Telemarketing Software Featured Article

In the scramble to deliver an omni-channel customer experience, keep up on social media branding and marketing and remain competitive in increasingly crowded markets, businesses often forget about one of the most basic and successful types of marketing. The practice of sensory marketing and branding appeals to customers’ and prospects’ senses, enabling organizations to relate to customers on an emotional level.

This extremely effective approach to sales and marketing often gets lost in the shuffle, particularly in vertical markets like manufacturing, where its benefits aren’t immediately apparent. In retail businesses like Yankee Candle and Bath & Body Works, for instance, customers can expect a full blown sensory experience complete with wonderful smells, bright colors, a tactile experience via testers and samples and some pleasant music to go along with the rest of it.

The practice of sensory marketing in retail and hospitality can absolutely serve as a guideline for other industries though, and with some ingenuity, these vertical markets can use the practice to forge emotional associations with their customers by appealing to their senses. According to Mood Media, a company that specializes in sensory experiences to engage customers and drive sales, there are three main ways to create a compelling sensory experience across multiple markets.

Sound has a significant impact on mood and emotions and music, even if it’s in the background, and can greatly affect a purchasing decision. With so many companies doing business online and via mobile, sound can be an important marketing tool for all types of companies. Sight is of course another key sensory tool that can be applied to all kinds of industries, for all types of marketing. It has measurable worth, with a 2016 Bunn study finding that 68 percent of Americans have made a purchase based on something seen on a digital sign or monitor. Scent is another powerful sensory tool, and Mood Media links it to up to 75 percent of the emotions a person has in a single day. The company also claims people are 100 times more likely to remember a smell over something heard, touched or seen. While scent may be difficult to market in certain industries, it’s a powerful tool and can be included in packaging and product design in some instances.

In the race to win over customers through superior service and a dazzling array of omni-channel communications experiences, the importance of sensory marketing and branding should not be overlooked. This clever tactic appeals directly to customers’ emotions and can reach out to people in ways that taglines, words and hype simply can’t.