Successful brands still use scent marketing because it works. It isn’t some marketing gimmick that executives came up with on a whim to trend. Rather, it is an effective tool that appeals to a consumer’s senses, thereby increasing brand awareness and allowing consumers to recall a brand easily when they reencounter a specific scent. This is crucial when creating meaningful connections with consumers, leading to improved sales.
Even though scent marketing can persuade consumers into purchases, it is essential that the tool evolves with time. This is to ensure it adapts to consumer behaviour, and that has become pivotal to a business’s growth due to the last few years of living through a global health pandemic. Face-to-face interactions halted, businesses across different industries staggered and the traditional consumer decision-making cycle became almost non-existent. But as the world starts up again, businesses can take the opportunity to market to their customers on every level, such as scent stimuli.
We believe these are the trends that will have the biggest impact on you this year.
Bringing Nature Indoors
After a few years of being nestled at home, many consumers want to smell the fresh outdoors again. Businesses should use this to their advantage with the scent selection. Marketing strategies should centre around concepts such as freshly cut grass, pine trees, woody notes, the ocean breeze, and the smell of the rain. Crisp, clean air will also be inviting to consumers.
Capturing Self-Care
Most consumers are looking for a quick escape from their busy schedules. Consumers want to walk into a store, feel the warmth of the room and smell the scent of floral notes or even coconut. Coupling this with in-store displays, travel agencies can utilise this to market their summer holiday packages, or even the promotion of a new restaurant on the coast can be successful. These scents can transform their mundane shopping trip or errand into a memorable interaction.
Uplifting And Engaging
Another trend that we see picking up is the use of scents that have positive associations with consumers. After being cooped up at home for a while, many want to feel as if they are truly welcome and invited into a store, restaurant, or spa. That is why smells such as vanilla or cinnamon can be useful to convey the warmness of your brand.
Although the world is starting to return to some sort of normalcy and consumers have the option to shop in-store again, online is still a significant challenge to brick-and-mortar businesses. That is why implementing successful scent marketing tactics and improving the customer experience in-store is critical. The overall experience needs to hold value to a consumer as they choose to venture out of their home and onto your business premises.
At Scent.ology, we offer our clients an innovative range of scent sticks and other scent products to support their marketing goals. Contact us today to query about our scent offering and how it can fit into your business.
