Sensory Marketing: A Powerful Marketing Technique

Have you ever noticed that in some stores you find a perfume common to all the other points of sale of the same chain? Or to those departments of supermarkets where you can breathe irresistible smells? You were exposed to sensory marketing techniques. Images, smells, sounds, materials, and flavors are designed to reach audiences and to induce them to perform certain actions.

In this article we will see what sensory marketing is and how it stimulates the 5 senses.

Sensory marketing: why focus on the senses?

Sensory marketing is defined as series of marketing techniques involving the customer's senses, influences his perception on a given product and guides his behavior, through a real sensory experience.

The senses more than any rational decision can create an emotional bond between the audience and the product or brand. In fact, during the purchase phase, emotions are the guide and direct people's behavior and decisions.

How to stimulate the 5 senses of the customer?

Sensory marketing goes beyond a mere selling practice, as it can actively involve the customer. This is done by stimulating with different techniques sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste.

Sensory marketing tactics adapt to many industries and, of course, the ideal application of this technique is in the physical stores. Let's find out how they apply for each of the 5 senses.

The sight

This sense is continuously stimulated, from when you open your eyes in the morning until the moment you close them again in the evening.

It is precisely through the sight that the first contact between the brand and the customer takes place. In addition, most of the information that will influence the consumer's purchasing behavior is perceived through this sense.

Therefore, in sensory marketing strategies it is fundamental to understand how to best use the visual impact, which involves different factors: colors and lights, shapes and sizes, packaging and display of products, website, and advertising campaigns.

Regarding colors, for example, bright and warm ones (typical of fast food) tend to make individuals more active and to entice their appetite, while cold tones stimulate relaxation, harmony, and confidence (present in fact in the technological, financial and health sectors).

The hearing

An important experience for people is that of the sound.

How many times have you heard a specific song or jingle and the brand that used it came to mind? Sound is really a powerful weapon, through which companies are recognized and it is a technique called "sound branding".

In fact, music is well rooted in our memory and generates positive or negative sensations that are reflected in the perception of the brand. But not only that: it also allows you to increase the time spent in the store and can affect the purchase choice. Surprising, isn't it?

In addition, music inside a store is essential to create a certain atmosphere: it can be cheerful and lively for a brand that offers young items, elegant and refined for a store of luxury products or relaxing for a waiting room.

The sense of smell

Smell is the sense that most influences the emotional state of the consumer.

The advantage linked to the use of smell is closely connected to memory: visual memory is effective, but over time it tends to fade, much before the olfactory one, which remains in our mind. It is what the French call “la madeleine de Proust”.

The smells and scents make the brand recognisable and give the customer a pleasant experience inside the store, able to increase the drive to purchase.

The touch

Like the hearing sense, touch promotes brand identity. In fact, with the use of some types of materials it is possible to express the value of the brand and influence the customer's perception.

Packaging, for example, plays an important role: it does not simply serve to protect the product, but also to give it a unique and distinctive appearance. The packaging must stand out not only to the eye, but also to the touch, with a particular focus on the materials used.

The different surfaces of the packaging (soft, smooth, rough, velvety, elastic, etc.) are tactile elements that contribute to conveying a clear brand messaging.

The taste

Of course, taste is the predominant sense in the food industry.

Think of the food industry where products launches are often accompanied by tasting events. This way, customers are actively involved in a satisfying experience and wants to buy what he has tried.

In some cases, there is no need to let the customer taste something. In fact, taste can be stimulated by telling a story: through effective storytelling you can recall something whose taste you know, such as coffee, chocolate, a strawberry, etc.

The important thing is to have something to tell and be able to convey it through emotions, memories, and sensations.

An iconic example of sensory marketing

Perugina – The art of taste

Perugina's sensory marketing combines the scent and taste of chocolate with a technique involving the emotions: the reading of a message of love. This makes the taste of that kiss with a hazelnut heart almost a secondary moment compared to the whole emotional experience.

Every taste of the Baci is accompanied by a message of love.

Sensory marketing is in fact a relevant factor, an effective and emotional narrative that touches the right keys in the minds of customers.

To conclude this journey, we can say that applying sensory marketing techniques can make the difference in the battle for the conquest of your audience’s heart.