Use of Senses in Marketing

How to make use of senses in marketing?

There can be found five senses that are important when it comes to marketing. These five senses are scent, taste, lights, sound and touch. These five senses create response, response and emotion in the brain. The marketers can influenza the buying behaviour by using these senses in marketing.

Here is a great video about the subject by Mike Maguire:

Marketing message

The purpose of the marketing message is to reinforce the position of existing supporters of the company. It is crucial for a company to understand what a potential customer looks like for in your communication. (Wiefels 2013.)

Your target customer is achieving or solving something and this determines their frame of mind as you attempt to communicate with them. What you need to do is that you need to find a solution to their problem. (Wiefels 2013.)

It helps to be aware that as a consequence of the constant overload of information in our daily lives humans have developed strong subconscious filtering abilities - this leads to the ignoring of information that does not appear relevant. Therefor, in order to catch the attention of your customer you must fine- tune your marketing message to address their information needs. (Wiefels 2013.)

First of all your matching message must demonstrate how you solve target customer's problem. The company needs to provide the right evidence sand message that the target customer is aiming after. However, it should be kept in ming that the customers do often seek for the most cost-effective way to address their business problem and not necessarily the latest technology or the newest product. (Wiefels 2013.)

Secondly your marketing must be delivered through the right media. By providing the right evidence and message through the wrong media simply results in the right person not getting the required information. A wide range of media must be considered for each different target customer. (Wiefels 2013.)

What factors to consider when designing a message?

Today's consumer is in a big hurry at all times as we are overwhelmed with work family, school, children, meetings, moves, and of other duties and activities. Consumers tend to like things that are quick and easy. In terms of marketing communication this means that the customer should be able to quickly find what you are selling and easily understand your message.

According to PRHelper.com there are three things to consider when you are trying to create messages to attract attention and capture customers. 

1. Target Your Audience

Advertising is too expensive to waste on people who aren't interested in what you have to sell. Knowing your audience makes all the difference and will save you tons of time and money. Once you have targeted your audience, you can hone in on what appeal is most likely to motivate them, and what tool to use to capture their attention.

Here are a couple of ways to identify the demographics of your target audience.

Look at the newspaper, magazine, Internet site or broadcast media that you want to advertise with. Look at their websites as well. Find ads from at least three of your competitors. Analyze what is effective, and, importantly, what is not.

Answer these questions when you look at the ads the competition is running:

• Who is the audience for the ad, exactly?
• Is it men, women, both? What percent of each would you guess? 60% men, 40% women? Come as close as you can.
• Are they married, single, divorced, widowed? 
• What age range do they represent?
• Where do they live?
• Can they afford the product or service?
• What does the ad tell you about their wants, needs, values, lifestyles?
• How does this audience match the audience for your product or service?
• How does it differ?

Visit some of your competitors in their physical locations. Check out who is shopping there, answering the same questions as above. Also note whether the place seems prosperous or not. Look for the things you like about what they are doing. Make a list of the things you don't like about what they are doing and a list of the things you will do differently and better than they do.

Match up the data you gathered from your visits with what you found in the ads. You should have an excellent idea of who your audience is, and what appeals they are going to respond to.

 2. Create an effective advertising appeal

Here's where you can let your creative juices loose. Your advertising appeal is the message that delivers what you want your target audiences to know and remember about your product or service.

It tells what makes you different and better than your competitors.

It defines your niche in the market and speaks to your customers.

Here are some guidelines:

• Do make your appeal clear as a bell. Easy to spot. Easy to read. Easy to understand.
• Don't clutter up your message by trying to tell everything in your ad.
• Emphasize your strongest appeal.
• Leave 'em wanting more!

Here are steps to follow in crafting your appeal

1. Find at least 3 ads that are appealing to you. Think about what it is about the ads that attracts you to them and make a list of what you like.
2. Find at least 3 ads that you don't like. Think about what it is about them that you don't like, and make a list.
3. Is the ad too cluttered? Picture or graphic muddy or confusing? Too hard to read? Too hard to find?

Think about the following:

Here are three main components of persuasion: repetition, composition and association.

Repetition refers to the number of times your audience sees or hears your message. Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's PR man, observed that the information the masses trust that which is most familiar - if you repeat the message often enough, the masses will believe it.

This is why successful advertisers repeat the same message over and over, and repeat their name over and over.

A rule of thumb in advertising is that the target audience must hear or see the message at least three times in order for any impact to be made.

Composition refers to the physical makeup of the ad. It includes word choice, size, colors, pictures, graphics, music, cartoons, etc. and placement of these in the ad. Think about the elements of composition that you find appealing in the ads you like. Is it color? Is it type style? Is it graphics? Is it the wording? Is it the music?

Note: sex, violence, animals and children are among the most popular, and effective, elements of composition in this culture.

Association is the third of these three main components of persuasion. Association is the content of the ad designed to spark a positive (or negative) want or need with the product, service or idea.

For example, celebrities appear more and more in advertising. This is because customers associate celebrities with the lifestyle and popularity they would like for themselves. Celebrity ads appeal to our need for popularity/belonging and status.

3. Questions to Ask

What will be your best appeal? What is most likely to move your target audience off the couch and into your store or website?

Will it be a rational appeal backed up by statistical information, pros and cons needed for thorough research and a decision that is not made very quickly and only after much thought? If so, what techniques will you use? Statistics? Comparisons? Reports?

Or, will the appeal be emotional, aiming for a quick decision. If so, what is the best emotional appeal for your audience?

Here is the list of Maslowe's Hierarchy of Need that all of us respond to, followed by examples of advertising that appeals to those needs:

1. Basic needs: food, water, shelter
       Food, bottled water, housing ads
2. Safety - we need to feel safe.
       Insurance, prescription drugs, tires
3. Belonging - love, peer approval, popularity
       Most beer commercials
4. Self esteem - ego, status
       Luxury cars, King of Beers
5. Self actualization - going as far as we can given our talent and ability
       US Army, Be All That You Can Be

NOTE: If we think basic needs and/or safety for us and our families are threatened, these needs will override all the other needs.

Think about which of these needs will appeal to your audience. Then think about which emotion you will use in the appeal.

Ads commonly use these emotions to motivate action:

• Fear
• Danger
• Greed
• Guilt
• Love/emotional security
• Popularity/belonging
• Patriotism
• Status
• Ego
• Independence
• Immortality
• Peer approval
• Power
• Roots

Note: Fear and guilt are among the most popular appeals!

Look at the ads major companies are using and ads that the competition is using. What are the most successful appeals? What appeal will be most effective for your product or service? Think about the power of certain words in appeals. For example, words like VIP, exclusive, only, one-of-a-kind all appeal to status and ego.

Sources: 

Designing your advertising message. URL: http://www.prhelper.com/advertising/message-1.php. Accessed 14.04.2015

Wiefels, P. 2013. Your marketing message: A tech start-up's key tool to reach target customer. URL: http://www.marsdd.com/mars-library/your-marketing-message-a-tech-startups-key-tool-to-reach-target-customers/. Accessed 13.04.2015