Beth Martini Mastermind Consulting

Geocaching: Bring the game to your backyard

Geocaching is a great way to learn more about an area, or bring geocachers into an area.   Someone familiar with the area hides a container (cache) and records its coordinates on the geocache website:  www.geocaching.com.   Then geocachers use their GPS to find the cache.   Many of the descriptions contain interesting facts about the location where the cache is hidden, some are just placed for the fun of the game.

I was just in the Pittsburgh area for New Years Eve.  Every year we meet friends from New York somewhere in the geographic middle.  We either rent a house or stay in a hotel.  We’ve developed a routine in which there are certain activities that we do wherever we are, like bowling and roller skating. But, we like to find activities that are specific to that year’s location.

This year I was able to find out some very interesting facts and fun places to explore using the geocache website.    Check out this building that was next to the hotel we stayed at, quite a contrast to the brand new Homewood Suites.  I have to admit that I was a bit disturbed when I learned that parts of the movie Silenceof the Lambs was filmed there!  This cache was placed at the end of November and had 12 logged visits in December.   There were probably more visitors to the location that didn’t find the cache, or didn’t log their visit.  Each of visitors to this sight were also visitors to the surrounding new development of Southpoint,  they would have driven past the Iceoplex and restaurants, maybe for the first time.  They might have even stopped for lunch…

Geocaching is a growing hobby for hundreds of thousands of people.  State and National parks have started renting GPS systems to tourists like me who are hooked on this global hide and seek game.   They even hold geocaching events.

Are you looking for new ways to reach new clients?  Is there a cache hidden near your business?  If you hide one, people will come!