Building brand awareness is the goal of every marketing strategy, and scent marketing is a clever new tactic that is making its way into the mainstream. Research has long demonstrated that scent is the most powerful sense tied to memory, so it can serve as a vital tool when promoting your brand. So, what exactly is scent marketing and how can brands leverage it to improve brand recognition?
What Is Scent Marketing?
Scent marketing is just as it sounds. It’s the use of odors to sell products and improve brand recognition. For hygiene and beauty supplies, scent marketing has long been a necessity, and consumers are instantly attracted to the best and most natural smelling beauty products available. However, recently other types of retailers have implemented scent marketing to sell their brand, and it’s proven to be quite successful.
What Brands Are Using Scent Marketing?
Abercrombie & Fitch is well-known for their scent marketing, and they were one of the earlier brands to adopt it. Their stores utilize a distinct smell, one in which is unique but pleasing. Since scent is so closely tied to memory, simply walking by an Abercrombie & Fitch location can elicit a number of fond memories from past shopping experiences there, which allows the company to draw a lot more traffic to their stores.
Hugo Boss is yet another brand capitalizing on the scent marketing trend. When walking into their store, you’ll be welcomed by a charming smell of cinnamon and earthly greens. Given they are most known for their dapper masculine apparel, their use of delicate yet robust odors is befitting to their brand.
Use Scent Marketing to Connect to Customers Emotionally
The key to great marketing is finding a way to connect customers to your brand on an emotional level. By doing so, you’ll create a stronger and more meaningful rapport with your clientele, which will turn them into long-term customers. Scent marketing is an ideal way to do that, as scents tap into the emotional centers of the brain, triggering countless memories from a person’s past.
Choosing a Scent to Fit Your Brand
The hardest part of scent marketing is choosing a particular odor that’s unique to your brand. It doesn’t have to be totally unique. In fact, using scents that are common, like cinnamon or lavender, will improve marketing, as people will come to associate that smell with your company, thus thinking of your company every time they encounter that scent. You should, however, choose a scent that’s relevant to your business. If your brand image is bold and strong, your scent should follow suit, utilizing earthier smells like clove and evergreen. If your brand image centers around relaxation, opt for soothing scents like lavender and eucalyptus.
Scent marketing is a creative and simple way to improve your marketing potential and develop closer bonds with your customers. The scent you choose should be light and fragrant, so as not to repel those sensitive to odors. Click here to start searching essential oils and begin implementing your scent strategy.
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