co.uk/2011/08/19/are-you-keeping-your-social-media-a-secret/ http://www.rosemcgrory.co.uk/2011/08/19/are-you-keeping-your-social-media-a-secret/#comments Fri, 19 Aug 2011 08:21:18 +0000 http://www.rosemcgrory.co.uk/?p=1293 Just a quick post this week,  to share with you a great example of a small business integrating social media really well into their other online marketing.

Kate was searching for a Korean restaurant in London, to suggest as a treat for a friend who spent time in Korea as a child and loves the food. In a sea of  restaurant websites, the site for Bibimbap (it’s the name of an iconic dish, like Pho if you’re eating Vietnamese!) in Soho really caught our eye for the way they feature their own use of social media. Take a look at their site.

Why are they doing social media well?

It goes without saying this restaurant is doing  the basics well; the home page text tells prospective diners exactly what they’re about, and menus and opening times are  all available at one click. Yes, it may sound simple, but it’s surprising how many restaurants prefer to shove a fancy design in their website visitors’ faces in preference to giving them the information they’ve come for… okay, rant over.

But beyond that, they’re using a range of social media, integrating it into their site, and even more importantly, telling people what they use each website for and why they should bother to click “like”, “follow” or whatever. Their Facebook feed is prominent on the home page, with a “like” button you can use without leaving the site. They’ve included a Foursquare checkin, showing that you’ll get to find out about special offers. And in the main page text, there’s almost a mini manifesto for their social media strategy:

Bibimbap Soho seperates itself from other Korean restaurants by being active on Facebook so that we can keep in contact with you the customer. If you have something to tell us we would like to hear from you on Facebook. Keep in contact with us to find out about special deals at the restaurant.”

It’s not flashy or slick, but it’s a clear commitment to dialogue with their customers.

So, what are the lessons for your business? Firstly,

Tell customers how you’re using social media to put yourself ahead of the crowd.

There are still plenty of sectors – the restaurant and hospitality sector being one which immediately comes to mind – where good, thoughtful use of  Twitter and Facebook can immediately set you apart by making it clear that you’re interested in your customers. Spelling it out for them doesn’t hurt.   Secondly,

Give ’em the deal upfront.

“Follow us on Twitter”  just won’t cut it – they’re your customers, you don’t get to tell them what to do!

“Our Twitter followers get real-time updates about today’s specials and discounts” is much more enticing. Finally,

Don’t keep your social media use a secret!

If a new customer walks through your door, would they know that you’re on Foursquare, or Twitter, or Facebook? You need to get the message out  in the offline environment too, and make sure that your online and offline marketing strategies work together.

“Getting the message out”  might be  putting your Facebook URL on your Compliments slips (and please don’t just use “Find us on Facebook” unless your business name is totally unique – Facebook search isn’t great and you may be tenth in the list after five steak joints in Oklahoma) or it might be streaming your Twitter feed onto a screen in reception. Or even just putting up a big poster in the entrance lobby.

What is location based marketing?

Location based marketing has very much come out of the huge growth in Smart phones, which tend to be GPS equipped. This means  that knowledge about exactly where the phone’s owner is at a given time is available to the device, and can be put to some clever uses by applications on the phone – using google maps to provide detailed walking directions, for example.

Essentially, what location based marketing does is make commercial use of applications which use the physical location of the customer.  So, at a simple level, someone uses Foursquare to tell their friends where they are – for practical reasons or just bragging rights!

So, having your business registered as a Location on Foursquare means that your customers have the option of telling people they are with you – and the act of doing this means that your business becomes visible to their friends.

How does location based marketing work for a business?

From a business point of view, the first implication of all this is that becoming involved with location based marketing  makes your business more visible – and to that “customers’ friends” group which we all know tends to be a great target market.

But, there’s a lot more to it than that. To make the most of the opportunity that location based marketing offers, it needs to be part of a wider strategy: to let customers know that you’re using it, and employing some creativity to maximise both the exposure your business gets and the ability to influence your customers’ behaviour – for example, encouraging them to visit you more often. Exactly how this will work best will be different for every business.

For example, this cruise company is using a combination of a special offer, Foursquare badge (like a digital bumper sticker which users can collect) and Twitter to promote themselves:

What’s available

The number of platforms and applications out there which can handle geographically based incentives has boomed lately – the originals are Foursquare.com, followed by Gowalla, with Facebook Places and most recently Google Latitude getting in on the action.

If you are a b2c local business, especially one which needs to drive footfall to your location, this is definitely something you need to consider as part of your marketing plan.
If you’re interested in developing some effective incentives for your business, give us a call!