SENSORY MARKETING: YOUR BEST BET TO BE UNFORGETTABLE
In a world where attention lasts seconds, brands that feel real win.
Because when content hits the senses, not just the screen, it sticks.
That’s where sensory marketing comes in: using colours, sounds, and textures to turn casual scrollers into loyal fans.
Let’s break down how to make your content unforgettable.1. COLOUR: THE FIRST CONNECTION
Before your words land, your colours do.
Colour psychology isn’t new, but it’s more powerful than ever in digital spaces.
Warm tones (reds, oranges, pinks) grab attention and create energy.
Cool tones (blues, greens, neutrals) calm and build trust.Try this;
Build a consistent colour palette across posts, packaging, and your website.Use contrast to make CTAs pop, like beige backgrounds with a punchy coral button.Choose brand colours that evoke your core feeling, such as confidence, calm, or excitement.
example;
Summer Fridays has built a full brand universe around soft blues and neutrals that feel soothing and trustworthy, exactly what their skincare promises.
THE TAKEAWAY;
Your colours speak before your caption does.2. SOUND: THE SECRET TO STOPPING SCROLLS
If your content looks good but sounds forgettable, you’re missing half the experience.
Audio is emotion, and it can change how people feel about your brand in seconds.
Try this;
Match trending audios with your visual aesthetic, but keep them relevant.Create custom sounds or branded jingles that people instantly recognise.Use voiceovers to make your content more conversational and human.
example;
When Glossier uses calm, ASMR-like sounds in their skincare reels, it turns a simple product demo into a sensory moment. You can almost feel the texture through the sound.THE TAKEAWAY;
Make your audience stop scrolling by making them feel something they can’t even see.3. TEXTURE AND FLAVOUR: THE NEW DIMENSION OF DESIRE
The secret to making digital content stick lies in sensory cues that your audience already knows by heart. Texture and flavour instantly trigger memory, comfort, and curiosity, even through a screen.
Think of how certain visuals taste or feel: the shine of gloss that reminds you of sugar, the creamy swirl that looks like vanilla frosting, the juicy colour that feels like a bite of summer fruit. When brands connect their products to sensations people already recognise, they bridge the gap between new and familiar.
try this;
Capture close-ups that make texture the star, the dewy finish of skincare, the buttery fold of fabric, the shimmer of a new gloss.Use sensory cues in your visuals and copy: “smooth,” “crisp,” “glazed,” “melty.” Those words make people feel the product.Anchor your product to familiar experiences. A scent like fresh linen. A texture like honey. A shine like glazed donut icing.
example;
Hailey Bieber’s brand Rhode nails this. When she launched her “Donut Glaze” campaign to layer with her products to look like a donut glaze, showed her literally posing with a donut, the shine, colour, and name all connecting to a flavour everyone knows. Sometimes, the product itself carries that flavour note, other times it just evokes it visually, turning skincare into something you can almost taste.
Because that’s the power of sensory marketing: it builds emotional shortcuts. When something feels familiar, you don’t have to convince people to try it, they’re already halfway there.
THE TAKEAWAY;
Let your audience see the texture, imagine the taste, and feel the experience. The more sensory it gets, the more irresistible it becomes.
Sensory marketing isn’t about overloading the senses. It’s about awakening them.
When your visuals, sounds, textures, and familiar cues work together, your brand moves from being seen to being felt.
People connect faster with what they already know. That’s why a product that “tastes” like summer, or “feels” like their favourite dessert, instantly hits different.
Because people don’t just remember what they read.
They remember how it looked, how it sounded, how it felt, and sometimes, what it reminded them of.
The brands that master that don’t just stand out. They stay unforgettable.
Make it familiar. Make it sensory. Make it irresistible.