Scent marketing or olfactory branding is all about incorporating a customer’s sense of smell into their experience of encountering a brand or business space. Customers are routinely confronted with visual and audio stimuli when it comes to marketing, but often businesses forget the importance of smell.
Smell has been shown to create extremely powerful emotional connections because it is closely associated with the brain’s memory centre. Therefore, the use of smell in conjunction with other sensory stimuli can lead to powerful results that are very useful in marketing and branding to create an experience that the customer’s subconscious will never forget.
Associations between scents and brands can be unintentional or fostered intentionally with much more control and success.
The best way to intentionally create this connection is to use scents to complement the interior design of retail shops, corporate offices, customer service spaces, doctor’s offices, and more. Another place where this can be successfully employed is in the real estate business, where a good smelling space can make all the difference in making the sale.
Masculine Versus Feminine Scents
A 2004 study led by consumer psychologist and marketing professor Eric Spangenberg at Washington State University showed that sales for feminine products just about doubled when feminine scents such as vanilla were used, whereas sales for masculine products doubled when masculine scents such as Rose Maroc were used in the space where the products were being sold.
This was in conjunction with interior design choices to match ‒ soft effeminate colours, lighting and textures were used along with feminine scents to sell feminine products and so on. The cumulative effect of these things had a profound impact on the psyche and choices of customers in those spaces. This is a concept called sensory design.
The research showed that while women were enticed by the feminine aromas in feminine spaces, men were somewhat repulsed by them and vice versa.
It’s An Art, Not A Science
The simple inconvenient truth is that there is no right or wrong way to match a scent to a particular interior design. While there might be some broad guidelines around what makes sense to most people, ultimately scent design is an art and requires talent and skill to craft effectively.
Generally speaking, citrus scents do well in spaces that need to convey a sense of freshness and cleanliness ‒ such as kitchens or bathrooms ‒ while scents such as lavender are good for open social spaces, such as lounges or foyers.
There are hundreds of aromas to choose from and thousands of combinations you could experiment with. Every interior design is unique, and so should the smells that go with them. The only way to ensure you get it just right is to consult with an expert with a good nose and a good sense of interior design.
If you want expert advice and guidance on getting the perfect scent for your space, contact Scent.ology now. We have a wide array of options for you to mix and match to get the scent that’s right for you. Call us now!
