Guest Blog: Add some scent branding to your automotive brand

Snifffffff. Ah! that new car smell!

When you smell a new car, what runs through your head? What memories are flooded in your brain? Did you know you can apply this same technique to your automotive brand?

It’s called omni-sensory branding.

Scent branding is big business and there are many companies that use this technique for their brand. Vegas Casinos are a big player in scent branding. Dental offices do it too. Bakeries that smell like fresh bread all day? Yup, they are pumping that wonderful smell in the entrance. What does that do for you? Makes you hungry right? Do you spend more than you usually do?

Scent branding is a powerful tool that is underutilized in companies. Those that do execute scent branding with precision record increased revenues, better buying experiences and increased customer happiness to name a few.

So can you do scent branding with your automotive brand? Hell yes!

Before you pick a smell you need to decide what mood you want your customers to be in the moment they interact with your brand. Do you want them to be excited? Calm? Happy? Somber? Nervous? Angry?

After you decide the mood it’s time to talk scent. There are millions of varieties to choose from and each one can determine the mood of your customer when they smell it for the first time.

You can use an existing scent or create your own. There are pros and cons to each choice. Using an existing scent can trigger existing memories for customers whereas a new scent can create new memories. But if you want to create a new memory, there are many other factors that come into play. After a person smells your brand, what happens next? Are they greeted cheerfully? Do they have a great buying experience? Is every moment within that scent filling your customer with positive emotions?

Think of contrasting ways you can use scent in your company. For instance, we all know what tire shops typically smell like. Now, what if you entered a tire shop that smelled like bubble gum? Wouldn’t that be a complete positive mindf*&k for that customer? What kind of impression do you think that would leave on them? Do you think they would remember you months from now?

But Dennis, my business is strictly online. I don’t have any customers coming to me!

No problem. The moment they open your shipment can you bombard them with a personalized scent? How about keepsakes that are scent-based? Air fresheners perhaps? You can capitalize on scent branding with some out-of-the-box thinking.

It’s important to tell you that this small element to enhance your brand can have compounding effects on your customer’s overall experience in very positive ways. You can influence their feelings about your brand by simply adding a signature scent to your business.

There are even some companies that build systems that fully integrate into your HVAC system and there are also simple tabletop versions for smaller spaces available.

Smell you later!