(Note: Instead of publishing an April Fool’s Day fake news item, we assigned Bill Hudgins, our in-house curator of all things strange-but-true, to track down a story that sounds fake, but isn’t.)
At some point most small business owners have wondered if their hard work makes sense. Turns out, they could profit by having their own business scents, according to the Smell Marketing Institute (SMI), which airily bills itself as “the leading authority on scent-supported marketing.”
Before you blow off the idea, consider this: Many businesses already lead customers in by their noses. Bakeries, coffee stands, perfumeries and restaurants head most everyone’s list, but tobacconists and leather goods dealers also sell on smell. And the popcorn at a movie Call it a form of “native atmotising.”
Scientists have nosed out evidence that aromas provoke powerful reactions. The most famous example perhaps was how the odor of fresh-baked madeleines provoked Marcel Proust to write his mammoth novel (7.2 lbs. from Amazon
So it’s important to correctly pair the scent with the selling, according to the SMI, which hands out annual SMItty awards at its ScentWorld conventions. For instance, in 2014 DXL men’s clothing store chain won Most Innovative Use of Scent Marketing by deploying its “signature scent” to drive more customers to the signature pad.
Not surprisingly, some businesses really need to deploy aromas to offset their native signature scents.
For example, the Anytime Fitness chain blows a “White Tea and Fig scent” into its locations; according to the supplier, Scent Air Inc., the fragrance “reinvigorates.” Presumably it also uninvigorates the aroma of sweat. (ScentAir doesn’t list prices—hopefully you won’t pay through the nose.)
Before you deploy pine tree air fresheners around your business, keep in mind that while a little is good, too much is too much. The idea is to make your customers—and colleagues—happy to be there, not afraid to breathe the air.
The science of smell may even help you run your business better, and not just if you have a nose for your chosen field. We’ve all heard of “flop sweat.” It turns out that our emotions pour out of our pores, especially under stress.
For instance, part of your instinct to trust or not trust, hire or not hire, deal or no deal, comes from the other person’s stink. We’re usually not aware of it, since our sense of smell pales next to say, a cat’s, but those subtle aromas are still there. (This may explain why “Dilbert” creator Scott Adams cast Catbert as the “evil director of human resources.”)
Can scent marketing help you? Follow your nose and see.
(Illustration: ThinkStock.com)