Branding and product image

Sensory Marketing

Sensory Marketing

Have you ever noticed the smell of lemongrass at your favorite hotel chain? Or do you remember hearing chimes when you were on hold? Yes, no? Hi I’m Jeffrey Bernhard and welcome back.  I want to talk to you today about sensory marketing and how companies use your senses to sell.  This is part of my consumer behavior research and there are several books on this topic and like anyone else, I have my favorites that I read on the subject.  So let’s jump right into it.

As incomes rise, people want their experiences to rise with it. A great example is a young entrepreneurial team that created a product called Method cleaning products.  Now what made Method different? They marketed cleaning solutions in exotic scents such as cucumber, lavender, and clementine.   Then Target picked them up to sell on the shelves.  The rest is history.

Omni Hotels did a similar thing in sensory marketing.  If you go to their website to reserve a room, they play soft wind chimes in the background to put you at ease and make you feel relaxed, the smell of lemongrass and green tea is pumped throughout the lobby.  In the room you will find eucalyptus bath salts and sensation bars, the minibars have mojito flavored jellybeans, and miniature Zen gardens. 

I know what your thinking, wow Jeffrey that’s pretty amazing stuff.  I know, but it doesn’t stop there, people will also pay extra for sleek styling such as Apple products.  Apple taps into your visual channel through color, size, and styling. 

Now I know that colors can influence your emotions and thought processes.  I covered that in an earlier blog about a week ago or so.  Did you know that men rate women more attractive when they wear red as opposed to blue? Same woman.  Just a higher rating because of the color.  I know it sounds crazy, but it’s the truth.

Now odors and scents are becoming more mainstream. The country of Lithuania has started a new fragrance called what else “Lithuania.”  They are pumping this smell in government buildings and hotels around the country. Students are smelling this scent in their dorms and libraries this is to convey the countries image.  Folgers found that for many people, the smell of coffee brings back memories of childhood and capitalized on this by featuring a son returning from the military and as he arrives home early one morning, he turns on the coffee machine.  The mother who is upstairs in bed smells this aroma and simply says “he’s home!”  Do you remember this commercial? I can provide a link to it down below.  It’s great stuff to consider if you have a product out there or looking to launch a product soon. 

If you want these tips or facts to come right to you, subscribe and I can send them to you as I put them up on my blog or channel.  If you would like to send me a question, just leave it on my blog or connect with me on LinkedIn.  I look forward to talking with you soon. As always, take care and have a great day!

Bartering with your product or service

Bartering with your product or service allows you to open up the doors to many customers or consumers that you have would have passed on you otherwise. Now I don't want to just state the obvious where they tell others that bring in more customers. This is not the only benefit. You see, most of these people had zero intention of purchasing your product or service in the first place. You could possibly have a homerun of a customer that never knew your product or service was out there. Once they find you, they could turn into a regular customer who requires all types of services. The customers that you gain from bartering can really boost your sales if you can turn them into longterm customers. The difference between a customer and a client is that the customer comes in once and the client comes all the time. They use your services different. The more customers that you turn into clients means more money in your pocket. The more money in your pocket means that you can concentrate your efforts into making more money somewhere else yourself. Okay so what are some good examples of where should I barter? If you sell a product think about door prizes. If you can get into a gift basket thats a door prize at a function, this will help you tremendously. If you provide a service, such as a carpet cleaning business, give a free one away to someone who has contact with several people. This can help you tremendously in the long run. I am sure he can distribute your business card especially if you help him or her out. The can pay off several times over. I did this constantly as you can tell by the video. Just watch the video to hear of a couple examples of how I did just this in the past.

Branding and Co-branding your product

Video on co-branding

Your brand and community involvement

Is the community involved in your brand? Do you have other people in the community that are helping you spread the word?  Hi I’m Jeffrey Bernhard and welcome back! I wanted to share a 3-minute video with you about your brand and ask if you have the backing of your community?  This is a very important question that will most certainly affect your success. 

Most companies have great marketing plans, budgets, consumer research, social media, but they don’t consider community involvement until they have been established for some time.  By then, the community can only help in certain ways like social media and word of mouth.  When you involve the community from the start of your project, you open up a world of opportunities for all of those around you.  Think about hiring local people who can really help you not only in selling your new product, but getting the word out and about in their social areas.  I would hire local kids from the high school to come and work for me on various levels.  This did a number of things from getting them involved, to bringing in their parents.  This sends a great message to other parents and students.

If you are trying to push your new product in the community why not think about sponsoring the local boy scout troop, the towns 5 and 10k, or how about a local YMCA sports team?  These are all good ideas that have worked for several companies. Now if you’re thinking that this type of planning is too small for you, it worked for Red Bull.  This is how they broke in to the adventure sports arena.  They were sponsoring local adventure sports and venues and now they own them all!  They sold over 2 billion cans last year.  The playing field on the community level for them was wide open.  We know that communities love to support a local person.  Tap into this resource and see where it takes you.  Don’t forget the five most successful companies all started in garages.  Apple, Amazon, Disney, Google, and Mattel all started in a garage.  Now every person in this country has something in his or her garage from one of these companies. How ironic is that?  So the point is, never discount the importance of resources in your community. Tap into them and use them for your projects, they can help you on several different levels. 

We all know that communities stand together and help each other.  They can help you with sales, marketing,  and can bring a wonderful set of new avenues and ideas that you have never considered. The people can open up all types of new doors for your business and your products.  Remember that success is really never far from where you suspected it was.  It’s never exactly where you look, but when you find it, you were always close.  You just never thought about it in that way before.  This is one of the things that makes business so exciting.

If you would like to speak with me, reach out to me on LinkedIn or send me a message at the bottom of one of my blogs.  I would be happy to come out and take a look at your product and help you increase your sales, distribution channel, and give you an evaluation of what your product needs to make it.  I hope to speak to you soon.  As always, take care, and have a great day!