By Chantal India, on 18 March 2022
Here's an interesting question: what does marketing smell like? When planning campaigns, marketers tend to think of visual and auditory aspects, but the truth is that all five senses can have a huge impact on creating an unforgettable brand experience for customers.
In this article, we are going to talk about how scent marketing can help your brand sell and how to use it strategically in your digital marketing campaigns.
What Is Scent Marketing?
Scent marketing is a technique that consists of creating emotional bonds with consumers by using smell to trigger memories.
It is related to nostalgia marketing. Smell is the predominant sense during childhood, so it makes sense that it can arouse nostalgia and evoke emotions for consumers. In turn, this creates positive associates to brands in consumers' minds.
Traditionally, scent marketing has been linked to the food sector, but nowadays brands in all industries use it. In the retail sector, fragrances are used in stores to create a sensory link with products, while the tourism sector uses scents to generate a feeling of relaxation for consumers.
How to Boost Sales With Smell and Memory
Have you ever walked past a bakery and not been able to resist the smell of freshly baked bread? If so, you probably already know that smell can be a motivating factor in purchasing decisions.
According to a study conducted by Rockefeller University, people remember 5% of what they see, 2% of what they hear, and 35% of what they smell. Smell, therefore, is a very powerful tool for promoting brand recall.
The concept of scent marketing is relatively new to consumers. This is great for brands because they can use it as a differentiating factor and stand out from the competition.
How to Apply Scent Marketing to Digital Marketing
So far, we have talked about scent marketing at the point of sale. But, it is not only useful for brands with physical stores.
In the ecommerce sector, brands seek to create an experience around the packaging and unboxing of their products when they reach consumers' homes. This is the perfect place to incorporate scent marketing.
Receiving a package with a pleasant smell is a way to surprise and delight the customer. The packaging, labels, or advertising material can be scented with fragrances in line with the brand's image. For this technique to work, carefully select the packaging materials, making sure that they are not only sustainable and suitable to protect the product, but also that they are able to emit the scents for a long time and won't produce their own odors.
If you can get customers to make unboxing videos and share their reactions to the packaging and scents, you will stand out even more among your competition.
