Grab Them By The Nose

S​​mell is the sense most closely linked with memory.  Scents can create memories deep in our brain, then trigger those memories at a later time.  For a marketer, that can be the sweet smell of success!

What fragrances triggers strong positive (or negative) feelings or memories for you?  Movie popcorn?  Lilacs?  Coffee?

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Marketers have used reinforcing scents to create ambiance and trigger feelings at brick-and-mortar locations for years.  I once used a $50 bread maker, bulk bread mix, and a little water to turn a warehouse to a warm, country furniture store.  The aroma of baking bread greeted every customer who walked through the door.  Of course, there were also plenty of hot loaves to send home with customers to reinforce the warm hospitality.

Retail stores and hospitality venues are investing millions of dollars to create unique fragrances to infuse into their locations.  The goal?  To reinforce their customers' experiences.  Although, there is a caution - the choice of fragrance, level of pervasiveness, and where you use it, should be carefully considered as smells can trigger asthma or migraines in some customers.

A "safe" choice for adding fragrance to your marketing is scented printing.  The scent is added as a coating on top of the printed ink.  Because the scent is not released until the coating is rubbed, there is less risk of triggering an unpleasant side-effect in your customer.  AND, the choice to rub the piece enhances reader engagement.

Scented printing is for more than just perfume samples in magazines. Here are a few examples in my portfolio:

• Asphalt-scented direct mail for a paving company.
• Cedar-scented brochure for a custom closet manufacturer.
• Fresh-cut grass-scented postcard for a landscaping company.
• Bacon-scented...well, hey, I haven't recommended it yet, but who doesn't love bacon?!

Caskey Group is my go-to choice for scented printing. In addition to printing clients' aroma-filled pieces, Caskey has incorporated scented marketing in self-promotion pieces and its signature wrapping paper.  Caskey produces a variety of wrapping papers including chocolate-scented and peppermint-scented options.

In addition to just about any custom scent you want to print, there are 30 standard scents.  Check out the list of fragrance options here, then get ready for the sweet smell of success.