Sensory Marketing Series: Taste
Ever noticed how certain brands make you crave their product, before you’ve even had a bite? Or through a screen? That’s the power of sensory marketing.
Today, we’re diving into one of the five senses, taste, and how to use it in your marketing.
Taste isn’t just about food and beverage companies (though it does make the most sense!). It’s about experience. Think serving champagne at a luxury boutique, baking cookies before an open house, or even something as simple as a coffee cart at a conference. The right flavor can create an experience, evoke a memory, and tap into nostalgia.
Let's take a look at this in action with a few companies you've likely heard of and love.
Costco
We know you're going to Costco for the samples...because we are, too! Sampling can boost sales by 5 to 10 times above normal. This is an example of taste sensory marketing coming to life. Costco and other stores like Trader Joe's, Publix, and Walmart use sampling to have customers try products, so they can see (or taste, we should say) firsthand what the product is like, and hopefully make their purchasing decisions from there.
McDonald’s
The Big Mac — it's all in the sauce! Anyone can make a burger. In fact, just about every fast food restaurant has one. But it's their signature sauce that makes a Big Mac, a Big Mac. People have tried to re-create because they can't get enough of it. It's unique, it's memorable, it's different. Creating signature flavors or even tapping into seasonal flavors can be the sensory marketing element that you're missing.
Starbucks
Which brings us to Starbucks. The legendary PSL. These days, everyone does a Pumpkin Spice Latte the minute the crisp hits the air, from other big coffee shops to mom-and-pops. But Starbucks coined it. Starbucks owns its seasonal flavors and makes it a ritual every year that people have to get.
Now that we've covered a few examples of this, let's talk about how you can steal this with your own company.
How to Tap into this Sense:
Offer free samples of your food products
Have seasonal or signature flavors
Pairings - find a complementary product (or add one)
Prompt your audience to describe the flavor of your product in their reviews and testimonials to help others imagine the flavors.
Imagery - Tapping into sight and taste, take a page from Rhode's book and create the sense of taste through visuals.
Tune in for four more blogs where we are covering the rest of the senses you can tap into for sensory marketing.
