7 Steps to Branding Success: Step 7 - All five senses
by Jonas Blake on Jun.04, 2009, under Social Upgrade
Sight and hearing are easy. But in order to really connect on an emotional level with someone, you need to do more. Memories are usually connected with a particular sensory input, and that type of sensory input will most easily trigger that memory. Since the goal of branding is to be remembered, and stand out, the more senses you can attach to your brand, the higher the chance you will be remembered.
Also, if you pay attention to the “other” senses, (touch, smell, taste) you will have more control over what you are remembered for. You may have the best presentation, and a great product, but if your clients only remember you body odor, or even only that you shake hands strangely…well, you missed your goal. By thinking about all five senses, you can make sure that your clients’ entire experience with you is reinforcing your brand.
The sense of smell, in particular, has an incredibly powerful effect on memory and emotion, and is often overlooked when marketing.
Because the olfactory organ is connected directly to the limbic system, the part of the brain that controls emotions, smells can often trigger incredibly strong memories. Things like the smell of chlorine might trigger memories of childhood summers at the pool, or the smell of roses might bring back memories of a romantic evening.
This is one reason why it is so powerful to wear good cologne, but that is another story.
Unfortunately, it can be a little out of place to bust out the incense at a business meeting.
On the other hand, you don’t always have to actually smell the scent of something to bring back the memory of the smell, and therefor the memory. Sometimes you can just say the word, like dark chocolate, and the scent memory will come back. I bet that you can almost smell that rich, dark scent of good chocolate right now.
Pictures are a great way to do this. If you want the calming smell of rain, use pictures of leaves with water droplets, of waterfalls, of grass with dew. If you want the smell of chocolate, use pictures of chocolate. And so on.
So next time you have a presentation, think about more than the slides and the speech. Think about how you can involve all five senses, and you will have much better results.
