Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Does your marketing smell a little funky?


It might not be a bad thing to have an odor as part of your marketing efforts. Every Tuesday while I am driving home from work my nostrils all of a sudden perk up as I pass a certain point in my route, a KFC restaurant. They've got my attention for those few seconds I smell that delicious KFC odor wafting out from their building. I can only imagine how many people get sucked into ordering a quick bucket of chicken for dinner on their way home instead of making something at home. It's great marketing on their part. Attacking people's noses with a delicious smell at a time when they will be craving food.

So why don't more businesses utilize this type of approach to getting people's attention? Sure there are some odor pollution rules in most major cities but if you are a business that relies on people stopping and entering your location to purchase your product wouldn't smell be a great way to grab their attention.

Retail locations that market smelly products use it in malls all the time - The Body Shop, Lush, etc. But what about the other stores. Just because your company doesn't traditional deal with a smelly product doesn't mean you can't use the sense of smell to draw in prospective customers. If you are a surf shop in Vancouver, why not have a beach odor pouring out of your store? What about a shoe store, get the smell of fresh leather or that new shoe smell trapped and have it wafting from your location. You should be able to grab lots of people's attention as they go buy.

Cook something different up for your marketing plans. It'll be so g-double-o-d good.

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