What exactly is scent marketing?

1. What is scent marketing?

Scent marketing (that is, olfactory marketing) is a new marketing method different from the traditional visual and auditory senses. It excavates the human sense of smell, and through the sense of smell, it can make people feel warm, feel comfortable, and integrate into the atmosphere faster, or make people People are excited and cheerful, forming a special attraction, recognition and memory. Then match it with vision and hearing, and quickly improve the service level. Scent marketing is not only the improvement of hard power, but also the strengthening of soft power. 

Scent marketing began to flourish in developed countries in Europe and the United States at the end of the last century. It entered a period of rapid development around 2003. Now it is relatively mature and has been widely accepted like visual and auditory marketing. Scent marketing appeared relatively late in China. In 2008, a marketing team mentioned a similar idea, but it did not receive enough attention. It was not until the middle of 2013 that merchants deeply felt the benefits of scent marketing, so they began to pay attention to this new marketing model. 

The Age of Smell Brand Marketing "For all other senses, our brains ‘think first and then react‘, but the sense of smell alone makes the brain ‘react before thinking‘" - Pam Scholder Ellen, professor of marketing at Georgia State University "When the years When the time passes and everything is gone, only the smell in the air lingers, reminding us of the past" - Marcel Proust "Remembrance of Things Past" "If you are looking for ways to increase sales, the best The best way is to appeal to emotion, and the highway to emotion is through smell" - Dr. Alan R. Hirsch, neurologist, psychiatrist, founder of "Smell and Taste Therapy Research Fund Company" in Chicago, USA.

2. Classification of Scent marketing

Scent marketing can be roughly divided into two categories: item scent marketing and environmental aroma marketing. Item scent marketing is more common in clothing stores and other marketing methods that add fragrance to products to attract customers. Environmental aroma marketing is to add a unique fragrance to the air of the space environment, so that people in it can feel happy. This marketing method is more common in entertainment and leisure service places, such as hotels, clubs, KTV, restaurants, shopping malls, etc. , In addition, it will also be used in some high-end office buildings and residential buildings. Generally speaking, fragrance marketing refers to the latter, because the latter can improve the hardware and software facilities of service providers to improve brand quality and attract customers. The former only improves the attractiveness of the product, and the cost of flavoring is relatively high.

3. The role of aroma marketing

1)  Add fragrance to the air: to beautify the working environment and improve work efficiency!

2) Improve service level: In a natural and comfortable environment, it can purify the soul and delight the mood!

3) Enhance the corporate image: the unique and exclusive fragrance can make people feel a different environment, highlighting the personality and temperament of the corporate brand!

4) Shape the corporate LOGO: shape the corporate image through a unique fragrance, making it a new symbol of the company, so that customers can "smell the fragrance and recognize the brand"!

4. Commercial application of fragrance marketing

Fragrance marketing has been widely used in hotels, shopping centers, entertainment venues, jewelry, clothing, commercial real estate, home furnishing, automobile 4S stores, KTV and other industries. American scholar Mitchell proposed that marketers use aroma mainly on the following two levels:

1) Combining product attributes, product selection and fragrance marketing: some merchants promote consumers‘ desire to buy by optimizing the fragrance of the product itself. For example, adding the aroma of fruits and flowers to daily skin care products can induce consumers‘ special emotional state to drive consumption.

2) Combining scent marketing with the sales environment: For some products or services without special scents, such as clothing, hotels, banks, etc., merchants can create an ideal shopping atmosphere by spraying specific scents in the sales environment to increase consumption Consumers‘ quality recognition and brand memory of products and services, thereby promoting sales.