As an example… we’ve just had Easter bank holiday.  Traditionally this is a very busy weekend, with people spending money on tourist attractions, gardening, campervans, motorbikes, trips away and everything associated with that.  If you’re in a related industry, it would be worthwhile considering the promotions you’re running and how relevant they are to what people are buying right now.  If you can tie in with those trends, you could boost your profits.

This weekend, we travelled for two hours to look at a motorbike only to find that two minutes earlier it had been sold (at a discount) to a dealer.  Despite us calling about the bike that morning.  The bike was already the cheapest of its kind on the internet – It seems the seller hadn’t taken into account the effect of the bank holiday and the warm weather on bikers – they were out in force this weekend, spending their money.  But he lost at least £200 in net profit after he’d already offered the bike at the cheapest price anywhere in the country – and you know I never advise being the cheapest to start with; especially when timings are on your side.

Friday brings yet more opportunities for plenty of businesses.  Are you watching your timings?  If people are buying in force, are you opening longer / opening on days you wouldn’t usually open / running timely promotions / taking advantage of the fact people are spending??  The companies who are will be the first ones out of the recession.

Nokia cleverly manufactured all their phones with a single ring tone – which most people didn’t change (possibly because they either didn’t know how to, or couldn’t be bothered).  As a result, the tune has become an integral part of the digital world we live in.  And it promotes the Nokia brand every time it’s heard.  It’s fantastic marketing.

Other pieces of music which have been used in marketing and have become an integral part of the brand include the Hamlet and Hovis tunes.  Apple have also used music to great effect in their adverts; many of the tunes having since become top 40 hits.

Appealing to the senses in this way makes perfect ‘sense’; particularly if you can match the music to your audience, as the brands in the previous examples have shown.  For example, if you have a retail shop or restaurant, what music would your audience typically want to listen to – is that what you’re playing in the environment where customers buy?  The supermarkets are experts at sensory marketing – next time you have a wander round, listen to their choice of music and see if you can tell who they’re targeting.