For centuries, marketers have utilized sights and sounds in their marketing efforts. This tactic is known as sensory marketing. Sensory marketing appeals to at least one of consumers’ five senses to influence their purchase decisions in favor of your brand.
Senses are a powerful marketing tool. However, it’s no longer enough to appeal visually to consumers with some nice music in the background. Those traditional marketing efforts are bound to get looked over. The most successful brand activations are multi-sensory and include the more underrated senses.
The most beautiful thing about multi-sensory experiences? You’re not shoving advertising in people’s faces. If you’re doing it right, consumers won’t even know that your brand is using a marketing strategy!
Sight
Fun fact: Sight is an essential sense to consumers at the time of purchase. Think about how consumers identify their favorite brands. They do this through logos, color schemes, and brand icons. The visual cues that surround your brand influence the consumer’s perception.
65% of people are more likely to remember information paired with an image. Think about it this way: you try on one pair of pants with no logo. You like them, but you’re not blown away. Then you try on the exact same pair of pants, but with your favorite brand’s logo attached, and immediately fall in love with the SAME pair of pants. That’s the power that brand recognition has on consumers.
Your branding should be woven into your overall event experience. Sight is the first impression of your event, and marketers need to keep that at the front of their minds when planning their brand activation. Try to stay moderate with branding. Your event aesthetic can match your brand without having your logo plastered in every nook and cranny. Keep in mind that the visual aspects of your activation will drive consumers to share their experience on social media.
Touch
The sense of touch is connected with how well we remember details about things and how we make decisions. Brands have capitalized on this by allowing consumers to test their products during an event. Your brand can also implement hands-on activities that match your brand vision. This could include writing notes, working on a puzzle, doing experiments, etc. The options are endless!
Taste
Experiential marketing is the PERFECT way for brands to utilize the sense of taste in their marketing efforts. Product sampling is one of the simplest methods brands use to get their name out there and get people to taste their products. You can hand out samples on the side of a busy street, guerilla-style. Your brand can utilize a step van and go on a mobile tour, or you can hit up pre-existing events that appeal to your target audience!
You don’t have to be a food or beverage brand to capitalize on the sense of taste. Your brand activation could have a signature drink included in the experience. You could also give goodies as a “reward” for participating in your event. For example, every person who uses the hashtag, takes advantage of the photo op, or follows your brand on social media, gets a treat for completing the task!
Implementing taste into your experiential marketing event allows brands to showcase their creativity. Helpful tip: ensure that whatever you’re offering consumers matches the season and atmosphere. If you’re activating outside during the summer, hand out ice cream. If it’s gloomy and chilly, provide hot chocolate.
Smell
Our sense of smell is most connected to our memory but the least utilized by brands. It’s commonly thought that it’s hard to take advantage of smell if you’re not a food or fragrance brand, but that’s not true. Any brand can use smells to increase the consumer experience and create a vibe. Wellness brands can implement lavender for calmness. Citrus scents can be used for brands that want higher energy.
You want to avoid overpowering consumers with smell, and you can’t focus on this sense alone, but it helps provide a positive experience for your audience.
Sound
Did you know that sounds influence how people react? If someone tells a joke, and there is an immediate burst of laughter, you’re more likely to think the joke was funny.
Sound is universal. Studies have shown that people from different ethnicities, backgrounds, and religions have the same reaction and feelings when music plays. Music unites the world, so why wouldn’t your brand utilize it for your activation?
The increased human desire for sound is also translating into social media. TikTok videos with sound in the background or behind the speaker are twice as likely to be viewed than mute videos or videos focusing on people speaking.
The music you choose will set the mood of your activation, so make sure it matches your brand.
Don’t wait! Multi-sensory marketing strategies are the way of the future, and experiential marketing allows brands to utilize ALL five senses during one spectacular event!