When we think of marketing, the first thing that comes to mind is “sell something”. However, in order to sell something, one must first create the want and need to buy. One such way is through sound and sonic branding. A marketer must ‘speak’ to the potential customer in a relatable way and connect with them. Sales only take place once an emotional connection is made. The customer will then choose to either act or move on.
The point of marketing is to create action and action is caused by emotion.
As everyone is emotionally driven, we don’t do anything until our senses tell us yes or no. This causes opinions that then turn into action. This is why utilizing the senses in marketing isn’t just a ‘nice to have’ but an absolute necessity.
Without sensory marketing, brands can not create action which means they sell nothing.
Sensory Marketing
Sensory marketing is the act of utilizing sight, sound, touch, taste, and/or smell as driving factors in brand marketing. Although sight is a factor of sensory marketing, brands should not limit themselves to using visual marketing alone. The real superpower of sensory marketing is when a brand can enact more than one sense at a time.
The more senses at play within a brand’s marketing, the closer their customer gets to a fully immersive brand experience.
When thought of in this context, it seems obvious that utilizing a sensory connection in marketing is the right way to go. However, it’s done less frequently than one might think.
Marketers tend to stick to the ‘tried and true’ of visual marketing. It’s how it’s always been done so why change? However, using only visuals as the main points of brand marketing creates problems. Marketing is evolving and changing rapidly. There are now marketing touch points that don’t even exist within a visually oriented space. Sonic branding is one such way to effectively represent the brand in new and immersive ways.
What if your marketing was presented in a non visual way? How would it sound? How would it feel? How would it smell and taste?
Currently, there is an infinite number of marketing touch points in existence. Far more now than even a decade ago. Sensory marketing gives brands the opportunity to advertise in new and truly creative ways both digitally and in person.
Creating Action With Emotion
Some might think that marketing with emotion is too flippant or just not a strong enough statement. A lot of marketers focus solely on data and facts to sell products.
Although this is effective as well, when the heart isn’t taken into consideration, the humanity of the thing, AKA the brand, can’t be introduced. Introducing the humanity of the brand is another superpower that leads to stronger long-term ROI, priceless word-of-mouth advertising, and massive brand advocacy.
People connect to people and things through emotion. If brands can incorporate these fundamental feelings, they will be able to relate and connect to their customers in a much more powerful way.
Emotion is a superpower. Brand managers and marketers will catch on to this eventually. Once this happens, sensory marketing won’t just be a buzz word. Sensory marketing will be an industry standard.
My advice is to start exploring this now in order to get ahead of future standardization.
The Humanity of the Thing
When you take into consideration the senses within marketing strategy, any brand can learn to emote. And once you can find the emotion in a brand, that brand can have a humanity of its own.
It’s strange to think of Coca-Cola as a person. That’s because it’s not. But what it has become is humanized.
We relate to Coca Cola.
We choose it over Pepsi or vice versa swearing that there’s a difference. We decide which one is better and which one is inferior matters.
Spoiler alert: it doesn’t really matter. It’s all part of the sensory marketing genius that is the soda industry.
Sound In Marketing and Sonic Branding
One form of sensory marketing that I personally specialize in is sonic branding and sound marketing. With the rise of voice-first and audio-only platforms, sound marketing is something to seriously consider investing in.
The brilliant thing about sound is that it only takes half a second to recall a branded sound.
Don’t believe me, here are just a few.
McDonalds, Intel, NBC, Oscar Mayer, Kit Kat, State Farm.
Did you hum a few ditties? My guess is yes to at least a few.
With our shortened attention span and the Pavlovian response we have to sound, sound in marketing is a solid move.
Let’s make marketing more emotional together.
Ready to Create?
Dreamr Productions would love to help you with your sonic branding and sound strategy. Contact us today for more information
