Marketing is everywhere, screaming for your attention in lights
and in your headphones.
But while traditional marketing assaults your
eyes and ears, there’s another industry quietly fighting for your attention — and
they’re doing it through your nose.
Scent marketing is the idea of using scent and incorporating to all the touch points
of the customer experience.
it's very subconscious – so it's not like a logo or something where
you can see and everybody sees it the same way.
depending on people's experiences and their upbringings, and their history, they might
perceive the scent to be a little bit different.
It's more emotional Chances are, you’ve already experienced
scent marketing -- and know it can have a profound impact on your mind.
Research has found that combining scent with visual marketing strengthens our memory of
it in the long term, which can affect how we feel in a very physical way:
For example, an ambient coffee scent can emulate a feeling of alertness even if you haven’t
had any coffee, and scents that we commonly attribute to cleanliness – like lemon or
tangerine – could make a messy store seem cleaner.
Various research over the years also found that shoppers in scented environments may
linger longer, perceive the merchandise as better and are more willing to pay higher
prices.
And when casinos started pumping smells into the air to negate the stench of cigarettes
they saw slot machine usage double.
People are actually more comfortable, they feel warm they feel invited, they feel welcomed.
It's really about creating an amazing experience for customers when they walk in
Using scent to enhance an experience is actually pretty common
For example, Museums have used "scentscaping" to intensify their exhibits – like adding
the smell of gunpowder to a civil war exhibit and hospitals use scentscaping to create
a more soothing environment for patients – but scent marketing is a bit more complicated
Scent marketing and branding is about using one scent for the whole experience
If you're a millennial the first thing coming to mind might be...
Abercrombie and Fitch – or Hollister.
These stores are the most extreme form of scent marketing called billboard scenting.
Every store smells the same regardless of where you are, and chances are
It’s really overpowering – like an oversized billboard.
But when you separate that scent from the store you can start to understand exactly
what they want you to feel
It smells very masculine. Male clothing store.
Sexy.
Manly.
Smelling this, kind of, weirdly, makes me feel intimate.
Believe it or not – to an ex-boyfriend I had.
It smells like an Abercrombie model The scent matches the visual branding – and
there’s a careful process behind that We have to learn a lot about the brand, the
history, what sets them apart.
It's a Men’s spa?
Woman's spa?
Is it in a country club?
Is it in a luxury hotel?
Who their target demographic is – the people that are coming in.
And then it's really about understanding their aspirational attributes. and then capturing
those qualities and turning them into a scent.
In most cases, the scent is carefully diffused through the store – sometimes through stand
alone systems and sometimes directly through the HVAC systems.
It’s a delicate process designed to release just a hint of aroma into the air
Because in general, overpowering people with an aroma isn’t a good thing.
This is why with most places you won’t even realize there’s a particular smell, unless,
of course, it’s completely out of place.
In the same way that scent marketing can generate a positive experience, when the aroma doesn’t
match the demographic, location or brand identity the public reaction is often negative:
In 2006, Got Milk?
Ads dispersed at bus stops in San Francisco were equipped with cookie scented strips.
While chocolate chip cookies smell delicious, placing that scent at a bus stop completely
backfired – and the company pulled the scent marketing one day after releasing it.
Then, in 2008, Starbucks had to put the sale of breakfast sandwiches on hold.
The sandwich smell was competing with the coffee aroma, ruining the ambience.
Think about that: If a coffee shop doesn’t smell like coffee, would you still start your
morning there?
Once you start to be conscious of it you'll notice that it's everywhere.
when you walk into certain banks, when you walk into certain malls, when you walk walk
into stores all types of businesses are using it.
And if it’s working properly, scent marketing is helping create a positive experience for
both the business and the customer.
The reason why people stay longer in a store is because it's a better experience.
So they're happier.
Maybe their mood is lifted and who doesn't want to have their mood lifted and be happier?
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