Find out whether your door is near a stop in the game, decide whether players suit your business, then make sure your listing and website answer what newcomers ask: hours, what you sell, washrooms.

A crowd at the fountain since Sunday

Pokemon Go, a game played on phones, became officially available in Canada on Sunday. By evening, groups were gathering in parks, beside murals and outside a few shops, all looking down at their screens.

The game puts creatures on a map of real streets. Players walk to catch them and to visit real places marked as stops, and spots with several stops close together draw the biggest groups.

Many of those places are parks and statues. Some are shopfronts, churches and libraries, which is how a few business owners found people standing at their door this week.

Whether that is good news depends on the business. Either way, the questions those people ask are worth answering.

What is actually happening

Stops in the game, called PokeStops, hand out items a player needs. Each one can be used again after a few minutes, so players linger nearby or circle back.

Gyms are places where teams of players battle for control. They draw people who stay longer and return often.

Lures create the sudden crowds. A player can buy one in the game and attach it to a stop for thirty minutes, drawing creatures there for everyone nearby, and other players see it on their maps.

The locations came from an earlier game by the same company and were mostly fixed before launch. There is no simple way for a business to become a stop today.

What players need

The second is the cheapest welcome a business can offer. A power bar at the counter costs very little and answers the question before anyone asks it.

Does it suit your business

Start with where you are. If no stop is within sight of your door, the game will pass you by, and most of this matters little.

Then think about what you sell. A cafe, an ice cream counter or a corner store sells what someone on foot wants; a dental office or a quiet shop full of regulars may not want groups at the door.

And consider your staff and your space. Players tend to move in groups, in the evening, often when one person is on the till.

Both answers are reasonable. What matters is deciding, rather than finding out by accident on a busy Friday.

Welcoming players, if you do

A sign in the window does most of it: players welcome, washrooms for customers, phones charged at the counter. Staff should know enough about the game to talk about it without rolling their eyes.

A post on your Facebook page saying there is a stop outside reaches local players directly.

Some businesses are buying lures for the stop at their door. Nobody can promise a lure brings anyone inside, so treat it as a small experiment rather than a plan.

Setting limits, if you do not

Say it politely and in writing. A sign saying washrooms are for customers, or that the patio is for diners, does the job without a confrontation.

Give staff a friendly line to use. The players are mostly local people, and the teenager asking about the washroom tonight may be a customer next year.

A worked example

A small Japanese bakery sits on a corner across from a park with a fountain and a mural, both of which turned out to be stops in the game.

On Sunday evening the owner was cashing out at six when she noticed a dozen people gathered at the fountain. Her daughter, who plays, explained the game over the counter.

On Monday the owner did what a player across the street would do: she looked up the bakery on her phone. The Google listing still showed last year's hours, closing at five, and had no photographs of the inside.

The website listed the bread by Japanese names alone, such as melon pan, anpan and curry pan, with no descriptions or prices. A newcomer could not know that anpan is a soft bun filled with sweet red bean paste.

She corrected the hours, added photographs of the counter and shelves, and gave every item a one-line description and a price. A sign facing the park now shows the hours and says the washroom is for customers.

She decided against buying lures and kept her closing time, since her day starts before dawn. The listing and the website now do the explaining.

What newcomers look up

People who have followed a game into an unfamiliar neighbourhood behave like visitors. They do not know your name or what you sell, and they decide from their phone in seconds.

They check the Google listing for hours and photographs, then tap through to the website. If the site does not say what you sell and roughly what it costs, they move on.

Hours matter most, since much of the play happens in the evening. A listing that shows you closed when you are open turns people away without a word.

Keep it light and temporary

Nobody knows how long the craze will last. Do not rebuild a website or reprint signs around a game.

A line on the home page, a post and a sign in the window are enough, and all three can come down in a minute when the crowds thin.

Correct hours and clear descriptions are different. That work stays useful whatever happens to the game.

The counter-case

Many businesses are nowhere near a stop, and most of the rest will see little change. A clinic, an office or a trade without a shopfront has nothing to gain from groups on the sidewalk.

For them the advice shrinks to the part that never goes out of date: correct hours, a listing with real photographs and a website that says plainly what you sell.

For a business with a stop at its door, decide this week whether you welcome players, and make sure your listing answers what they will ask.

While the crowds last

  1. Check whether a stop is near your door.
  2. Correct your hours on Google My Business.
  3. Open your website on a phone.
  4. Describe what you sell in plain words.
  5. Decide your washroom and charging rules.
  6. Put a short sign in the window.
  7. Take it down when the crowds thin.

Step two is worth doing even if no player ever comes near you. Wrong hours on a listing send people away at any time of year; this week simply makes the mistake more visible.

Answering people who do not know the neighbourhood is also the subject of visitors planning a trip before they arrive.

Frequently asked questions

What is Pokemon Go?

A game played on phones, available in Canada since Sunday, in which players walk to real places to catch creatures on a map and collect items at stops.

Why do crowds gather at certain spots?

Places with several stops close together draw players, and lures bought in the game attract creatures to a stop for thirty minutes, which brings nearby players together.

Can my business become a stop?

There is no simple way to request it today. The locations came from an earlier game by the same company and were mostly fixed before launch.

Should my business welcome players?

That depends on whether a stop is near your door, whether you sell what people on foot want, and whether your staff and space can handle groups.

What should my listing and website show?

Correct hours, photographs of the inside, and plain descriptions of what you sell with prices. People new to the neighbourhood decide from their phone in seconds.

Should I redesign anything around the game?

No. A sign, a post and a line on the website are enough, and they can come down when the crowds thin. Correct hours and descriptions stay useful regardless.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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