Dealer Dan, pictured here with WWE Superstar Mick Foley, has been in internet marketing since 1996. He likes hugs, long walks on the beach, and making money while wearing his jammy jams. For more information, you can read all 
This week I’m going to dedicate the article to the incredibly popular Pokemon Go game.
I’ve actually spoken to a few internet marketers who haven’t played this and have no interest in it – and I just shake my head and laugh.
If you’re making money online and you’re not tied down a specific niche with no interest in expanding then you SHOULD be keeping track of things like this.
Anything that gets big, anything that gets people talking, anything that goes viral – if you make money on the internet you should be paying attention to it.
I mean hell a couple of weeks ago I saw AdWeek mentioning those Carpool Karaoke videos. I’d never actually watched one of them in my life nor even heard of them – so I looked into them and they’ve got 90 million views and 112 million views etc and I sat down and watched every one. I read the comments, I looked at what people were discussing and got an idea of why people enjoyed them. I also looked at the history of them beginning with the first one, when they became popular etc.
All of this is excellent learning material and something everyone should be aware of. It’s amazing the things you can learn purely from looking at a Youtube videos backlinks for example.
If you’re not playing Pokemon Go yet, you really should be trying it out. A few random thoughts:
I Love That It Gets People Outside:
This is one thing I truly love. The joke is that all of the neckbeards will have to leave their parents basements now – and guess what? It’s true!
In the past week I’ve lost count of the amount of pasty white people with a heck of a lot of stubble stumbling around the area with their phones out.
AND I LOVE IT!
Anything that promotes exercising and socializing is amazing and should be encouraged. One thing I find funny is more than a few times, I’ve seen someone see me coming and then quickly stuff their phone in their pocket as if they’re ashamed of it. (Or they think I look like a mugger)
Every time I yell at them “POKEMON GO?” and they respond “Y-Yes” and I’m just like “ME TOO!” and pull out my phone. Sometimes I’ll go chat with them for a few minutes about it.
It’s also great for marketing because I run a local website, so I tell them “Hey if you know of any big Pokemon Go meetups going on let me know” then hand them my business card which promotes the local website.
Power of a Brand:
One thing that’s really cool about Pokemon Go is the power of the brand and how much that has helped matters.
Pokemon Go isn’t a new concept. There’s been other games that have did the same thing. I remember trying a few out and I really dug the concept – there just wasn’t enough people playing them. Or they just couldn’t capture the mainstream attention.
EVERYONE knows Pokemon. Whether you actually like it or not doesn’t actually matter – the power is in just knowing the name of the brand.
Hell my son was big into Pokemon for a couple of years and he had all the games and all the toys etc and I still couldn’t tell you what the heck it was about. But that doesn’t matter – because a brand name like Pokemon has trust, and is something that makes the masses take notice.
Now it’s not like the power of a brand is going to affect the majority of affiliate websites – but then again, maybe it will. Depending on the type of website etc it can help.
One example – I run BetNHL.ca which provides NHL Tips. Doing it for 3 years now with an audience of over 100,000 people. Now that isn’t a brand – but they know me as a person and they trust me and when I recommend one of my other betting tips websites – they listen. Or when we recommend sportsbooks – they listen.
The power of a brand can be an incredible thing – and in that specific case it gives me a head start when I am creating new sports betting tips websites.
Watching People Profit From It:
Obviously as a marketer one of my favourite things is both thinking about how to profit from something like Pokemon Go and then seeing concepts that others come up with.
For example – and it could be a joke site for all I know(but I doubt it) – there’s PokeWalk.com where much like hiring an Uber to drive you around, you can hire someone to come get your phone, and walk around to hatch eggs for you.
Amazing.
What Happens Next?
This is the big thing for me – what happens to Pokemon Go when the initial fracas disappears?
Right now it’s obviously absolutely huge with no-one wanting to be left out and people are planning meet-ups etc. However when you look into it more – it’s actually a fairly shallow game.
What’s more important than the initial launch is the follow-up. You don’t just launch a website then let it sit there stagnant without a plan for example.
The people behind Pokemon Go need to be looking at ways to keep people playing and convince players to return after the initial interest has died down.
It’s something that can be so difficult too – you want something to appease the regular playerbase but also attract the casuals. Time and time again I’ve seen that messed up.
From a marketing and business perspective this is going to be fascinating to watch.
Now if you don’t mind I’ve got a gym to defend….
This article was written on July 18, 2016 however all articles are looked at on a monthly basis and updated to keep them relevant.
If you need to contact Graeme, please see his Contact Page. If you are an affiliate manager wanting promoted please see this page.
