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Zero to Book
Copyblogger FM: Content Marketing, Copywriting, Freelance Writing, and Social Media Marketing
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Pokémon Go: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

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Previous Episode:5 Suggestions When You're Writing About Controversy More Episodes Next Episode:The One-Two Punch that Creates the Most Successful Copywriters

All Episodes:

March 30, 2020

The Advantage of Email Marketing, Featuring Nathan Barry of ConvertKit

March 15, 2020

How to Write Content That Resonates

March 9, 2020

How to Conquer Your Fear of Selling, with Leah Neaderthal

March 2, 2020

How to Build Remarkable Products to Grow Your Business, with Ramit Sethi

February 17, 2020

What You Should Talk about on Your Podcast, with Tara McMullin

February 9, 2020

How to Win at Search in 2020

February 3, 2020

How to Turn Pro as a Freelance Writer

January 27, 2020

Marketing Segmentation and Personalization with Brennan Dunn of RightMessage

January 20, 2020

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January 13, 2020

The New Look Copyblogger in 2020

January 8, 2020

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October 23, 2019

The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur with John Jantsch

October 2, 2019

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September 25, 2019

The Past, Present, and Future of Online Learning

September 16, 2019

How to Get More of the Right Things Done

September 9, 2019

Why the Future Is Still Email

September 3, 2019

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August 26, 2019

How Smart, Nimble Companies Are Using Webinars Today

August 19, 2019

The Clarity Method: A Conversation with Tim Brownson

August 12, 2019

Digital Business Trends and the Latest on the Rainmaker Platform

August 5, 2019

4 ‘Naive’ Business Principles for Enduring Success

July 8, 2019

How to Write an Epic Blog Post, Part 3: Polishing and Promotion

July 1, 2019

How to Write an Epic Blog Post, Part 2: Getting It Written

June 24, 2019

How to Write an Epic Blog Post, Part 1: Thinking and Research

June 17, 2019

3 Almost Magical Headline Ingredients for More Traffic, Engagement, and Shares

June 10, 2019

Lessons Any Business Can Learn from an Impressive Influencer Marketing Fail

June 3, 2019

13 Ways of Looking at a Headline

May 27, 2019

The 7 ‘Bad’ Habits of Incredibly Successful People

May 20, 2019

Writers: How to Move from Making a Living to Driving Revenue

May 13, 2019

Choose the Right Frame to Boost the Power of Your Content

May 6, 2019

How Copywriting Teacher Belinda Weaver Reenergized Her Email List for Massive Engagement

April 29, 2019

3 Reasons Why Really Good Writers Sometimes Can’t Find Great Clients

April 22, 2019

3 Slightly Embarrassing Emotions that Drive Effective Copywriting

April 15, 2019

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April 8, 2019

Becoming the ‘Chief Empathy Officer’ of Your Copy and Content

April 1, 2019

One of the Most Important Marketing Decisions You’ll Ever Make

March 18, 2019

What Nobody Wants to Hear about Content Marketing

March 11, 2019

Getting Your Big, Scary Projects Finished: A Conversation about Growing Gills

March 4, 2019

When Is It Time to Bring in a Professional Copywriter?

February 25, 2019

Using Content to Systematically Move Prospects Toward a Purchase

February 18, 2019

Understanding the Lifecycles of Your Website, with Pamela Wilson

February 11, 2019

5 Ways to Manage a Stress-Induced Creative Slump

February 4, 2019

3 Ways Strategic Content Can Drive Measurable Business Outcomes

January 28, 2019

The Social Media Platform Every Content Creator Should Be Using in 2019 (Nope, It’s Not Facebook)

January 21, 2019

Real Talk about Generating High-Quality Content

January 14, 2019

A Conversation with Paul Jarvis about Staying a ‘Company of One’

October 29, 2018

The 3 Plus 1 Foundational Elements of Effective Persuasion

October 22, 2018

5 Essential Copywriting Techniques from Copyblogger

October 15, 2018

5 Ways to Recover Your Professional and Creative Confidence

October 8, 2018

5 Stinky Sardine Secrets to Make Your Content More Fascinating

September 24, 2018

The Mindset ‘Hack’ that Frees Your Creativity and Makes You Happier

September 18, 2018

How to Kill Your Sales and Mess up Your Business: Lessons from a Used Car Salesman

September 4, 2018

The 7 Things Writers Need to Make a (Good) Living

August 27, 2018

Are You Making These Social Media Marketing Mistakes?

August 20, 2018

Fix These 7 About Page Mistakes for More Traffic and (Possibly) Better SEO

August 13, 2018

7 Ways to Boost Your Creativity

August 6, 2018

A 10-Step ‘Checklist’ for Your Content Marketing Site

July 30, 2018

The 3 Keys to Publishing Strong Content … Even If You Aren’t a ‘Great’ Writer (Yet)

July 23, 2018

Fix These 3 Points of Failure to Get Better Results for Your Content

July 16, 2018

Big Changes at ConvertKit: A Discussion with Founder Nathan Barry

July 9, 2018

3 Skills to Master to Become a Marketing Badass this Year

June 18, 2018

The Quiet Power of Conversational Copy

June 11, 2018

5 Rules of Thumb to Relieve SEO-Induced Stress

June 4, 2018

How to Use the GDPR to Make Your Business Stronger than Ever

May 14, 2018

‘Good Karma’ Selling that Works: A Conversation with Tim Paige

April 30, 2018

How to Get More Comfortable (and Effective) at Selling

April 23, 2018

Privacy and Permission in the Wake of Cambridge Analytica

April 16, 2018

Seth Godin and How to Create Change

April 9, 2018

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March 26, 2018

The Double-Edged Sword that Can Make (or Break) Your Content

March 19, 2018

Make More Progress by Getting (Gently) Out of Your Comfort Zone

March 12, 2018

Are You Doing Content Marketing Wrong?

March 5, 2018

Storytelling for Modern Content Marketing (Part 2 of 2)

February 26, 2018

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February 19, 2018

10 Quality Factors Search Engines Need to See on Your Site

February 12, 2018

A Simple Content Strategy to Make Your Site Massively More Useful

February 5, 2018

How to Avoid a Heartbreaking Business Failure

January 29, 2018

Hey Writers: Let’s Get You Paid What You’re Worth

January 15, 2018

5 Keys to Making Your Content More Shareable

December 18, 2017

3 Observations on Trends (but not Predictions) for 2018

December 11, 2017

3 Tips Now to Build a Strong Foundation in 2018

December 4, 2017

The 3 Success Factors that Help Writers Earn a Great Living

November 27, 2017

How to Recognize a Great Content Idea

November 20, 2017

How to Cultivate a More Meaningful Gratitude Practice

November 13, 2017

Advice for Poets, Advice for Killers

October 30, 2017

Face Your Business Fears on Halloween Week

October 23, 2017

How to Make Smarter Decisions about Your Website

October 2, 2017

A Series of Unfortunate Content Events

September 18, 2017

The Evolution of a Successful Copywriter

August 28, 2017

7 Ways to Improve Your Marketing by Harnessing the Power of Evil

August 14, 2017

Smart Questions from our Brilliant Audience

August 7, 2017

Does the Web Have Enough Patience for Your In-Depth Content?

July 31, 2017

How to Write (Much Better) Blog Comments

July 17, 2017

Which Works Better: Positive or Negative Content?

July 10, 2017

How to Attract the Exact Customers You Want

July 3, 2017

How to Create Stability and Success as an Artist

June 19, 2017

Two Powerful Resources for Life-Changing Growth

June 12, 2017

How to Turn All that Marketing Advice into Action

June 5, 2017

How to Develop a Compelling Marketing Idea in 4 Steps

May 30, 2017

Getting Over the Fear of Selling

May 22, 2017

Talking Community and Digital Business with Tara Gentile

May 15, 2017

Plagiarism, Self-Deception, Bad Sandwiches, and Other Interesting Disasters

May 1, 2017

Professional Writers: Find Out How to Get Certified by Copyblogger

April 17, 2017

The Painful Core Lesson Taught by 3 Astonishing Big-Brand Fails

April 3, 2017

5 Mindset Habits that Actually Work

March 27, 2017

On Grammar, Usage, and Not Being a Great Big Jerk

March 20, 2017

Creative Strategies for Content Writers

March 13, 2017

A New Ultra-Easy Resource for Creating Excellent WordPress Sites

February 20, 2017

Thriving Freelancers and Clients from Hell

February 13, 2017

Politics, Content Marketing, and the 2017 Super Bowl Ads

February 6, 2017

Copyblogger Book Club: Winning the Story Wars

January 23, 2017

3 Content Marketing Strategy Fails (and How to Fix Them)

January 9, 2017

The 2017 Content Excellence Challenge: Your January Assignments

December 19, 2016

Bad Writing Advice: The ‘Post Truth’ Episode

December 12, 2016

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December 5, 2016

The 4 Pillars Every Online Business Is Built On

November 28, 2016

Orbit Media’s Latest Survey of 1000 Bloggers

November 14, 2016

Have You Already Missed the Podcasting Gold Rush?

November 7, 2016

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October 31, 2016

5 Quick Wins for Content Marketers

October 24, 2016

Announcing: An Intriguing New Tool for Collaborative Content

October 17, 2016

A New Book to Make Content Marketing Easier

October 10, 2016

Behind the Scenes at Copyblogger: Our New Email Approach

October 3, 2016

The ‘Obligatory’ Structure of Effective Content

September 26, 2016

7 Powerful Content Strategies Borrowed from Advertising Masters

September 15, 2016

How to Handle Demographic and Psychographic Segmentation (without Looking Like an Idiot)

September 8, 2016

Ethics, Professionalism, and Good Manners for Content Marketers

September 1, 2016

3 Questions that Can Haunt Creative Professionals

August 25, 2016

How to Give and Get Exceptional Testimonials, Part Two

August 18, 2016

How to Give and Get Exceptional Testimonials, Part One

August 11, 2016

Are You Leaving Money on the Table with Weak Headlines?

August 4, 2016

Content Marketing for Nonprofits

July 28, 2016

The One-Two Punch that Creates the Most Successful Copywriters

July 21, 2016

Pokémon Go: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

July 14, 2016

5 Suggestions When You’re Writing About Controversy

July 7, 2016

Announcing: A Breakthrough Educational Collaboration between Copyblogger and U.C. Davis

June 30, 2016

How to Break Past the #1 Conversion Killer

June 23, 2016

The New Age of Marketing Automation: Powerful, Simple, Cost-Effective

June 16, 2016

How to Make a (Really Good) Living as a Freelance Writer

June 9, 2016

Self-Publishing, Side Hustles, and Doing It All: A Conversation with Linda Formichelli

June 2, 2016

A Process for Content Marketing Success

May 26, 2016

Content Marketing Best Practices: Getting Email Opt-Ins

May 19, 2016

Behind the Scenes: Adventures in Advertising

May 12, 2016

Trump, Apple, and Facebook Advertising: Content Marketing News for May, 2016

May 5, 2016

Sally Hogshead and the Art of Fascination

April 28, 2016

Behind the Scenes at the Rainmaker Digital Company Meeting!

April 14, 2016

Social Media News, Social Media Constants

April 7, 2016

Strategies for B2B Podcasting, with Clark Buckner

March 31, 2016

Content Marketing Success Stories: Fitness Powerhouse Examine.com

March 24, 2016

Behind the Scenes: An Inside Look at the Rainmaker FM Redesign

March 17, 2016

Our Latest Advice and Resources for Digital Business Owners

March 10, 2016

Should Content Publishers Adopt Google’s New AMP?

March 3, 2016

7 Ways to Get Smarter with Social Media Listening

February 25, 2016

Content Marketing Shout-Out: Orbit Media and Andy Crestodina

February 18, 2016

The Tactic You Should Steal from Copyblogger

February 11, 2016

Content Marketing News for February, 2016

February 4, 2016

Email Marketing: The Misunderstood Powerhouse

January 28, 2016

The Secret Weapon Behind Great Websites: The Role of the Content Editor

January 21, 2016

Behind the Scenes: The Relaunch and Re-Imagining of Copyblogger.com

January 14, 2016

Trends and Predictions for Digital Commerce: A Conversation with Brian Clark

January 7, 2016

2016 Content Marketing Resolutions

December 28, 2015

The End of The Lede, The Beginning of Copyblogger FM

November 10, 2015

Constraints Can Be Blessings (Plus 2 Other Essential Lessons Jerod Re-Learned This Week)

November 3, 2015

Long or Short? The Content Length Question Answered, Once and For All

October 27, 2015

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October 20, 2015

The Surprising Truth about Earning a Profit from Your Content

October 13, 2015

How to Move Your Audience From Infatuation to Love

October 6, 2015

3 Things Your Audience Wants You to Know about Useful Content

September 29, 2015

Revisiting Authenticity: What It Is, What It’s Not, and Why It Matters

September 22, 2015

Publishing Lessons from Dave Pell, the Most Fascinating Email Newsletter Writer in the Business

September 15, 2015

Why Content Creators Should Kiss Their Programmers

September 8, 2015

Finally — A Podcast about the Superiority of Written Content

September 1, 2015

Hot Seat: Grilling Jerod on Using Audio Content to Seed a Content Arsenal

August 25, 2015

How to Optimize Your Headlines for Content Discovery with Vinegar (Before You Die of Cholera)

August 18, 2015

5 Stories That Explain Jerod Morris (Plus One Massive Marketing Lesson)

August 11, 2015

Lede Potpourri: A Big Idea, Talking About Demian Behind His Back, and Lessons from #PM15

August 4, 2015

How to Attend an Industry Conference Like a Boss

July 28, 2015

Getting the Most Out of a Conference When You’re There to Promote, Part 1

July 21, 2015

How Much Does the Modern Content Marketer Need to Know About SEO?

July 14, 2015

Are Podcasters Digitally Sharecropping Without Realizing It?

July 7, 2015

Celebrating Our 101st Episode (with a Special Guest Interviewer)

June 30, 2015

Why The Phrase ‘Leaders Are Readers’ Should Die

June 23, 2015

Why You Should Think Outside the Box About Online Courses

June 16, 2015

The Proper (and Safe) Way to Republish Old Articles

June 9, 2015

How to Grow an Audience on LinkedIn by Repurposing Content

June 2, 2015

Key Takeaways from Three-and-a-Half Hours with Henry Rollins

May 27, 2015

Rapid-Fire Takeaways from Authority Rainmaker

May 19, 2015

The Proper Way to Grow an Audience on Medium

May 12, 2015

The Introvert’s Guide to Launching a Successful Podcast

May 5, 2015

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April 28, 2015

Proof That Grit Is the Only Way to Reach Your Potential

April 21, 2015

Do We Celebrate Failure Too Much?

April 14, 2015

Choose Yourself Part 2: James Altucher Fights Back

April 7, 2015

Should We Fear Content Shock? (Or Could It Actually Be a Good Thing?)

March 31, 2015

Should You Really ‘Walk in the Direction of Your Fear’?

March 24, 2015

Is ‘Choose Yourself’ Good Advice … or New-Age Phooey?

March 17, 2015

Is Authority Earned or Bestowed?

March 3, 2015

Dan Pink on How to Succeed in the New Era of Selling

February 24, 2015

Here’s How to Answer the Most Important Question in Life (and Make a Living from It)

February 17, 2015

Sally Hogshead on How You Can Unlock Your Natural Ability to Fascinate

February 10, 2015

How to Learn from Your Successes

January 27, 2015

How to Learn From Your Mistakes

January 13, 2015

Lessons Learned from Conducting Two Monster Audience Surveys

December 16, 2014

Adaptive Content: A Trend to Pay Attention to in 2015

December 2, 2014

The Most Important Lessons You Should Have Learned in 2014

November 18, 2014

How We Built Our Careers Online (And What You Can Learn From It)

November 4, 2014

Interview with Brian Clark: How Customer Experience Maps Help You Develop a Smarter Content Strategy

October 21, 2014

How Empathy Maps Help You Speak Directly to the Hearts of Your Audience

October 7, 2014

How to Ignite a Feeling in Your Audience

September 23, 2014

Are You Overlooking This Cornerstone of a Smart Content Strategy?

June 26, 2014

How to Curate Knowledge, Turn it Into Wisdom, and Build Your Audience

June 19, 2014

How Successful Writers Curate Ideas

June 13, 2014

The 5 W’s of Link Curation

June 6, 2014

Why You Should Curate Content (And How to Do It Right)

May 30, 2014

How Freaks and Misfits Can Succeed in Business: A Conversation with Chris Brogan

May 23, 2014

The 2 Reasons People Don’t Click on Your Buttons … And How to Overcome Them

May 16, 2014

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May 9, 2014

How to Be Authentic

May 2, 2014

How to Close With Style

April 25, 2014

The Best of Seth Godin on Copyblogger

April 17, 2014

How to Choose Arresting Images for Your Blog Posts (And Why You Should)

April 11, 2014

Removing Blog Comments: The View So Far

April 4, 2014

How to Use Internal Cliffhangers

March 28, 2014

Hangout Hot Seat with Brian Clark

March 21, 2014

How to Tell a Seductive Story

March 14, 2014

How to Create Exquisite Subheads

March 7, 2014

How to Write Killer Bullet Points

February 28, 2014

How to Write Damn Good Sentences

February 21, 2014

How to Use Persuasive Words

February 14, 2014

Michael Stelzner on Capturing Emails and Committing to Quality

February 7, 2014

How to Nail Your Opening

January 24, 2014

How to Write a Magnetic Headline (in Under 15 Minutes)

May 18, 2012

Seth Godin on When You Should Start Marketing Your Product, Service, or Idea

May 11, 2012

How to Attract an Audience by Integrating Content, Social, and Search

March 30, 2012

Why You Should Build an Audience Before You Build a Business

March 16, 2012

How Chris Brogan Built His Content Platform

March 9, 2012

Jay Baer on How to Turn Interested Prospects into Lifelong Customers

March 2, 2012

A 30-Minute Copywriting Course from a Master of the Craft

February 24, 2012

The Path to a Legendary Copywriting Career

February 17, 2012

5 Tips for Affiliate Marketing Beginners

February 10, 2012

Why Not Sell Physical Stuff With Digital Media?

February 3, 2012

Whether You Call it Blogging or Not, Online Content Still Rules

January 27, 2012

Answers to the 3 Biggest Email Marketing Questions We Get

January 20, 2012

How to Newsjack Your Way to Free Media Exposure with David Meerman Scott

January 13, 2012

Steven Pressfield and the War of Work

November 18, 2011

The Strategy Behind the Copyblogger Redesign

November 11, 2011

7 Ways to Create an Email Marketing "Snowball Effect"

November 4, 2011

Warning: If You're Not a Privacy Nut, You're Losing Sales

October 28, 2011

The 3 Kinds of Writing That Builds a Business

October 21, 2011

The Art of Seductive Writing: A Conversation with Robert Greene

October 7, 2011

Why Content Marketing Doesn't Suck

September 30, 2011

Are You Weird Enough to Succeed at Content Marketing?

September 23, 2011

What Works With SEO Right Now and Why No One Does What You Want

September 16, 2011

Are You Flushing Your Marketing Down the Social Media Toilet?

September 11, 2011

Seth Godin on Blogging, Business Books, and Creating Content that Matters

September 2, 2011

The Return of Copyblogger Radio …

June 10, 2011

Answered: Your Most Burning Content Marketing Questions

June 3, 2011

How to Get All the Clients and Customers You Can Handle

May 20, 2011

Is Content Marketing Worth the Work?

May 13, 2011

How to Write Nearly Undeletable Emails

May 6, 2011

Is the Online Gold Rush Over?

April 22, 2011

The Art of Enchanting Online Marketing with Guy Kawasaki

April 15, 2011

The Market for Something to Believe in is Infinite: An Interview with Hugh MacLeod

April 8, 2011

How to Constantly Create Compelling Content

March 25, 2011

The Content Marketing Question You Need to Answer … Now

March 18, 2011

Good SEO is Simple. Really.

March 4, 2011

Did Social Media Kill the Marketing Star?

February 25, 2011

How to Write (and Execute) a Simple but Powerful Business Plan

February 17, 2011

How to Kick Groupon to the Curb and Become a Local Hero

February 3, 2011

Convert … Or Die

January 27, 2011

Attention: Is Your Headline Getting Any?

January 20, 2011

How to Craft Landing Pages that Work

January 13, 2011

Why Every Smart Business is in the Media Business

January 5, 2011

2011 Content Marketing Predictions

December 15, 2010

Tim Ferriss on How to Reinvent Yourself with Blog Marketing

December 8, 2010

The 6 Elements of an Influential Web Experience

December 1, 2010

Your Staggeringly Unfair Marketing Advantage

November 17, 2010

How to Get Some Action

November 10, 2010

The Foundation of All Marketing that Works

November 3, 2010

Introducing Copyblogger Radio

July 21, 2016

Pokémon Go: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Whether you love it or hate it — Pokémon Go is the biggest global hit in a long time. Is it worthwhile to try and find a Poké-marketing angle?

We’ve been waiting for a truly mainstream augmented reality app to come along — and has it ever. Within a week of launch, Pokémon Go had more active users than Facebook — and that number is growing (if the servers can hold up).

In this 24-minute episode, I talk about:

  • The criticisms of the game (fair or otherwise)
  • The difference between augmented and virtual reality
  • Some of the ways businesses are getting a boost from Pokémon-hunting traffic
  • The psychological triggers that make Pokémon Go so effective (and how you can use some of them)
  • The downsides to viral success

Note: Seen a clever (or groan-worthy) Pokémon tie-in? Let us know about it in the comments!

Listen to Copyblogger FM: Content Marketing, Copywriting, Freelance Writing, and Social Media Marketing below ...

Pokémon Go: The Good, the Bad, and the UglySonia Simone
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The Show Notes

  • My Copyblogger post: Is Social Media Making Us Dumb?
  • The New York Times with some interesting background behind the launch
  • Boxcar Marketing with a nice Pokémon Go Business Tips post
  • The (often NSFW) brilliance that is The IT Crowd
  • I’m always happy to see your questions or your thoughts on Twitter @soniasimone!

The Transcript


Sonia Simone: So glad to see you again, and welcome back to CopybloggerFM, the content marketing podcast.

CopybloggerFM is about emerging content marketing trends, interesting disasters, and enduring best practices, along with the occasional rant. My name is Sonia Simone, I’m the chief content officer for Rainmaker Digital, and I hang out with the folks doing the real work over on the Copyblogger blog.

Note: See the show notes for all the links!

OK, we’ve got to just face it.

Pokémon Go is here, and whether you love it, hate it, think it’s the end of civilization or think it’s the coolest thing since WiFi, it’s here.

I don’t think there’s ever been an application that’s seen this kind of growth — within a week of launching it had more active daily users than Twitter, Snapchat, and possibly Facebook.

We’ve been waiting for the first really mainstream application for Augmented Reality, and it’s here.

So even if you don’t like Pokémon Go, let’s talk about it.

Warning: There will be buzzwords ahead! Nobody likes jargon, but it exists because it is useful. Whenever possible I will try to roll my eyes when using a really overused term, if that helps.

Pokémon Go sucks, don’t make me talk about that

Let’s talk a little bit about the haterade for a second.

First, there’s the concept, immortalized by a t-shirt on the British comedy The IT Crowd:

Nothing popular is good.

If you are interested in persuading people, this is a super unhelpful belief to hold.

It’s true that a lot of popular things are shallow and annoying, but some popular things are wonderful. Which are which? Hey, guess what, we all decide that one on our own. 🙂

I find it a bit sad to see people who on one side want to get more traffic to their sites, and then on the other automatically hate things if too many other people like them.

Criticism two is that it’s turning people into zombies. I’m playing the game myself, I have never seen so many families taking walks together and really interacting with each other — and with strangers. They’re quite a bit less zombified than many of the folks I saw with selfie sticks walking through beautiful ancient monuments in Rome last summer.

Mobile devices distract us, to a degree that can be harmful and even life-threatening. If you talk on the phone while you drive, you do not get to make fun of the Poke-zombies, sorry. Permission revoked. And P.S. you just cut me off with an illegal left turn. Sigh.

One thing Pokémon Go is doing that selfie sticks and texting and Candy Crush are not doing, is getting people out into the world. It’s a lot like a treasure hunt, or geocaching if you’re familiar with that, only the “treasures” are virtual.

My friends who have kids on the autism spectrum are thrilled to bits with this game for getting their kids into the outdoors, more active, and interacting with other players in real life. So just to put that out there.

Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality

OK, buzzword bingo time. Pokémon Go is an Augmented Reality game. What does that mean?

Well, Virtual Reality is the idea that the application takes over all or most of your perception. You’re in a completely different world, like Avatar, or at least one where 75% of what you perceive is generated by the technology.

Augmented Reality means that the actual physical world is there, but it’s got a little augmentation — some little animation or image — that’s blended with the real thing. In Pokémon Go it’s a cute little animal — that’s the Pokémon — that’s doing its thing in the grass or the sidewalk or wherever you are.

Boxcar Marketing has a nice one-minute video explaining the difference, as well as a very good quick email post on Pokémon Go and the value for business. I found it on Facebook — see, social sharing works. I’ll get you a link in the show notes.

Simple opportunities for businesses

The simplest way that businesses are benefiting from Pokémon Go is by setting up “Lures,” which are signals that attract more Pokémon, near their businesses. Not every business is able to do this, but if you’re near one of the “Pokéstops,” and your business would be a good fit for kids, families, or hipsters, it’s a pretty cheap way to really increase your foot traffic.

Our favorite ice cream shop in our neighborhood is a stop and is getting a great boost already.

I’m noticing lots of Lures set up in shopping districts and malls — smart.

Less obvious opportunities for businesses

The Boxcar Marketing post had some more creative thoughts for businesses that might not be as good a fit for the Lure thing.

Most of these revolve around a very old idea in advertising — join the conversation already taking place in your prospect’s head.

One of the most innovative I’ve seen is animal shelters offering the opportunity to walk their dogs while folks are looking for Pokémon. Any business or organization that in some way connects with folks walking around will have an opportunity here — fitness pros, shoe stores, etc.

I notice the local Build-A-Bear store has Pikachu — the most mainstream Pokémon — in the window.

I’m also seeing things as simple as “These Pokémon have been caught here.”

There’s a fairly weird genre of service providers offering things like rides to Pokéstops, and even bodyguard protection. Again, that’s not a business model — it’s just some creative person putting side hustles together who’s seeing the trend and trying something out.

Why does it work?

As someone who is having a lot of fun playing the game with my son, here are some of the things I think are making it work so incredibly well.

#1: They’re piggybacking off of something people already love. Now you and I don’t have the luxury of having developed the creative for the original Pokémon, but there might be something we’ve done that people really responded to.

#2: They understand how gaming reward systems work. Buzzword bingo time: Gamification — taking something and inserting some game mechanics into it to make it more fun.

Pokémon Go has a lot of little rewards. Specifically, for example, you can get an egg to hatch into a new creature. Well, to hatch that egg, you have to walk around.

I have a friend who’s an MD who mentioned that one of his young patients who’s been struggling with physical activity walked 20 miles in 3 days. Because of those intermittent rewards.

The game also rewards going to new places, because different kinds of little animals populate different places.

#3: Pokémon has always been based on that collector instinct — once you have one thing, you want to have the whole set.

#4: Pokémon Go has created a stair-step that’s rewarding at every point. So beginning players have fun things to do, then you “level up” and there are new fun things to do, and the whole time you’re looking beyond at the things you’ll be able to do when you keep playing.

I don’t know if they’ll be able to sustain it forever. They’re very creative, so maybe they’ll have a long run.

As my son said, “It’s not as infinite as Minecraft.” Which is bad math but correct business thinking.

#5: Pokémon Go encourages community interaction and connection. My son and I were already big walkers, although we tended to stay in our neighborhood and a few other areas — now we’re looking to find new places to walk.

I have the conversations with strangers you have on walks — nice weather, what a cute dog, etc.

But in two days I’ve had three much more in-depth conversations with people about the game — how does it work, what do I do with this, how can I get more of that, etc.

The documentation for Pokémon Go is light — and I wonder if that’s a gaming trend post Minecraft. Instead of them telling you precisely how to play, you go somewhere social and talk with other players about it.

All of this appears to have been thoughtfully designed by Nintendo and their partner company Niantic. They’ve put mechanics in the game to bring players physically together, as well as to walk more and to investigate some new places.

The downside to viral success

We can’t talk Pokémon Go without mentioning some of their challenges as well.

The growth of the app — which is free — has been astonishing, and this is a game that needs other players. It’s a community-based game — the more players there are, the more fun it is.

What’s not as fun are the DDOS attacks that have been plaguing their servers, as well as the insane volume of logins that have slowed things down, and a few hasty updates that broke more than they fixed.

For those of us who didn’t just add tens of millions of users to our projects, we might look at that kind of growth with envy — but explosive growth is nearly impossible to manage well.

A massive company like Nintendo can handle it — they have the resources and the buy-in from users, although the buy-in part has been pretty sorely frayed by the widespread tech problems. But your company and my company?

We’d do better to follow some of the interesting community and psychological lessons from Pokémon Go — but without the wildfire growth.

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Comments

  1. Brad Hobbs says

    July 25, 2016 at 3:13 PM

    Ok so here is one contrarian viewpoint. Having a brick-n-mortar business as well as an online business, it’s probably written out of technology fatique if anything…

    http://bradhobbs.com/5-reasons-to-leave-pokemon-go-out-of-your-marketing-plan-at-least-for-now/

    Reply
    • Sonia Simone says

      July 25, 2016 at 4:08 PM

      Combination of tech fatigue, crankiness, and some misinformation — he’s under the impression that PG players don’t have disposable income, which is 100% false.

      Keep in mind that everyone who plays PG has to have a decent phone & data plan. Small kids are mostly *not* playing — it’s tweens and then lots of adults (mostly but not all guys) in their late 20s and 30s who were fans of the original game & show.

      I agree with some of his points — this shouldn’t be some kind of “savior.” But if a business doesn’t know how to get a message out that’s relevant and attractive to potential customers, this isn’t a bad way to learn. 🙂 And if they do know that, this just folds right into their current strategy.

      Reply
  2. Anil Saini says

    August 18, 2016 at 1:24 PM

    Seriously! Am I the only one who didn’t play this game yet?
    Thinking of trying it 🙂

    Reply

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