What is sensory marketing?

Sensory marketing encompasses all the senses to generate emotions and behaviors related to positive purchases, interactions and brand experiences. Its main objective is to create positive experiences and emotions through the five senses, so that sales of a product or service increase.

In addition, sensory marketing seeks to create branding so that people associate the brand and its characteristics with their own personality, so that they feel linked to it and become loyal to their favorite brands.

Companies have understood the benefits of basing their advertising strategies on the five senses, giving rise to the rise of sensory marketing to create comprehensive strategies that manage to establish a connection with the brand in a deeper way since the message manages to reach the unconscious. consumer.

There are many examples of sensory marketing, which we have probably all perceived:

- The smell we perceive when passing by a cafeteria.

- The colors of the advertising messages that we identify even if they do not have a logo.

- The melodies that we immediately associate with a brand when listening to them.

Characteristics of sensory marketing

We already know that people have five senses and that brands use at least one to impact the consumer and generate sales; But, to talk about sensory marketing, more than one sense must be involved, this being its main characteristic, so that brands can create their own identity, which defines them and makes the consumer recognize them immediately and continue returning to consume products and services.

Among the advantages of sensory marketing we find:

Create a brand identity. Brands can create a comprehensive brand manual in which they will define their identity and the means to transmit it to their consumers. For example, the use of a range of colors, fonts, sounds that will be heard in the branches, aromatic lines, among others that allow brands to be quickly identified.

Attract and retain customers. When the brand creates its own identity, consumers identify with it and create a deep, unconscious bond that makes them prefer the products and services of some brands over those of others. In this way it is not only possible to attract new potential clients, but also to retain them and keep them attentive to changes and developments.

Humanize brands. When the customer perceives that their favorite brands have their own characteristics, for example taking into account care for the environment, they perceive it as closer, almost like a human entity with which they can connect.

Increase the value of products and services. The consumer begins to perceive the brand positively and chooses it not only for the price of its products, but also for the value they offer, for example the feeling of luxury, comfort and quality.

Offer a unique experience. The consumer perceives that buying a product or service from their favorite brands is a unique, special and positive experience, which encourages them to continue buying or visiting your establishment.

Types of sensory marketing

We found five subtypes of sensory marketing:

Visual Sensory Marketing

Sight is the most used sense and is considered the most important because 90% of the information the brain receives comes from what we see, and 50% of this organ is dedicated to processing what we perceive with our eyes. Humans can see everything around us, even when we blink the brain continues to perceive visual images, so this sense has an enormous influence on the purchase decision.

Visual marketing is the most used in all advertising sectors since its benefits can be taken advantage of in both physical and digital formats. In this type of marketing, specialists seek to give a high-impact first impression to stimulate the purchasing decision, which is why it is common to see photographs, videos, advertising in large formats, particular colors because it is very effective in creating an impact on the consumer.

Examples of visual sensory marketing

Visual marketing is very common in advertising on web pages, television ads, magazines, banners, billboards, screens, videos on social networks, among other channels where we find high-quality visual content, with a different format than others in the same category of advertising. the brand.

One of the best examples of brands that use visual marketing is Gandhi, a bookstore that revolutionized the intellectual sector to stop showing it as stuffy, serious and inflexible to be a reference for culture, literary phrases and an incredible experience in each visit to its facilities. .

In addition to its design and furniture different from other bookstores, Gandhi is characterized by minimalist advertising: short phrases in purple letters, printed on a yellow background to allude to the brand's emblematic colors.

Sound Sensory Marketing

Hearing is a very powerful sense, which connects with the brain and brings us information even if we are not looking for it directly. That is, we can stop seeing a stimulus, but we cannot stop hearing it and, although it is not conscious, our brain does perceive what it hears and it can be stored in your memory even if you have not tried it voluntarily.

This explains why one day you wake up singing a song that you heard repeatedly before, or that you still remember the promotional jingles you heard on television or the radio when you were a child. Companies use music to sell because their customers love it, they relate it to the shopping experience, they learn the lyrics, they dance and sing to them, which is why it is widely used even by more serious sectors such as political candidates.

Sound marketing generates a very high customer engagement with the brand and the point of sale, which is why it is a useful resource for brand positioning with which customers will fix in their memory the name of the product, the brand and some special quality with catchy and repetitive choruses.

Examples of sound sensory marketing

Sound marketing plays a very important role in the sensory marketing strategy, where its accessibility, ease of repetition and simplicity are its main strengths. An example of this are advertising jingles, that is, songs with short, simple phrases that are easy to repeat by the target audience without filling them with product attributes. The XL3 flu brand is an excellent example: “With XL-3, goodbye to flu in a 2 x 3”.

Another example is short phrases, which are easily repeated and we tend to use them in our daily lives: “I am totally Palacio” is one of them. These resources engrave the name and characteristics of the brands in the mind and, best of all, they transcend over time, that is, they are remembered over the years and remain in the brains of consumers.

Olfactory Sensory Marketing

Within sensory marketing, smell is an extremely important sense as it is directly related to memories, emotions, memory and decision making. Olfactory marketing consists of the strategic use of aromas for a company or brand to build its identity, activate the emotions and feelings of consumers.

The sense of smell does not have advertising saturation, unlike hearing and sight, it communicates directly with memory, so it is a very large area of opportunity to implement marketing strategies that reach the consumer's memories, create emotions. , awaken sensations or evoke pleasant moments.

This type of sensory marketing has become popular in recent decades due to its benefits and more and more companies of all sizes are implementing it to boost their sales, attract more potential customers and stay in the memory of their customers.

Examples of olfactory sensory marketing

Have you ever visited a spa? If so, you have probably noticed that, after a few minutes of entering, you begin to feel relaxed, that the atmosphere is inspiring and you are more receptive to the treatments that they will give you, and you are even more likely to purchase new packages to continue going. .

This is not only due to the obvious elements: the treatment of the staff, the colors and the music, but also due to something more subtle: the aroma.

Aromas are a complement to other sensory marketing strategies, but they also work on their own as a characteristic element of a brand. An example of this is the characteristic smell of the Bubblegummers tennis brand, whose bubblegum aroma connects perfectly with children, and not only that, but they are parents' favorites because it reminds them of their own childhood.

Sensory marketing of taste

The sense of taste is very powerful, which is not influenced by the aesthetic appearance of a logo or the advertising jingle. Colors, texture, aromas and temperature are important points in the flavor of food and, therefore, in taste marketing.

The sense of taste is the least developed of the human senses.

This information is surprising, but true, since sight and aroma have a greater impact than taste, since the former help determine that the food is in good condition, that it looks appetizing and that there is nothing harmful in it.

However, sensory marketing of taste is widely used by brands, knowing that people remember 15% of flavors and that this type of marketing combines the characteristics of others because a food is seen, smelled, touched and You can hear its texture when you chew it, so it activates all the senses to create an image of the brand.

Examples of sensory taste marketing

Food is a very important part of cultures, folklore, traditions and celebrations; Through it we express feelings, generate sensations of well-being and transmit part of our personality.

An example that we have all witnessed are product samples in shopping centers, where brands seek to differentiate themselves from their competitors, present their products and promote sales.

A classic brand in taste marketing is Coca Cola, which has millions of followers and other brands trying to copy its characteristic flavor, however, it keeps its formula secret so that it cannot be copied and remains a benchmark in the food market. cola drinks.

Touch Sensory Marketing

The sense of touch is the most complicated in sensory marketing… but brands have shown that it is not impossible to use. Advertising is not static, it changes over the years and adapts to trends or creates new ones to impact consumers and provide them with sensory stimuli.

Large-format advertisements, with spectacular textures and shapes that allow consumers to take photographs, touch the advertising and have a close experience with the brands, are increasingly used in shopping centers and stores. Additionally, these strategies include other senses, such as sight, sound, and aromas to generate comprehensive experiences.

Examples of touch sensory marketing

Technology stores allow customers to come into contact with tactile devices so that they can feel textures, weights and obtain sensations that stimulate the desire to purchase. An example of touch sensory marketing is found in clothing stores, where the texture of the fabric is related to quality, comfort and luxury.

Conclusion

Sensory marketing is a comprehensive strategy that is constantly evolving and has great advantages for brands. Companies and businesses of all sizes can implement it using two or more senses to generate positive experiences in their customers, which leave them happy, satisfied and wanting to buy again.

At The Aroma Trace we are experts in olfactory sensory marketing, we activate consumers' senses through smell with strategic aromas that awaken emotions and purchasing desires so that they become happy customers of your brand.

We invite you to learn about the services we have for you and seduce your clients through aroma.

You just have to write to us through our contact form for more information and our executives will be happy to help you create a strategy tailored to your business.