What does your brand smell like?
Perhaps there is no better time than the holiday season to remember that humans have 5 senses (at least) that are used in interacting with all things in the world. As the smell of Christmas trees and holiday cookies linger in our homes and offices, there can be no argument that smell plays a role in marketing.
Home Scenting
It is not just folklore. Baking cookies and other scent tactics are effective at open houses. Victorian Homes should smell like baking. Ocean front homes should smell like the ocean. Modern city condos should smell clean and spicy.
Blending scent marketing into your showings will go a long way toward staging a home for a showing. Remember, you cannot smell your own home so your sellers are not likely to smell the old carpet, the cat, or the dog. But buyers will pick that up right away. A more inviting smell will help you sell.
Office Scenting
Brokers need to be mindful of their office smells too. You have two goals in mind. The first goal is to enhance agent and staff productivity in the workplace. The second goal is to make buyers and sellers feel comfortable when they come into the office. Although this may not be a goal, be mindful that vendors like mortgage, title, print, home warranty, and other representatives also circulate the real estate offices. Creating an office that smells good will create comfort and good will toward your company. Here is how to get started.
Step 1. Clear the air: For all of these people, air quality is very important. Obviously, you will want to make sure that you are using a negative ionizer for your office to remove dust, bacteria, and other pollutants.
Step 2. Aromatherapy. Aromatherapy is the practice of using plant oils, including essential oil to stimulate the brand an to trigger a reaction. Aromatherapy can help you set the mode and eliminate stress in the office. Scenting your office with Lavender oil and Lemon oil is said to reduce computer errors at least 25% – 54%. I could not find scientific evidence to support this claim – but found reference to it on dozens of websites.
Results
“Scenting will prolong your customer visits and strengthen your brand identity while at the same time, fostering a unique brand appeal” according to the experts. Some argue that scenting was the primary reason that Las Vegas has a much better reputation today.
Scenting is reported to encourage repeat visits and foster customer loyalty by highlighting your customer’ emotional fondness for your brand.
RISK – Be careful to choose scents that are known not to aggravate allergies – Lemon and Lavender are reported to be good.
Shout Out
I must confess that I was pretty clueless when it came to using scent in marketing until I read this post in 2008 by Marc Davison of 1000Watt Consulting. Check it out here http://1000wattconsulting.com/blog/2008/05/real-estate-sti.html. Also, I get a lot of information about Scent Marketing from the Scent Marketing Institute – and yes, they hold an annual conference http://www.scentmarketing.org/
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