Multisensory branding refers to the engagement of one’s senses to create a unique and memorable brand experience that cements brand recognition and brand recall in the consumer’s mind.
Customers are responsive to visual stimuli. But when combined with other senses like sound, touch, taste, and, most importantly, smell, the marketing strategy becomes much more powerful.
The use of perfume branding has been shown to be one of the most important aspects of multisensory branding, owing to the unique link between the olfactory system and the brain. Thanks to this unique connection, smells have a powerful effect on memory and emotion, more so than any other sense.
As a result, making scent marketing a key part of your overall multisensory branding strategy is critical for ensuring maximum penetration. To get the most out of your multisensory branding approach, here are some strategies that you might want to consider.
Brand Identity Is King
Any marketing approach needs to ensure that it aligns seamlessly with your brand identity and the values that are associated with it. The message delivered through the medium, whether it be visual, audio, tactile, gustatory, or olfactory, should elicit the emotions and associations that you want to convey and that are connected to your brand image.
Coca-Cola has been particularly successful at achieving this through its worldwide marketing strategies. Coca-Cola’s iconic imagery, coupled with the sounds of fizzy coke being poured into a glass or the sound of opening a can, linked with the sweet smell and taste of the cola itself, all serve to create a powerful brand association that is immediately recognisable and memorable.
Know Your Target Audience
Multisensory branding is most effective when it is specifically tailored to a tightly defined target audience. This means understanding your audience’s general preferences and sensitivities, as not all sensory stimulation will appeal to all demographics equally.
Certain aromas, for example, are more tailored towards women, while men may lean towards others. Using the wrong aroma for your target audience can cause cognitive dissonance and lead them astray.
Your target audience should be carefully defined by your brand’s identity and the image that you wish to create in the market.
Subtle Integration
The strategic use of aromas in a multisensory marketing approach will be more successful than an overt effort. When customers feel like they are being overwhelmed, it can cause distraction and lead to unintended outcomes.
To ensure that your scent marketing strategy enhances the overall multisensory marketing approach, ensure that the scent is subtly integrated into the entire brand experience without being overtly noticeable.
The idea is to enhance the brand experience in conjunction with other subtle tools and other senses, so the cumulative effect should be strong while the individual sensory tactics should be understated.
Try To Be Consistent
Your brand will have a series of touchpoints, ranging from packaging to retail stores and promotional materials. If you are using a multisensory marketing approach, then ensure that your strategies are consistent across all these touchpoints. Utilising a consistent message and a multisensory approach will help to strengthen the brand identity.
It is also important that consistency is achieved across the different senses. If, for example, your visual and audio branding is very masculine but your olfactory branding is feminine in nature, this will cause confusion and ultimately dilute the effectiveness of the multisensory approach.
Contact us at Scent.ology for more information on how to use perfume branding in your multisensory marketing strategy. We have a wide array of fragrances and diffusion devices available to help you define your brand.
