Multisensoric Marketing
Taps Consumer Senses
When it comes to marketing your product, keep in mind that consumers can not only see your cake but smell it too.Marketing efforts are no longer limited to traditional mediums of print, television and radio. Although the Internet revolutionized communication, online messages are still transmitted almost exclusively via sight and sound. Even use of sound is often limited to verbal explanations rather than use of sounds other than human speech to trigger desired responses. To reach consumers through a daily bombardment of messages, it is necessary to go beyond standard means and stimulate all the senses.
"When consumers can recall multiple sensory impressions that a product has conveyed, brand or product loyalty is around 60 percent. But if only one sensory impression is conveyed and recalled, this value is halved."¹
Design based on appeal to the senses is known as organoleptic design. It has tremendous potential, partially because it is not yet fully understood.
"Because colors and odors create such distinctly unique sensory impressions, the question arises as to how the brain manages to seamlessly combine these different sensations into a coherent whole. As research into human sensory processing has typically focused on each sensory modality in isolation, little is known about the brain mechanisms involved in integrating information across the senses."²
Research of this type is preliminary enough that terminology used to refer to was only recently coined. The Sense of Smell Institute of the nonprofit Fragrance Foundation developed a term, Aroma-Chology®, to refer to the scientific study of the interrelationship of psychology and fragrance technology. Results of such research are already being put to use. Earlier this year, the Los Angeles Times ran its first scented advertisement, using inks infused with a sweet-smelling fragrance. In Japan, scent-emitting signs outside a pub promote beer, not with the aroma of beer but with hunger-inducing lemon and orange scents shown to be associated with beer.
If showing a product, telling consumers about it and letting people smell it isn't enough, another option is to go ahead and give them a taste. Technology developed by a Pennsylvania company now replicates product flavors in edible flavor strips for use in promotional materials and coupon displays. And the strips are useful beyond promotion of edible products. One magazine ad included mojito-flavored strips, enclosed in tamper-evident packaging, to announce a new television drama about a family's rum business.
Consider looking beyond traditional means to give consumers a true taste of what they can expect from your product.
1. Jürgen Bihler. "Multisensory Packaging Design Increases Brand Loyalty, Shelf Impact," Packaging Digest (May 2007): 52, www.packagingdigest.com/article/761.html.
2. Gemma Calvert and Robert Osterbauer. "The Scent of Color," Aroma-Chology Review XI, no. 1: 1, www.senseofsmell.org/acr/Volume_XI_No._1.pdf.
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CMOs Under Fire
More than ever, chief marketing officers (CMOs) and other marketing professionals are placed under intense pressure to justify the positions they hold and the decisions they make. This is evidenced by the fact that the average shelf life of a CMO is just a few days shy of 23 months.Such short tenures are primarily attributable to the sometimes unrealistic expectations placed upon the marketing professional to make extraordinary things happen quickly; other times, things that lie outside the paradigm of marketing are factors. For example, marketing cannot remedy a customer-service problem. Marketing cannot repair a negative brand image overnight. Marketing cannot overcome issues in supply-chain management, and it certainly cannot compensate for a mediocre sales staff.
If such peripheral issues exist, they will certainly impede the success of any marketing campaign. Therefore, they must be addressed on the front end with requisite goals and expectations in place as to how to fix the issues and as a condition of how "success" will be defined.
Moving forward, extensive research and historical data suggest a number of core tenets that CMOs and other marketing leaders must follow if they are to make an impact and solidify their positions:
- Be crystal clear on what drives the bottom line for the company.
- Know and intimately understand the company's sales process, and get to know the salespeople. After all, the sole purpose of marketing, fundamentally, is to drive sales.
- Question current marketing efforts and query why the company chose its current marketing strategy.
- Become highly effective leaders and know how to tap into the talents of key players throughout all levels of the organization.
- Insist on becoming involved in the corporate strategy.
- Work closely with the company's agency, and include them in the strategic planning process.
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PURLs for Your Next
Direct-Mail Drop
The new generation of direct mail is upon us. Would it surprise you that snail mail is now taking cues from the e-sweep across the planet? Direct mail has always been a No. 1 generator of instant revenue…but it’s smarter than it ever was before. It contains personalized URLs (PURLs), or personalized website addresses. What does this mean? Well, by simply adding the names of your customers or prospects to your company's website address, for example, www.yourcompanyname.com/joeprospect, you can direct those individuals to a site page created specifically for them. According to the Direct Marketing Association, 43% of consumers prefer to respond to an offer online. Statistics show that this tactic can increase your response rates by 2 to 5 times, thereby increasing your closing ratios.By using a PURL in your direct-mail effort, you can expect these benefits:
- Connect to your prospects or customers with personalized content designed to interact with them using key demographic data.
- Immediately determine the effectiveness of mail content, copy, colors and offers when testing different mailers against each other, allowing you to switch or adapt creatives immediately and adjust your outbound mailings.
- Respond to your prospects in real time, which will help increase your closing ratios…strike while it's still hot!
There are several reasons why a PURL will make a difference to your campaign:
- Curiosity: Prospects that see their own URL will want to check out their own webpage.
- Relevance: Key demographic data within a webpage provides the prospect with a more engaging experience; the prospect is therefore more likely to take action.
- Gain more information from prospects, such as what links they click on once on their personal pages and how they interact with your site, via a questionnaire. This helps your targeted marketing effort.
- An increased response rate leads to a higher closing ratio.
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Blogging – What's in It for You?
As you plan your future marketing efforts, consider incorporating a blog. An important element of the Web 2.0 interactive communications trend, a blog can increase traffic to your website and nurture customer relationships.According to the Pew Internet & America Life Project, 71% of American adults use the Internet. The project's January 2006 survey showed that 39% of American Internet users read blogs. The number of blog readers is expected to rise, with 22 of the 100 most popular websites in the world being blogs, according to statistics posted on the BlogWorld & New Media Expo website. In addition, 89% of companies surveyed said they think blogs will be more important in the next five years.
Why blog? It has the potential to drive more traffic to your website. With the content you provide on your blog, you are making yourself more visible on the Internet. The information on your blog is search friendly; therefore, people will be able to find your posts and link to your website.
Also, if you continually provide useful, insightful and/or entertaining information to your customers, they will return often to read your blog. Better yet, if you can get them to post comments, you have successfully engaged them and will be able to respond to their questions and concerns. Plus, you'll gain feedback you can use to improve your product or service. This interactivity is the basis of Web 2.0 and makes blogs a great customer-relationship management tool.
Remember to use an informal, conversational tone – probably different from what is used on your website or in marketing collateral. Blogs should be about sharing information and creating relationships with customers. Know your customer so that you are providing relevant information and using the proper voice. This is your chance to provide your customer with an inside view of your company, so give your blog a unique personality that reflects your brand's true culture.
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Contact us at 262 523 3740
or visit seroka.com.
Read how marketers are tapping into consumers' senses to brand and sell products.
CMOs Under Fire…
Read about the intense pressure CMOs are under and how they can best address it.
PURLs for Your Next Mail Drop…
Personalized URLs are changing and dramatically improving direct-mail tactics.
Blogging - What's in It
for You?
Find out how marketers use blogs to enhance their brands and website performance.