Sensory Marketing – How to Appeal to Your Customers Through All 5 Senses

Consumers are surrounded by marketing in their day-to-day lives. How do we reach our valued customers that have outsmarted traditional marketing methods? In the unique and dynamic field of marketing, we must be proactive and innovative – sensory marketing is the perfect alternative to traditional marketing.

What is sensory marketing?

Sensory marketing, also known as sensory branding, is a form of marketing that appeals to consumers through all 5 senses. Each sense is utilized to relate to consumers on an emotional level.

Why should marketers utilize sensory marketing?

New research on the concept of embodied cognition suggests that our bodily sensations help in decision making without our conscious awareness. By utilizing sensory marketing, marketers have the opportunity to capitalize on this highly researched field. Employing the use of multiple sensory experiences ensures that you will better connect with consumers, in a world filled with basic visual and audible advertisements and marketing campaigns.

How do you appeal to your customers through all 5 senses?

Each of the 5 senses plays a key role in creating an emotional association.

Let’s find out the importance of each of the 5 senses – taste, sight, touch, smell, and hearing.

• Taste
  Taste encompasses 5 sensations – bitter, salty, sweet, sour, and umami. In order to judge the taste of a product, we utilize our other 4 senses. By incorporating taste into sensory marketing, you must think outside the box. Sampling is a basic, widely used technique. To better execute this sense, you must create an experience.
  • Big Easy IPA Pop-Up Brand Tour
    What better way to draw consumers in to sample a New Orleans beer brand than with an authentic Second Line band? Consumers had the opportunity to sample the brand’s newest beer, take selfies with branded materials, and be directed to the nearest bar or grocery store to purchase the beer. Consumers were immersed in the southern hospitality, music, and taste that New Orleans has to offer.
• Sight
  Sight is the most stimulated of the 5 senses in sensory marketing. Consumers easily recognize household-name logos and color schemes. We must go beyond the traditional tactics such as displays. As marketers, we can also incorporate sight with sounds, to create a lasting emotional experience for consumers. Technology allows marketers to utilize digital technology to create an experience for consumers.
  • Reunion Tower Virtual Reality
    The Reunion Tower in the heart of Dallas, Texas offers a 360-degree view of the Dallas skyline from 560 feet in the air. With the introduction of the Reunion Tower Virtual Reality App, visitors have the chance to download a free app that when enabled, enters viewers into a virtual reality experience. The VR experience offers different perspectives in every direction.
    Creative virtual reality apps, such as the Reunion Tower VR app immerses consumers into your experience and provides an alternative view for customers.
• Touch
  A Hands-on experience is the best way for consumers to fall in love with your product or service.
  • Duck Tape Rolls Across America Tour
    Duck Tape rolled out a high-touchpoint experience to expand their customer base to “the crafter”. Duck Tape traveled the country in a branded DuckBus which included interactive iPad stations, one-of-a-kind Duck Tape® formalwear, and a make-it-and-take-it crafting station that allowed consumers to put their crafting skills to the test.
• Smell
  Have you ever noticed the distinct signature scent in a retail store or fresh-baked aroma that fills your local supermarket? This is no coincidence – stores utilize the sense of smell to connect consumers with positive memories and experiences. A smell can be used to entice customers to fall in love with a product.
  • Cinnabon Uses Scent as a Marketing Tool
    An article released by the Wall Street Journal informed consumers of how brands such as Cinnabon use scent as a marketing tool. By placing ovens near the front of their store, the aroma of fresh-baked cinnamon rolls fills the storefront and spills out into surrounding locations. The scent is so successful in bringing in consumers, that some locations heat sheets of brown sugar and cinnamon to keep the scent fresh and long-lasting.
• Hearing
  Sound is widely accepted across all fields of marketing and can range from traditional jingles and slogans to signature sounds and ambient music. Research shows that music is used to regulate our emotions. Varying tempos, volumes, and pitches can affect consumers’ perceptions. Incorporating music into sensory marketing will assist in having a well-rounded marketing activation.
  • Spotify House at Cannes
    Introduced in 2013, Spotify House functions as the premier venue for client meetings at the Cannes Lions International Festival. The strategy – Spotify is everywhere. The activation included a number of high-tech touchpoints, illuminated statistics, listening stations, and one-hour daily content panels. The brand also hosted a co-branded house party with a live DJ. Utilizing audible, visual, and touch experience, Spotify offered consumers a glimpse of sensory marketing at its best.

Sensory marketing has the ability to heighten, and intensify perceptions of brands. As marketing experts, we have an excellent tool right at our fingertips. Once you understand how sensory marketing can benefit your brand, you have the aptitude to widen your reach and connect with consumers in a completely new context.

How will use sensory marketing to engage consumers?

Contact Pro Motion and find out what we can do to help create a sensory experience that will drive emotional connections to your brand and turn your tryers into buyers!